Maps of Music

Love Story (1971)

Where the lyrics of Love Story take you, and where it was really made.

Tony Bennett's 1971 album opened on its title song, yet that single only bubbled under the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number 114.

Place unknown

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Love Story: studio album by Tony Bennett, released 10 February 1971
Conducted and arranged by Dick Hyman, Marion Evans, Marty Manning, Ralph Burns and Torrie Zito
Twelve tracks in total, opening with 'Love Story' by Carl Sigman and Francis Lai
Covers standards by Vincent Youmans, Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach, including 'Tea for Two' and 'I Want to Be Happy'
Includes songs by George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers and Martin Charnin, and Jule Styne and Bob Merrill
Other tracks include Robert Farnon's 'Country Girl' and Luiz Bonfa and Matt Dubey's 'The Gentle Rain'
Closes with 'I'll Begin Again' by Leslie Bricusse

The album mixes older popular songs with a newer title song by Sigman and Lai
Its title track was released as a single, which charted in early 1971
The album debuted on the Billboard Top LPs chart in March 1971 and stayed 13 weeks
Cash Box albums chart debut followed in late March 1971
Peak positions were 67 on Billboard and 77 on Cash Box
The album sat within the Love Story period of Bennett's catalogue, when he worked with several arrangers on one record

1	(Where Do I Begin) Love Story	3:13
2	Tea for Two	2:54
3	I Want to Be Happy	3:11
4	Individual Thing	3:29
5	I Do Not Know a Day I Did Not Love You	3:27
6	They Can’t Take That Away From Me	2:47
7	When Joanna Loved Me	3:39
8	Country Girl	2:10
9	The Gentle Rain	3:41
10	Soon It’s Gonna Rain	3:41
11	A Taste of Honey	2:55
12	I’ll Begin Again	3:48

Born Anthony Dominick Benedetto on August 3, 1926, in Long Island City, Queens, New York City.
Grew up in poverty after his father, a grocer, became unable to work and died when Tony was ten.
Sang for money from age 13 as a singing waiter in Italian restaurants in Queens.
Attended New York's School of Industrial Art but dropped out at 16 to help support his family.

Drafted into the U.S. Army in November 1944 and fought as an infantryman in the final stages of World War II.
Stayed in Germany with the occupying force and sang with an Army Special Services band under the name Joe Bari.

Studied bel canto at the American Theatre Wing on the GI Bill; Pearl Bailey and Bob Hope helped launch him, and Hope shortened his name to Tony Bennett.
Signed with Columbia Records in 1950; first number-one hit "Because of You" in 1951.
Shifted toward jazz singing in the late 1950s; "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" (1962) became his signature song.
Declined commercially during the rock era and struggled with addiction and debt until a comeback in the late 1980s, managed by his son Danny.
The 1994 MTV Unplugged album won the Grammy for Album of the Year.

Collaborated with Lady Gaga from Cheek to Cheek (2014) through Love for Sale (2021).
Won 20 Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award, and sold more than 50 million records worldwide.
Received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2005 and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Co-founded the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens with Susan Crow.

Billboard reviewed Love Story on release and praised the opening track, writing that 'Bennett starts thing rolling smoothly here with a warm and sensitive 'Love Story' that hits the mark in taste and phrasing.'
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music gave the album a three-star rating

Billboard Top LPs: debut in the issue dated 6 March 1971, 13 weeks on chart, peak number 67
Cash Box albums chart: debut in the issue dated 27 March 1971, 8 weeks on chart, peak number 77
Single '(Where Do I Begin?) Love Story' bubbled under the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks from the issue dated 13 February 1971, peaking at number 114
Sony Music Distribution included the CD in the box set The Complete Collection on 8 November 2011

The title single bubbled under the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks and peaked at number 114.
The album's CD was put into The Complete Collection box set by Sony Music Distribution on 8 November 2011.
The track list runs twelve songs, from a Francis Lai title song to classic standards.
Five conductors and arrangers are credited on the record.
The last track, 'I'll Begin Again', is credited to Leslie Bricusse alone.