Antonia Bennett (Photo courtesy SMG Richmond)
With Antonia Bennett, the daughter of legendary crooner Tony Bennett, it’s usually the same old songs. Tried and true, she knows the lyrics and how to make you feel them as she sings from the Great American Songbook, pop tunes that have been interpreted and reinterpreted by vocalists and musicians, including her 91-year-old father, across different genres for years. This collection of titles, also known as “American standards,” includes songs such as “The Way You Look Tonight,” “I’m in the Mood for Love,” “The Nearness of You” and many more. Bennett, who will open for her father (who recently won a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Album) at his Richmond concert this month, lends her unique touch to the catalog, a jazz sensibility that conveys warmth and sincerity.
“People like things that are familiar to them, and so on that level, it obviously touches people,” she says. “I really feel that the American Songbook lends itself to jazz musicians. All these songs started out as pop songs and, through that, [offer] the freedom to do it in a different way every time. Everybody has their own take and their own arrangement.”
Tony Bennett (Photo courtesy SMG Richmond)
When she’s not opening for her father, or singing with him, Bennett has been known to stray from the list of American standards, throwing in a song from the band Queen or another of her rock favorites. But not for her father’s crowds, who might not be familiar with Freddie Mercury. After her set, she sometimes returns to duet with her father, but she can’t say for certain if that will happen in Richmond. It’s the kind of thing that’s based on how he feels on a particular night.
Bennett shares some guidance that her father gave her, which might explain her success with the Songbook. “The best advice he ever gave me is, when you sing a love song, when you say the word ‘love’ in a song, make sure that you really mean it,” she says. “And breathe before each phrase, and things like that.”
Bennett inherited talent from both sides. In addition to her father being an immensely popular singer, her mother is actress Sandra Grant Bennett. The couple divorced in 2007. Growing up in the Bennett household sounds like a variety show from the 1970s, with a nonstop parade of celebrity guests. Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Cary Grant, Lorna Luft, Liza Minnelli and other legends were liable to make an appearance in the Bennett living room during the holidays. With such cool parents, how would a teenager find something to rebel against?
“I don't know, I think I still managed,” she says, laughing.
Bennett isn’t an open book. She deflects an inquiry about the challenges of being a second-generation vocalist with a famous father: “Well, I don't know about that ...” A question about the advantages of coming from a famous family goes unanswered. The business side of the industry isn’t something she wants to talk about. She says, “I really try to focus more on the music.”
She isn’t afraid to share some criticism of the role of media in the modern world with a journalist: “Even to be a celebrity, there was still some privacy, and now they want to know what you’re eating for dinner, you know? You may think nobody cares about that, but people do.”
Sometimes the follow-up questions ask themselves. “I haven’t had lunch yet,” she says, laughing at a query about her midday meal. “It’s morning here — late morning.”
See Antonia and her father perform at the Altria Theater on March 17 at 7:30 p.m. 800-514-3849 or etix.com
