serenade the world as you sing to my piano playing. in the immortal ways, take it away tony bennett. tony's tonight duets with today's top stars. ♪ that's why the lady is a tramp ♪ >> i love lady gaga. when i first met her on this record date and i was very impressed. all of the singers that i've ever heard, amy was the best one. ♪ i'm >> as good as billie holly day, as good as ella fitzgerald even. >> his career highs and lows. >> i realized i thought i was doing well with the drugs and i really wasn't. >> tony benity in his own words and music, this is "piers morgan tonight." tony, welcome. >> thank you very much. >> how are you? >> just fine, thank you. >> life good? >> couldn't be better. >> you could say that again. what an extraordinary life you've had. >> i know. >> do you ever stop to actually look back and think good god. >> at my age you do that. if you go right back to the beginning, early family, with the wonderful italian-american family that i grew up with. >> what do you think when you think back to those days? >> i love what happened because i had all my uncles and aunts and nieces and nephews, they were all good people, hard-working people, and they were all very human and very helpful to me, personally. they gave me a passion for my whole life. at a very early age they loved the way i sang and painted and that became my extreme passion, and it's been that way throughout my whole life. >> what values did they instill in you about the community you had, family and friends. >> they just liked -- well aside from the great food, my mom was a great cook, but she had a tough time because my father died when i was 10 and she had to raise my brother and my sister and myself, it was during the depression, to put food, with he had very humble start, and she was just beautiful, and all my relatives would come over every sunday, and make a circle around my brother, sister and myself, and we would entertain them. >> really? >> yeah, and -- >> you would sing for your supper, would you? >> well, that's what happened actually. i mean they would say, look at how he makes us laugh and -- >> is that when you got that excitement, that you thought this is for me? >> i remember very clearly saying, this is who i am. my family is telling me, who i love, the family i love, the family, and they're telling me that i sing well and that i paint well, and that created a very strong passion in my life. >> because i always -- i've got three sons now and all i say to them is you've got to find a passion and then chase that passion. if you end up doing a job you love, as you know, you're never going to be bored. you're never going to wake up and think i've got to go to work today. you wake up and you're tony bennett. you're going to go and sing or paint or whatever it may be, but everything you do, you love doing. don't you? >> it's he never a bother for me. i don't need a vacation. i'm on vacation, because i'm doing the two things i love. so you're right. >> the new album, they say you can always judge a man by the company of the people that he keeps, tony. on this album "duets two" it's an extraordinary roll call, lady gaga, john mayer, amy winehouse, we'll talk about later, michael buble, sheryl crow, norah jones, mariah carey and so on. an extraordinary collection of amazing singers. do any of the ones on this album match up in quality of voice to the greats like sinatra or is it different these days? >> well, you know, i started with a duets one, that was so successful that sony columbia said please do another one like that. and the new artists, the names that you just mentioned, what i love about was the first time they all came out of schools and they're all taught unlike when rosemary clooney and i started, the late rosemary clooney, we were just amateurs hoping for a break, and she came in first, she won an amateur contest like "american idol" you know she came in first, i came in second and rightfully so because she was a beautiful singer and a lovely human being, and we were told by the old masters like george burns and jack benny, they said, son, you're off to a good start but it's going to take you seven years before you become a competent performer, performing in front of an audience, but now these new schools, they're teaching them what to expect and how to be prepared. >> and in your experience, are they as prepared and ready and able to nurture their talent in the same way you could after years of treading those boards? is it as good? >> they were all very professional. they were all prepared. they came in. i loved lady gaga. when i first met her on this record date, and she was -- she went to the whole staff after it was finished, the recording that we did, thanking them for believing in her. she was so sweet to everybody, to every stagehand and everybody, "thank you for being so nice to me" and all that and i was very impressed with that. >> the great thing with you, you've had this as i said extraordinary career where you are absolutely huge to the 50s and 60s, one of the great stars of the world and then you hit the wall a bit. >> what's fascinating about my life, my family became is b bennebe benedetto and translated into english it's the blessed one. funny it's worked out because from 1950 until this very moment, 99% of the time i've been sold out all over the world. >> is that right? >> especially in your great country, britain. >> they love to you britain. >> i know, i love it. >> how long would you say the period of you know, the timing of your career when it wasn't firing on all cylinders, how long was that period when you were slightly feeling maybe it's over? >> i tell you, it was about six months, and that was in las vegas, it was when the underworld, who invented las vegas, gave it over to the big corporations, because it made so much plun. las vegas made so much money, they bought caesar's palace, they bought the hilton hotel, they bought everything, and that's when that change came about, and it wasn't just my