Posted December, 2014
In this day and age when families – both “average” and celebrity – are torn apart, it’s always refreshing to see a family who appears to have it all together. This is especially true of any family whose life is lived in a fish bowl and in the spotlight of fame.
Such is the case of Tony Bennett and his relationship with his lovely daughter, Antonia. These two have the fortunate blessing of being able to work together on stage often in recent years. Classically trained and further schooled by her legendary father, Antonia is receiving kudos as a singer in her own right with successful touring and catalog of work that is garnering lots of positive attention.
During a recent chat with Boomerocity, Antonia chatted about her dad’s influence on her career so far and her new album, Embrace Me.
Commenting on how it is working with Mr. Bennett and what she’s observed, Antonia offers, “We really get along with one another and care about each other and I do realize what a special opportunity this is. There are not very many people who have got to do this with their parents. I do understand what a blessing it is.”
What she’s learned from travelling and performing with her dad, Ms. Bennett says, “I think the biggest things is really his endurance level and how he never really complains about things. If something comes up last minute and he just has to do it, he does it and he's less tired than any of us. I don't know how to explain it because it's just something that he innately has or because he grew up in the depression and it's a different mentality. I think that's part of it but I think, with him, it goes beyond that. He definitely has this surge of energy in moments where we all should be extraordinarily tired or are always extraordinarily tired. He finds the energy to push though and make it happen in a very natural and effortless way and still in a very kind of thankful way.
“I think that the other thing is . . . when you see somebody of his stature that has had such a long career - and he really has had a remarkable long career - we all wish that we could have the longevity that he does. But I’ve seen him through a lot of different phases in my life. In my lifetime, I've seen his career go through a lot of phases. The thing that comes home to me is that, whatever level you're at, there's always perks and there's always problems.
Problems and the perks might be different on one level than they are another but it's the same thing. It just manifests in kind 
of a different way. The idea of being able to look at something and problem solve and again push through it and really be thankful for the experience and to be there and to be able to do this in front of people and they love what you are doing and you love what you're doing. That's really such a special thing.”
Anotonia continues by saying, “It is interesting how you feel when something like that happens when you watch your parents get older. Obviously my dad is in great health. You see the changes. It is interesting how it puts you in a position to be able to let go of a lot of stuff when you’re thinking for them or of them in that way.”
Antonia excitedly talked about her new album, Embrace me.
“The songs on this record are really the songs that I grew up listening to. This record was made really spur of the moment. I knew I had always wanted to do a jazz project. I was in New York and I called up my friend, Paul Nowinski, who was the bass player on that record, and I said, ‘I'm in town.’ He said, ‘Oh, I have great trio right now that I'm working with and you should see if you can get some studio time.’ So, it kind of manifested like that.
“It was a very natural progression and because we had played together for so many years there was a comfort level there. We did some of our favorite songs. It was a very collaborative process. We went into the studio and I think that you can really see the collaborative nature between the musicians. You can see that we're having a good time. It's something, again, that I really feel came very naturally and organically. We have wishful thinking for a potential Grammy nomination and we're just kind of moving forward and hoping to get this out there.”
Embrace Me is available online and wherever quality music is sold.
