(July 26, 2023). The late Tony Bennett—who sadly passed away on July 21 at age 96–is in the record books for being the oldest living artist to have a No. 1 album of newly recorded material. He was 88 when his last No. 1 album, Cheek to Cheek—a Lady Gaga collaboration—topped the Billboard 200 in September 2014.
That triumph extended a record he’d already set three years earlier when, at age 85, Bennett first became the oldest artist to accomplish that feat with his Duets II album, which featured collaborations with many artists including Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, Mariah Carey, Faith Hill, John Mayer, Andrea Bocelli, Carrie Underwood, Alejandro Sanz, Lady Gaga and others.
But with all of that undeniable success during his long and storied career, particularly during the last two decades of his life, Bennett’s late-career album achievements didn’t translate to the singles charts.
In fairness, with his star beginning to fade in the late 1960s as singers of pop standards (Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Andy Williams, etc.) gave way to the British Music Invasion, Motown, Memphis soul, psychedelic rock, and music’s countercultural movement, Bennett, who’d had earlier big hits with three No. 1s (“Because of You,” “Cold, Cold Heart,” and “Rags to Riches”), plus his signature tune, “I Left May Heart In San Francisco,” became much more of an albums artist than a purveyor of hit singles.
To wit, his last two chart appearances on the Billboard Hot 100 occurred 44 years apart, with the last being 12 years ago.
That’s just two Hot 100 chart singles over a 56-year period and neither song rose higher than position No. 87 on the weekly survey.
But the two tunes—as did nearly everything else Bennett did in life—showcased his ability (and willingness) to work with people of many backgrounds. And, in these two particular cases, the songs were symbolic representations of the unique bonds he shared with two other artists involved, with one coming full-circle nearly 40 years after it was originally recorded, and the other representing the last chart entry for both Bennett and the other artist.
“For Once In My Life”
When Bennett hit the Billboard singles chart in 1967 with the oft-recorded gem “For Once In My Life,” it became the first charted version of the pop ballad written by Ron Miller and Orlando Murden for Motown’s publishing company—a song that was famously made a much bigger hit (No. 2 peak) in an uptempo version by 18-year-old Stevie Wonder the following year.
While Bennett’s version only peaked at No. 91 on the Hot 100, no one could have imagined it would be the next-to-last time the pop crooner would be seen on the singles chart—or that his next time wouldn’t come for another 44 years—particularly in a career where he’d hit that chart and its predecessors an astounding 50 times in the preceding 16 years!
Interestingly, both Bennett and Wonder would make “For Once In My Life” the title tracks of their respective albums containing the song. (As a side note, about a half-dozen artists recorded the tune from 1967-71 and also made it the title of their own albums…today’s young music fans could really stick that arrow in their quiver when debating whose music era had more originality, but I digress).
Despite their drastically different outcomes with the tune—Bennett’s hit-making days were clearly behind him (at the time), while “For Once in My Life” signaled much more success was on the horizon for Stevie over the next two decades—Bennett and Wonder would wind up being forever connected by it.
It was a connection the two would consummate nearly 40 years later in a joint recording of the song for Bennett’s first Duets album in 2006.
In a way, Bennett and Wonder could be considered kindred spirits. Besides both being legendary American singers whose careers spanned more than sixty years (and in Bennett’s case more than seventy), both men used their celebrity to champion humanitarian causes…namely, civil rights.
Their association with the most iconic figure of the Civil Rights Movement—The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—in particular, is legendary.
Bennett had dedicated himself to the cause of racial equality and even marched with King in the famous voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965. The singer born Anthony Benedetto linked arms with Black people at the request of his friend Harry Belafonte before it was cool for celebrities—especially white ones—to do so.
Bennett’s allyship wasn’t without consequence. He endured violence along the route and, although he didn’t complete the entire 54-mile march, Bennett met marchers in Montgomery and performed for them alongside Ella Fitzgerald, Mahalia Jackson, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and others.
Wonder, who was barely a year old when Bennett had his first No. 1 single in 1951, is also indelibly linked to King. He strongly petitioned for the slain icon’s birthday to become a national holiday and even wrote and recorded a song, “Happy Birthday,” in furtherance of that cause. The song has since become a festive birthday anthem for Americans everywhere.
