I'll have whatever Tony Bennett's been having. The inimitable crooner, who launched his career when Harry Truman was president and Gene Autry and the Andrew Sisters were at the top of the charts, is celebrating his 85th birthday this year with a new album. The songs on Duets II, culled from the Great American Songbook, aren't super-surprising, but the artists who sing with him are. Let's start with Lady Gaga. She and Bennett perform "The Lady Is a Tramp." Then there's Sheryl Crow, Carrie Underwood, Queen Latifah and Willie Nelson. The late Amy Winehouse sings "Body and Soul" with Bennett. The album also features Norah Jones and Bennett trading verses on the 1940s Broadway song "Speak Low." You can see them perform in studio together here:
In this short interview, Jones shares some of her thoughts on getting to work and record with Tony Bennett.
Phil Ramone, who's worked with everyone from Karen Carpenter and Burt Bacharach to Madonna, Sinead O'Connor and Paul McCartney, produced Duets II. The album is due out Sept. 20.
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