career but everybody in vegas had to take a step down before they got re-evaluated. >> how did all that success, period make you feel? >> i don't feel like ever retiring. i'm only as good as my next show. the other one is gone you see. >> in your autobiography published in 1998, you shed light on a darker time you had in hollywood mainly in the '70s and you said this about drugs. "cocaine flowed as freely as champagne and it seemed like the hip thing to do but as time went on it got harder to refuse it. i overindill unlged and quickly realized i was in trouble." you were going through what almost every hollywood star goes through at some stage when you see the younger stars these days or younger entertainers, not called necessarily stars but when you see how much more available drugs now are, even than they were in their day, does it concern you? >> i learned, jack rollins, woody allen's manager, he said that he managed lenny bruce years ago, who is a brilliant man and he made one sentence that changed my life. he said, "he sinned against his talent." somehow at any given moment you can learn, you know, and that sentence did it for me. i realized that i thought i was doing well with the drugs, and i really wasn't. and i realized that i'm sinning against the gift that was given to me by nature, and by my influence of my great family, and it really stopped me cold. i did not withdraw. i had no recovery period. the minute i stopped it, i felt relieved. i felt normal. i didn't have to hide to smoke or, do those other naughty things. all of a sudden i was just honest. >> do you feel fortunate that you were able to do that? >> it was a blessing. it changed my life. >> did you have friends, colleagues and so on who were not fortunate, who ended up being ruined by drugs? >> that's right, especially amy winehouse, that's the one thing i regretted that when i recorded with her, i into you about her reputation and so did everybody else, especially in britain, who everybody in britain loved her work and rightfully so, she was a great singer, better than any of the young people i've ever heard, and i was never able to stop on the side and tell her, slow down, because you're going to destroy yourself if you don't. >> let's have a break and come back and talk more about amy winehouse. >> sure. >> because it was a fascinating relationship, a short one between the two of you. >> surely, thank you. ♪ it's up to you, body and soul ♪ ale announcer ] if you're giving an amazing gift, shouldn't it be given in an amazing way? ♪ the lexus december to remember sales event is here, but only for a limited time. see your lexus dealer. diarrhea, gas or bloating? get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! 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♪ body and soul >> the first time i met tone was -- i called him tone, the first time i met tone, should you ask him first really before you start, okay. first time i met tone i would say was, i took my dad, my stepmother, and my boyfriend to see him, and we went both. ♪ i'm over you >> amy winehouse talking about her duet with tony bennett. when she called you tone. >> that's nice. >> cheeky. she was an extraordinary character, amy winehouse and i interviewed her father a few weeks ago and he was very moving about it. he said she was a fun-loving, very amusing girl, incredibly talented, came from no real background of this at all. when you got together with her, you said before the break how gifted she was. put that in perspective, because to me she was one of the best singer/song writers to have emerged in a very, very long time, wasn't she? >> um-hum, dwryeah. it was a big major change in my life when it came to the fashions of music. i grew up with ten years older than the great frank sinatra and he was my master, you know, and i just loved him, but then there was also nat king cole and joe stafford and peggy lee and all of these wonderful singers and the whole premise in those days were to singers to do such good performances, like judy garland with "somewhere over the rainbow" or sinatra with "the wee small hours of the morning" to actually own a song by the performance that they gave, that kind of stopped when elvis presley became famous, and then on to the rolling stones and then the beatles and all this, and they were all very competent singers, as big as they were, they went into stadiums. before that everybody sang in intimate little cabarets, and that's how they became famous. >> where did amy rank from all of the -- >> of all the singers i ever heard amy was the best one. >> seriously? >> she was a true great pop jazz singer. she heard everything. she sang, she was influenced just by the right music. she had the ears to know just what to leave out and what to put in, and more than anything else, one of the secrets of a good performing singer is this, the heart. and she never sang a line that she didn't mean. everything she said, it was as good as billy holiday, as good as el will fitzgerald. she was as good as that level. she was a great singer. >> where were you, tony, when you heard that she died? >> i was athe who em. it was a month after i recorded with her, and the first thing i got, i teared up and was so emotional about it because i didn't -- >> how did you hear about it in. >> my son called me up and told me she just died, and i couldn't believe it, because i wanted to really tell her, to invite her to the palladium where i'm going to perform there, and i wanted to talk to her about slowing down because you could get very hurt if you don't. and i wanted to try and stop her, like the way someone was nice enough to stop me, and i didn't do it. i felt very regretful that i didn't have the chance to talk to her >> becaucould you see the way t were going with her? could you snell. >> yes. >> you feared she was heading down the wrong road? >> yes, it would have been disastrous. >> it's very sad. >> it is really sad. >> a sad loss. >> but you know everybody is sad about it