Today, September 23rd, marks the 60th anniversary of Tony Bennett’s first performance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Bennett performed “Because of You,” the lead single off of his debut album of the same name. The single reached the No. 1 slot on the Billboard and remained on the charts for a remarkable 31 weeks. Bennett was asked back on The Ed Sullivan Show numerous times over the years and made a total of 18 appearances. He performed classics such as “Rags to Riches,” “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” and renditions of “It Had to be You” and “What the World Needs Now.”
Over his six decade career, Tony Bennett has been awarded 15 Grammy Awards, 2 Emmy Awards, and sold over 500 million records worldwide. In the past week, at the age of 85, Bennett became the oldest living artist to ever chart on the Billboard Hot 100. ”Body and Soul,” a duet with Amy Winehouse off of Bennett’s new record, Duets II, had over 25,000 downloads upon release and pushed the artist up to No. 87 on the chart. The album was released Tuesday, September 20th, and is expected to do very well.