Both Bennett and Wonder were praised by King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, with whom Wonder petitioned in the early ‘80s to make the King Holiday a reality. Coretta famously honored Bennett in 2002 (at the King Center for Social Change) by bestowing upon him the Salute to Greatness award in honor of his commitment to social change. He later also earned a spot on the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Park in Atlanta, Ga.
Bennett and Wonder’s full-circle musical moment came in 2006 when their duet of “For Once In My Life” was included in Bennett’s Duets: An American Classic album, which became the crooner’s highest charting release in over 40 years, having reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200.
But even with his resurgence in popularity over the decades, culminating with that first Duets album, “For Once In My Life”—the earlier solo version by Bennett—was still the last chart single he’d achieved on the Hot 100 in 1967.
“Body and Soul”
That is until 2011, the year Bennett recorded the second of his classic duets-themed albums, Duets II. That LP—a record-setting phenom in itself—contained a duet with the late Amy Winehouse…a cover of the then-81-year-old jazz standard “Body and Soul.”
Spurred on by both Winehouse’s untimely death at age 27 just months after “Body and Soul” was recorded, and the renaissance Bennett was experiencing late in his career, “Body and Soul” entered the Hot 100 at No. 87 on October 1, 2011, and spent a lone week on the list.
It became Bennett’s 52nd chart entry (his first since “For Once In My Life”) and, at the time, made him the artist with the longest span of Hot 100 appearances since he had also been on the very first chart in August 1958.
It was also a posthumous chart appearance for Amy Winehouse, whose struggle with addiction and mental illness was well documented, and whose early death had made her a member of the infamous “27 Club” of famous musicians who’d died at that age (Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain) before the song was released.
But Bennett and Winehouse captured lightning in a bottle with “Body and Soul,” which is easily one of the most compelling vocal duets to reach the Hot 100 in the 21st century. It’s deceptively low chart peak (and duration on the list) are more a reflection of the times than a statement on the song’s timeless, bone-chilling quality.
Indeed, it may be the only jazz standard to have made the Hot 100 this century (research needed to confirm).
In Amy Winehouse, Bennett found the perfect duet partner. She may have been nearly 60 years his junior, but she embodied the jazz and blues stylings of so many legendary singers from generations before her. Her vocals were improvisational, almost unorthodox, yet so perfectly timed for each line of “Body and Soul.”
For his part, Bennett was at once passionate and empathetic in his delivery. His smooth, velvety voice expressed a longing without ever sounding whiny or contrived.
What’s more, the lyrics eerily made “Body and Soul” a suitable song choice, especially given Winehouse’s struggles at the time.
In the tune’s opening line when Tony sings (to Amy): “I sigh for you dear only, why haven’t you seen it?”, one cannot help but imagine it as a plea for the British singer to sober up and realize her worth not only to her duet partner but to the world in general.
The line that goes “my life, a wreck, you’re making” (which, ironically, reads like the flipped subject-verb syntax Stevie Wonder mastered in so many of his own hits and which Tony and Amy alternatively sing in this song’s two choruses) couldn’t have felt more authentic given the two singers’ similar histories.
Bennett himself had struggled with addiction decades earlier, so he must have understood Amy’s vulnerability and the difficult path that lie ahead for a young singer whose personal struggles were on display for the world to see.
In that sense, as he had with Wonder earlier, Bennett found a kindred spirit in Amy Winehouse.
Unlike Winehouse, however, Tony Bennett ultimately survived his earlier addiction issues and was able to live a long life and forge a highly successful second career.
Ultimately, “Body and Soul” would be the last Hot 100 chart single for both singers, a fact that’s become more of a trivial footnote given the two artist’s immense talents and formidable body of work (especially in Tony’s case).
Fortunately, this world had Tony Bennett for 96 years, with a music career that spanned more than 70 of those, and a catalog that transcended generations—a catalog that includes “For Once In My Life” and “Body and Soul,” his last two chart songs that epitomized Bennett’s relationships with two other music icons and which are forever a part of his enduring legacy.
Rest in paradise, Tony Bennett (August 3, 1927 – July 21, 2023).
DJRob
DJRob (he/him/his) is a freelance music blogger from the East Coast who covers R&B, hip-hop, pop, rock and (sometimes) country genres – plus lots of music news and current stuff! You can follow him on Twitter at @djrobblog and on Meta’s Threads.
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