'He didn't bridge the generation gap, he destroyed it,' his son and manager, Danny Bennett, said.
In 1951, Bennett's first big hit,"Because of You," reached No. 1 on the pop charts and sold more than 1 million copies. And because of Bennett, music lovers of all ages would fall in love with the classic standards of the pre-rock and roll era that he interpreted — and reinterpreted — throughout his career.
After the war, the singer, then known as Joe Bari, opened for Bob Hope, who asked what Bennett's real name was. Bennett also gave his voice to the civil rights movement. In 1965, he joined the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Privately he was equally committed to the cause. In the 1970s, Bennett's life went off the rails. Trying gamely but unsuccessfully to sing rock and roll, he was abusing alcohol and cocaine, at one point almost drowning in his bathtub.
A fitting comparison: When Bennett wasn't holding a mic, he was handling a brush. Bennett said he loved to paint as much as he loved to sing.
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