by senior contributor Brendan Kownacki
Photo credit: William Atkins – GWU
Most people are lucky if they find one talent in their life that they can be runaway successful with…a second is really a gift and icing on the metaphorical cake. Such is the case for Anthony Benedetto, or as he’s better known, Tony Bennett—the iconic vocalist and songwriter, born in Queens, New York – and a crooning voice that is hoisted on a pedestal next to Sinatra and Elvis, rightfully so. Bennett has sung his way into the hearts of many with hits like Rags to Riches and I Left My Heart in San Francisco; but another of his passions for expressing himself isn’t with his voice, but with his hands, through painting. Bennett has become an accomplished and celebrated painter for works signed under his birth name and in the last 15 years, those works have gained him acclaim and landed his work in multiple museums, including the Smithsonian Art Museum in DC. His own dedication to the arts as well as advocacy for the whole artistic community made him a natural fit for him to become this year’s recipient of the President’s Medal from George Washington University, an award bestowed on him along with his wife this past weekend in Washington.
Mr. Bennett, who was in Washington to perform the last stop of his sold out “Cheek to Cheek” tour with Lady Gaga, beamed with pride as he strolled through the Corcoran Gallery where the ceremony was taking place. The evening featured 18 pieces of Mr. Bennett’s art, including a bust of Harry Belafonte and paintings of Duke Ellington and of Central Park – both of which are part of the Smithsonian Institution’s permanent collection.
Bennett and GWU have been tied together for years. In 2001 GW gave Bennett, who dropped out of school at 16 to support his family, an honorary doctorate of music degree. Bennett said at the time that he only got where he did in the world because teachers were there to offer him lessons, not just in the classroom but in every walk of life. In 1999, Bennett and his wife founded the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens, named for the man Bennett calls his “greatest friend.” That same year, the couple founded the nonprofit arts education organization Exploring the Arts. Today, Exploring the Arts has partnerships with 23 public high schools in New York City and Los Angeles.
Bennett adds to an already impressive list of recipients of the President’s Medal, established in 1988, including Nobel laureate and former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, former Israeli Prime Minister and Nobel laureate Shimon Peres, NASA astronaut Charles J. Camarda and journalist Walter Cronkite. His words of gratitude were few, but very passionate. He exclaimed that he changed his name from Benedetto at the urging of Bob Hope, who said it was ‘a little long’ but that he loves his name and what it stands for. In Italian the translation is roughly “the beloved.” To stand with his wife and be celebrated for their contribution to the arts (above and beyond the GRAMMYs or the 10 million record sales) was clearly an important accomplishment for the 88-year-old. “I could never dream of anything this beautiful happening to me. After years of work and wondering where it is all going to end up, this is a great experience in my life,” he said.
Tony Bennett, in his own words:
