For six decades, Tony Bennett has left his heart on the Grammy stage.
Whether he was performing, presenting or picking up that precious hardware, the legendary crooner has become a part of the very fabric of music’s biggest night since delivering his first Grammy performance in 1963.
Bennett won the first two of his 18 competitive Grammys that year, with his last victory coming in 2018. On top of that, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001.
The Bennett legend continued at Sunday’s Grammys 2002 telecast, where the man himself introduced — via video call — Lady Gaga’s solo performance of their duet “Love for Sale.”
He’s also up for five more gramophones at the 64th annual awards taking place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas (airing at 8 p.m. ET on CBS with host Trevor Noah). Bennett’s second collaborative LP with Lady Gaga, “Love for Sale,” is up for Album of the Year, while their duet “I Get a Kick Out of You” is nominated for Record of the Year.
With Bennett suffering from Alzheimer’s disease at 95, he’ll no doubt be the sentimental favorite for his final album. And while he’s cheering Gaga on from his home in New York City when she performs solo on Sunday, he’ll surely be missed at the Grammys.
“I had him on every several years,” longtime Grammys producer Ken Ehrlich told The Post. “You know, I think more than anything, he was always sweet. He’s just a lovely guy. He was great to work with.”
Indeed, Bennett was pure Grammy gold to Ehrlich: “His spirit is kind of part of what the Grammys are all about … from his musicality to the way that he is embraced by and embraces people and other artists from across generations. He’s really done that. I mean, so many people want to meet and perform with Tony Bennett.”
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Here, we look back on some of Bennett’s most memorable Grammy moments that have made us get a kick out of him for 60 years.
A Grammy debut to remember
Bennett began his long love affair with the Grammys at the fifth awards ceremony in 1963. Making his first of many performances to come, he fittingly sang his signature song “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” which won him the Record of the Year Grammy.
“When he wasn’t performing [but] he was presenting,” said Ehrlich, “if I said to him, ‘Look, can we do eight bars of ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco,’ he would do it, and they loved it. And he loved it.”
Bennett’s triumphant comeback
Capping a major career comeback, Bennett won the prestigious Album of the Year Grammy for his “MTV Unplugged” LP in 1995. Upon accepting his gramophone, he called it “the greatest moment in my whole musical career, and the greatest moment in my life.”
But Ehrlich had to fight to get Bennett to perform that night with members of the TV committee who thought he was no longer relevant. “There were some people that thought, ‘Why are we going to put this old guy on the Grammys?’” he said. “And Tony Bennett got a standing ovation … And the fact that Tony’s career went on from there to another 20 years testifies to his work.”
Repping New York with Billy Joel
They may have been at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, but Big Apple natives Bennett and Joel made a powerhouse pair when they sang “New York State of Mind” at the 2002 Grammys. Their duet of the Joel classic was featured on 2001’s “Playin’ with My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues,” which would go on to win for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album in 2003.
“I mean, you could see the respect,” said Ehrlich. “Whenever I put him with anybody … it was like the respect that they had for him was unique.”
Crooning with the ladies
Bennett was the dream duet partner for many a diva over his Grammy career, from Natalie Cole in 1993 to k.d. lang in 2004, when the pair won Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for their collaborative LP “A Wonderful World.” He even sang “It Had to Be You” with country superstar Carrie Underwood in 2012. “I paired him with Carrie, and they were great,” said Ehrlich. “He loved it. He loved being around young people.”
Getting ‘Cheek to Cheek’ with Gaga
After walking the red carpet together at the 2015 Grammys, Bennett and Lady Gaga performed the title tune of their first joint album, 2014’s “Cheek to Cheek.” The LP scored the singer yet another gramophone for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. “And of course we know what kind of a love affair he went on to have with Gaga,” said Ehrlich.
