Quote

I have to say I owe my career to the master composers of the Great American Songbook who have written such high-quality songs - the best popular music ever composed.

Tony Bennett

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Tony Bennett
Age: 98
Born: 1926
Born: August 3
Actor
Autobiographer
Jazz Musician
Painter
Recording Artist
Singer
New York City
New York
Anthony Dominick Benedetto
Anthony Dominick Tony Benedetto
Anthony Benedetto
American
Master
Song
Masters
Best
Songs
Music
Career
Ever
Careers
Composers
Great
Written
Composed
Quality
Composer
High
Popular

More quotes by Tony Bennett

Image
It's the kind of turn that happened to the great country of Germany, when Nazis came over and created tragic things, and they had to be told off. And if we continue this kind of violence and accept it in our country, the rest of the world's going to really take care of us, in a very bad way.
Tony Bennett
Image
I have a very strong passion to sing and paint. I'm really a student.
Tony Bennett
Image
There's always something every night that I learn from reacting to what the audience is reacting to. You learn what to leave out, what to put in, if you need a little more comedy or more drama.
Tony Bennett
Image
I don't look down to an audience. I look up to them. They respond to quality.
Tony Bennett
Image
That song helped make me a world citizen. It allowed me to live, work and sing in any city on the globe. It changed my whole life.
Tony Bennett
Image
Luckily for his audiences, Bennett doesn't tire of singing I Left My Heart. ... that song made me a world citizen. And when I do it, it always feels like the first time.
Tony Bennett
Image
Every city I go to is an opportunity to paint, whether it's Omaha or Hawaii.
Tony Bennett
Image
I always feel the audience is my best teacher.
Tony Bennett
Image
Sometimes the teacher would tell me that if you're singing a love song and you just don't feel it with a person or something you've experienced, just think of a dog or cat that you love.
Tony Bennett
Image
Someday, when I'm awfully low, and the world is cold, I will feel a glow just thinking of you, and the way you look tonight.
Tony Bennett
Image
I've taken stuff from people, too. You know though, if you steal from one person, you're just a thief. But if you steal from everyone, that's research.
Tony Bennett
Image
I've been so fortunate because I never really had ups and downs as far as my career. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I've been sold out all over the world.
Tony Bennett
Image
The young people look great on television. They’re youthful and have a lot of zip and energy, but when you see them live, they can only do about 20 minutes because they haven’t got the training to hold an audience for an hour and a half or so.
Tony Bennett
Image
You can't teach it [jazz singing]. There's nobody who can teach you how to sing jazz. Either you know how to sing jazz, or you don't.
Tony Bennett
Image
We're in an era where the demand is for immediate hits that are destined to become obsolescent. Six months later, everyone forgets the artist and the tune. It's become like a con job. Producers, engineers, lawyers and accountants all make money, but the artists don't.
Tony Bennett
Image
When the uncreative tell the creative what to do, it stops being art.
Tony Bennett
Image
I know the history of the record business so well because I followed Billie Holiday into the record studios. It was so primitive compared to the sophisticated business today.
Tony Bennett
Image
I'd like to have every gentleman and lady in this room commit themselves to get our government to legalize drugs. So they have to get it through a doctor, not just some gangsters who sell it under the table. Let's legalize drugs like they did in Amsterdam. No one's hiding or sneaking around corners to get it. They go to a doctor to get it.
Tony Bennett
Image
If you follow your passion, you'll never work a day in your life.
Tony Bennett
Image
The bottom line of any country is: what did we contribute to the world? We contributed Louis Armstrong.
Tony Bennett