An assemblage portrait of Tony Bennett by David Hockey. UPDATE: THIS MADE $22,750
He might have left his heart in San Francisco but millions of people everywhere took singer Tony Bennett to their own hearts. His extraordinary life and career will be celebrated at a live and online sale by Julien’s Auctions in New York at Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame in Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 18 and 19. With everything from a 1965 letter of appreciation from Martin Luther King (for his performance at the 1965 Selma march) to acclaimed original sketches and signed sheet music duets the sale tracks how his life mirrored American cultural, social and political history over many decades.
There is an assemblage portrait of Bennett by David Hockney, art by Willem de Kooning and LeRoy Neiman, a sketch by Tony Bennett of Princess Grace signed by her and letters from Presidents Ford, Carter, Clinton and Bush, Martin Scorsese, Madonna, Elton John, Quincy Jones, Barbra Streisand, Al Pacino are testament to how much he was loved.
In 2007 he was inducted into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame for his lifelong activism and work in social justice. He won 20 Grammys, recorded more than 70 albums and sold 50 million records. He recorded with K.D. Lang, Stevie Wonder and Billy Joel and next generation superstars like Christina Aguilera, Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga. He scored three Guinness Book of Records entries, for the oldest performer to reach No. I, the longest time between the release of a recording and the re-recording of the same single by the same artist and for being the oldest person to release a new album. Tony Bennett died aged 96 last July.
UPDATE: The white glove sale made a total of over $2.1 million, four times the pre-sale estimate. Collectors came together from countries all over the world including the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Spain, Singapore, Switzerland, Australia and more, garnering nearly 14,000 bids. The “75th Birthday Book of Extraordinary Letters,” which contains over 100 Pieces written by Martin Scorsese, Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George Bush, Madonna, Elton John, and more, sold for $19,500, two times its estimate of $8000. The letter from Martin Luther King about the Selma march sold for $78,000.
A sketch by Tony Bennett of Princess Grace signed by Grace UPDATE: THIS MADE $2,275