Tony Bennett to Perform at the Hollywood Bowl, 8/2

Singing legend Tony Bennett returns to the Hollywood Bowl stage for the first time since 2005, in a special one-night-only performance, Friday, August 2, at 8 pm.

In this Weekend Spectaculars concert, the 17-time Grammy-winner, whose interpretations have shaped the Great American Songbook, performs some of his most popular and crowd-pleasing hits. He will be backed by the Tony Bennett Quartet -Lee Musiker, musical director/piano; Gray Sargent, guitar; Harold Jones, drums; and Marshall Wood, bass - in the performance which takes place on the eve of his 87th birthday.

Opening the concert is Antonia Bennett, the singer's daughter. The graduate of the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston has been touring with her father for several years. She will perform a selection of jazz and popular standards backed by the Tony Bennett Quartet.

No one in popular American music has recorded for so long and at such a high level of excellence as Tony Bennett. His initial successes came via a string of Columbia singles in the early 1950's, including such chart-toppers as "Because of You," "Rags to Riches," and a remake of Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart." He had 24 songs in the Top 40, including "I Wanna Be Around," "The Good Life," "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)" and his signature song," I Left My Heart In San Francisco," which garnered him two Grammy Awards. With millions of records sold world-wide and platinum and gold albums to his credit, Bennett has received 17 Grammy awards - including a 1995 Grammy for Record of the Year for his "MTV Unplugged" CD which introduced this American master to a whole new generation and the Grammy Lifetime Award. In celebration of his 85th birthday in 2011 the release of Bennett's highly anticipatedDuets II featured Bennett performing with a new roster of celebrated artists including Andrea Bocelli, Michael Buble, Aretha Franklin, Josh Groban, Lady Gaga, John Mayer, and many others. Duets II debuted at No. 1 on the BillboardAlbum charts, making Bennett the only artist at the age of 85 to achieve this in the history of recorded music. He won two Grammys for Duets II in the 2012 Grammy ceremony, the year that marked the 50th anniversary of the recording and release of "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." A huge proponent of arts education, Bennett founded the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in 2001, and in 2009 a state-of-the-art permanent facility was built in his hometown of Astoria, Queens. With his wife, Susan Benedetto, he established Exploring the Arts, a non-profit organization that supports arts education. Exploring the Arts currently partners with 14 public high schools in New York and has just expanded its support to three public high schools in East LA.