The last of the great saloon singers of the mid-20th century, Tony Bennett often said his lifelong ambition was to create a hit catalog rather than hit records.
Dominick Reuters/AFP via GettyEveryone loved Tony Bennett for the same reason he loved Louis Armstrong: “The minute you heard him, just the first two bars, everyone started smiling. He made everybody smile."There was a contagious joy in his voice, and a kind of enviable contentment, things they don’t teach in music school. He had all the things they do teach too, the phrasing and pitch and timing, but he never flaunted those skills. Listening to him sing, you might not think, what a great artist