Tony Bennett Joins Forces With… Everyone

posted in: Features

Few artists can include World War II veteran, jazz singer, painter and MTV fixture on their resume, but Tony Bennett has it sewn up. Almost twenty years after breaking through to the MTV generation and twice that in the industry, Bennett is relevant yet again with Duets II.

MTV Networks premiered Bennett’s duet of “Body and Soul” with the late, great Amy Winehouse (watch the video after the jump), and with another song recorded with the unstoppable Gaga, Duets II debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s top albums chart, selling 179,000 units in the first week and holding steady in the Top 5 on iTunes.

It took six months to record Duets II, with each duet recorded live with partners in cities including New York, Los Angeles, London and Nashville. Footage recorded from each session was tailored and released across iTunes, Vevo, MTV and more, laying the groundwork for a retrospective of Bennett’s sixty year career titled “The Zen of Tony Bennett”.

A massive PR campaign followed, and Bennett and his duets popped up on TV and award shows ranging from the VMAs to America’s Got Talent, print features in The New Yorker and The Wall Street Journal among others, as well as the talk show circuit. Fittingly enough, Duets II partnered with a laundry list of brands: Target, AARP, Starbucks, Tiffany & Co, Godiva, HSN, Walgreens, Nordstrom, Wegmans and KOSS Corporation.

Bennett took the pairings a step further and created a pair of signature edition headphones with KOSS, a set of which OurStage is giving away to one lucky fan.

Now, a less enlightened fan might say that it was the big name promotion that put Bennett back on the map, but after sixty years the crooner’s unmistakeable silver hair and smiling eyes still make up one of the most recognizable faces in show biz and one of the most appealing brands to join forces with. Moving through the twenty-first century with ease, partnering up with a mother monster, a rock and roll lost soul, a country sweetheart (Carrie Underwood) and countless ladies’ men (John Mayer, Michael Buble), the Tony Bennett name goes untarnished, his sound uncompromised and his star appeal unwavering.

Download Duets II on iTunes now.

Learn more about how you can win a pair of Tony Bennett Signature Edition Headphones on OurStage.