Tony Bennett, the pop and jazz singer whose career spanned seven decades and more than 70 albums, has died at age 96. Bennett is best known for his signature song “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” but enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in the ’80s and ’90s through his musical collaborations with other artists.
The “King of Duets” collaborated with Barbra Streisand, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder… the list goes on!
Bennett himself named his five favorite duet partners of all time in a 2017 interview with the Desert Sun. Check them out below!
#5 Frank Sinatra. Bennett said Sinatra taught him the people in the audience were his friends. “I was his favorite and he was my favorite and I couldn’t get over it because he was a phenomenal artist, a beautiful singer and a great person,” Bennett said of Sinatra.
#4 k.d. lang. Bennett first met Lang when they recorded “Moonglow” together for MTV Unplugged in 1994. “When I first heard k.d. sing, I immediately thought, ‘She has it’ – just like Judy Garland or Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holiday. It’s that rare quality where singing is so natural, such a part of a person’s heart and soul, that it appears effortless,” Bennett said of lang.
#3 Lady Gaga. Bennett and Gaga struck up an unlikely but lasting friendship when they released their first album together in 2014. Gaga told CBS News she had wanted to quit music, but Bennett “saved her. Bennett said of Gaga, “I think she is an artist of exceptional singularity, just like Picasso, and I know she will have a very long career.”
#2 Amy Winehouse. Winehouse recorded “Body and Soul” with Bennett in March 2011. In July 2011, she died of alcohol poisoning. Bennett described Winehouse’s death as “one of the saddest things that ever happened in my life,” adding she was “very special” and “so talented.”
#1 Judy Garland. “You can use the word ‘original’ to describe so many artists, but it doesn’t come close to really capturing what made Judy Garland such a unique performer,” Bennett said.
