In the 1950s, Mr. Bennett toured for the first time, played Las Vegas for the first time, and first married Patricia Beech, a fan who had seen him perform in Cleveland. The marriage foundered in the 1960s, overwhelmed by Mr. Bennett’s constant touring, but their two sons would eventually play a role in Mr. Bennett’s career: the eldest, D’Andrea, known as Danny, became his father’s manager, and Daegal, known as Dae, became a music producer and recording engineer.
In July 1961, Mr. Bennett in Hot Springs, Ark., and was about to leave for the West Coast when Ralph Sharon, his old pianist, played him a song written by George Cory and Douglass Cross that had been rotting in a drawer for two years. Mr. Sharon and Mr. Bennett decided it would be perfect for their next date, at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, and it was.
They recorded the song – of course it was “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” – six months later, in January 1962. Bennett won his first two Grammys, for Best Male Solo Performance and Record of the Year, and worldwide acclaim. In “The Good Life,” he wrote that he was often asked if he ever got tired of singing it.
“I reply, ‘Are you ever tired of making love?'” he wrote.
Just five months later, Mr. Bennett at Carnegie Hall with Mr. Sharon and a small orchestra. It received sensational reviews – though The Times measured it – and the recording of the concerto is now regarded as a classic.
But as the 1960s progressed and rock and roll became dominant, Mr. Bennett to take. In 1969, he succumbed to pressure from Columbia Records’ new president, Clive Davis, to record his versions of contemporary songs, and the result, “Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today!” — including the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby” and “Something” — was a musical disaster, a record that Mr. Bennett would later tell an interviewer made him vomit.