except one person that i met, and that's her original mother. i met her in new york, she came and visited me at my home, my apartment, and she said something beautiful that i couldn't -- i was very, very impressed with her mom. because she said "you know, it's funny, everybody really feels regretful about my daughter but i knew what she really wanted to do and what her dream was, and she actually won. she died making it happen." she says, "she did what she wanted to do really happened," and seen though she had a short life she brian what her dream was. touching. >> incredibly touching. and possibly true. >> um-hum. >> in a strange way. >> i can understand that and really, i understood her mother feeling that way. it's different. >> it's very different. i get how she feels as well, the mother. >> um-hum. >> she did have a remarkable achievement, amy, for such a short life. >> and it worked. >> if she's watching this wherever she is, i think hearing you say that she was one of the greatest singers you ever worked with, that would be an amazing thing for her to say. >> i sent her mom a letter explaining that i thought that was a wonderful way of looking at it. >> you've been, as i said before, you've had moments in your life where it's not been happy. it's not been great. there was an anecdote in your book about a time when, you know, you took some kind of overdose. you ended up possibly being in a position where you may even have died. when you remember how you felt then, how did you come through that kind of this ing? when people are huge entertainers, it brings with it particular pressures, doesn't it? >> at any given moment you can learn. it's the greatest line i've ever read or heard anybody ever say, at any given moment you can learn, and that's what happened to me. it was that moment, when i just realized if i keep going, this is not going to work. and i had two strong a passion to actually sing as good as i can, and to really respect the audience and never compromise, and only sing very well-written songs. don't try to just make a cheap hit to make money. i wasn't interested in that. i didn't want a hit record. i wanted a hit catalogue, and it was a difficult thing to do, but it worked. >> would you have any vices these days? >> none. >> you're as squeaky clean as i imagine you must be. >> absolutely. >> do you drink at all? >> i have a glass of wine at night. >> and you can enjoy it? >> yes, completely. >> you don't smoke? >> ably the cocaine days are behind you now tony. >> completely. i have no bad habits now. >> is it important for any -- can any singers who are watching this, because they all get temptation thrown their way, how important is self-discipline for a singer? >> it's something you can't teach. pearl bailey started me out, from this amateur show that i was on and put me, it was the first job i got in greenwich village and she said, "son, you have a good talent but look out for the helium in the brain," that's what the line was and it was very clear, even when she said that but nevertheless, when you are hit with a lot of success at first, you really get confused about -- you feel invincible, you know, and that's not natural. what's happening to me right now is, i have a new album. i'm not just plugging this. i'm telling you my son, danny, has been managing me for 45 years. it's a fantastic reaction to an album, and all the years, i've always had every decade, six decades i've had hit records right aening llong but not like. this album is so big that if it happened to me when i was 25, i would probably end up, like what happened to elvis presley, where toward the end of his life it became bloated or marilyn monroe, where she ended up with a tragic life. this is happening just at the right time for me. that's what i meant about being a blessed person. because -- >> how much of your ability to be successful for so long do you think is down to having strong people like your mother in your early life to see you? >> it meant everything. it meant everything. it meant everything. it gave me the proper, natural human love, and it worked. >> let's take another break. i want to come back and talk to you about politics, about when you marched back in the '60s, the civil rights marches, martin luther king, the kennedys and indeed president obama today. we'll see where your thoughts over all that is. ♪ san francisco ♪ its golden sun will shine for me ♪ . really? 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[ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth! so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. ♪ when i come home to you, san francisco ♪ ♪ your golden sun will shine for me ♪ >> that was your theme, really "i left my heart in san francisco." >> that's my signature song. >> do you ever get tired of singing it? >> no, not at all. it's a beautiful song and it's a magnificent city in the united states. >> if you had five minutes to live, what song would you sing? >> i'd sing the last line of that song. >> would you? >> "your golden sun will shine for me." >> great line, and that would do you. >> "when i come home to you san francisco, your golden sun will shine for me." because it's not just about the city. it's about every optimistic person on the planet. we all love to be optimistic. we are instinctively optimistic and that song says it. everybody has a dream, and a hope that something's going to work for them, and then when it happens, it's a great joy. >> in the '60s, you got involved in the american civil rights movement. you participated in the '68 selma to montgomery marches. did you think then when martin luther king was assassinated, did you think in your lifetime you would see a black president in america? >> i think it's the greatest accomplishment that the united states ever came up with. i hope it's magnificent, because he's not only an african-american, but he's not -- you know, i've always respected intellectual people, and he's an intellect. >> he's intelligent. >> no, he's mo