Today is the 80th birthday of the amzing Tony Bennett. Tony was born as Antonio Dominick Benedetto in 1926, in Asrtoria, New York. His father was a grocer and his mother was a seamstress. By the age of ten, he was singing professionally listening to artists like Al Jolson, Jack Teagarden, Bing Crosby and Judy Garland. His uncle was a tap dancer in vaudeville giving him an early window into show business. Tony's big break came in 1949 when the amazing Pearl Bailey spotted him and asked him to open for her in Greenwich Village. As fate would have it, Miss Bailey had invited Bob Hope to see the opening night show. Hope went nuts over the young singer and decided to invite Pearl and he on the road with him. But hope made a big suggestion. The young singer's name needed to be simple and easy to say and remember. And so Antonio Benedetto became Tony Bennett. In 1950, Tony made a demo record and was signed to a Columbia Records recording contract by none other than Mitch Miller (yes, "Sing Along With Mitch!) Miller warned Tony not to try and imitate Frank Sinatra. Tony's first big hit was "Because of You" selling over a million copies. His second hit was the country yarn "Cold Cold Heart"while hit number three was of course the legendary "Rags to Riches" written by Richard Adler (who's birthday is also today) and the late Jerry Ross. Adler & Ross went on to write the smash broadway musicals "Pajama Game" and "Damn Yankees" Tony's signature song "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" was recorded in 1962 . In 2001, this song ranked 23rd on a list of 1000 songs of the most historically significant of the 20th Century. The difficult years began in 1965 and hit rock bottom in 1979. Tony had been asked to do "modern music" of the time and it simply wasn't well received. Even a stint of having his own record label and a stint of living in England didn't help. By 1979, Tony had no recording contract, no manager and was not performing any concerts outside of Las Vegas! His second marriage failed and Tony had developed a drug addiction and was living beyond his means! After a near death cocaine overdose and a stoic battle with the Internal Revenue Service that tried to seize his home in Los Angeles-- he called his sons Danny and Dae for help. Danny was not much of a musician, but did have a great head for business. His father was a great musician but couldn't manage money or promote himself. Danny moved his dad back to New York, began booking his father into colleges and got him away from his pure "Las Vegas" image. The trick worked. Kids started responding especially after rock stars like Linda Ronstadt began recording albums of standards. Columbia Records re-signed him in 1986 and kids who have never heard the songs of Gershwin, Cole Porter and the like were suddenly saying "Gee, who the heck wrote that?' To them it was different and if you're different you stand out! Well, dear Tony, happy 80th birthday. I will always cherish your singing and the songs that you have brought to life! Historical note for today: Christopher Columbus (another great Italian) started his journey to discover America today from Spain in 1492. Cool day here. I love the temperature difference-- well until tomorrow!