On August 3, 1926, a star was born. That star was Anthony Benedetto, now known as Tony Bennett. In celebration of his 89th birthday, we are sharing a few fun facts about him and his life!

1. Second to music, Bennett’s passion is visual art. In his teenage years, he studied painting and music at New York’s School of Industrial Art, but dropped out at age 16 to help support his family. These days he sketches or paints every day. He’s been quite successful too. We bet you didn’t know that his paintings can be seen in galleries around the world, such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. and The National Arts Club in New York.

2. Bennett doesn’t listen to popular music. Despite singing with big pop stars on his album Duets II, he prefers the classics, performed by talents like Art Tatum, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra.

3. In 1944, during World War II, Bennett was drafted into the United States Army. He sang with the 314th Special Services Army under the stage name Joe Bari, which he modeled after the capital city of Puglia.  When he returned form the war he made a few recordings as Bari, which didn’t sell. Bob Hope happened to spot Bennett during a fateful show in which he was performing as Joe Bari, and decided to take him on the road. That’s how the Tony Bennett we all know and love was born!

4. In the late 60’s through the 70’s, Bennett struggled with drug addiction. After a near-fatal overdose in 1979, he called up his sons Danny and Dae and promised to turn his life around.  Danny is now his manager and Dae is his recording engineer.

5. In 2001, Tony founded the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, a performing Arts High School in Astoria, Queens. He named it in memory his best friend and colleague. The school is public but receives support from Exploring the Arts, a non-profit organization founded by Tony and his wife Susan, a former public school teacher, which helps fund public arts high school in New York City and Los Angeles.

Bonus fun fact: Lady Gaga gave Bennett a giant birthday cake onstage at a recent concert in celebration of his 89th birthday!