The Singles Collection 1951-62

Tony Bennett ranks among the most popular, successful and highly-respected popular vocalists of the last half-century and more, so much so that a full sixty years after his chart debut in 1951, his credibility among the contemporary pop audience was such that he achieved his 70th chart hit in 2011 with a duet with Lady Ga-Ga. He was one of the many successful crooners of the post-war era to come from the diaspora of Italian immigrant families in the north-western states of the USA, and build a career first as a hit singles artist, and then a major album seller, before achieving appreciation among music fans who weren’t born when he made his chart debut. With an apparently effortless ability to deliver a song exactly as it feels it should be done, and a relaxed and assured demeanour, he is one of the peerless performers in popular music. This great-value 78-track 3-CD set comprises a substantial proportion of the A & B sides of the sixty or so singles he released during the first decade and more of his career, with at least one side of most releases included, and naturally features all the 38 US and UK chart hits which he enjoyed during that period, including his signature song “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” plus the classic No. 1s “Because Of You”, “Cold Cold Heart”, “Rags To Riches” & “Stranger In Paradise”. It’s a hugely entertaining insight into the early career of a unique talent.