Tony Bennett (1926 - 2023) grew up in Astoria, Queens, during the Great Depression. After serving as an infantryman in World War II, he studied singing and signed with Columbia Records in 1950, releasing his first hit with the label in 1951. Over the course of his career, which spanned more than sixty years, he sold millions of albums that achieved gold and platinum status both in the United States and worldwide, and won twenty Grammy Awards.
