RUMOR MILL
“I wanted to talk her out of the drugs, but unfortunately I never had a chance to talk to her."
——Tony Bennett
Thursday, August 4, 2011
WINEHOUSE SWAN SONG COMING SOON AS CHARITY SINGLE
“Body and Soul” Duet With Tony Bennett Believed to Be Her Last Completed Recording
Tony Bennett has confirmed that his recording of "Body and Soul" featuring Amy Winehouse will soon be released as a charity single. The collaboration, which was recorded earlier this year and is believed to be Winehouse’s final completed recording, is also set to appear on Tony Bennett: Duets II, streeting Sept. 20.
"Everybody was apprehensive as to how it was going to go," Bennett told Rolling Stone, speaking of their collaboration. "But she was really the best of all the young artists that I met in the current scene in the last 10 or 15 years. She was really singing true jazz. It’s just too tragic. I wanted to talk to her and tell her that if she doesn’t stop she’s going to die. I wanted to talk her out of the drugs, but unfortunately I never had a chance to talk to her."
"What's going to happen is that we're putting [‘Body and Soul’] out ahead of the album," Bennett revealed Wednesday on The Today Show. "And it's going to a foundation that her father started to teach all the young children not to take drugs, and all the royalties of the record will go to that."
In related news, Lady Gaga was "really devastated" to learn of Winehouse's death on July 23, she told Rolling Stone on Sunday while taking a break from recording a jazz duet of "The Lady Is a Tramp" with Bennett at a New York studio.
"It really affected me quite deeply," she said. "Isn’t it strange to say ‘She is,’ and now I have to say ‘She was?’ I’m just really glad that we got to admire her and tell her how much we loved her when she was alive. I hope she knows now in Heaven, where she is, how much we all loved her."As she continued talking, Gaga's eyes welled up. "I’m a huge fan," she said. "She was my only hope when I was up and coming. Nobody knew who I was and I had no fans, no record label and everybody, when they met me, said I wasn’t pretty enough or that my voice was too low or strange. They had nowhere to put me. And then I saw her in Rolling Stone and I saw her live. I just remember thinking ‘Well, they found somewhere to put Amy…’"She’s really special,” Gaga continued. “ She just gave me a lot of hope and she deserved a lot better than what people gave her. And I hope that the world learns a lesson from this. I really hope they do. Because it’s not her lesson to learn—it’s the world’s."
"Everybody was apprehensive as to how it was going to go," Bennett told Rolling Stone, speaking of their collaboration. "But she was really the best of all the young artists that I met in the current scene in the last 10 or 15 years. She was really singing true jazz. It’s just too tragic. I wanted to talk to her and tell her that if she doesn’t stop she’s going to die. I wanted to talk her out of the drugs, but unfortunately I never had a chance to talk to her."
"What's going to happen is that we're putting [‘Body and Soul’] out ahead of the album," Bennett revealed Wednesday on The Today Show. "And it's going to a foundation that her father started to teach all the young children not to take drugs, and all the royalties of the record will go to that."
In related news, Lady Gaga was "really devastated" to learn of Winehouse's death on July 23, she told Rolling Stone on Sunday while taking a break from recording a jazz duet of "The Lady Is a Tramp" with Bennett at a New York studio.
"It really affected me quite deeply," she said. "Isn’t it strange to say ‘She is,’ and now I have to say ‘She was?’ I’m just really glad that we got to admire her and tell her how much we loved her when she was alive. I hope she knows now in Heaven, where she is, how much we all loved her."
