I know I’m lucky. I am lucky to have been born in America and in the most vibrant city in the world. I’m lucky to have had parents who loved me unreservedly, and though I lost my father when I was just ten, my mother devoted her life to me and my brother and sister. And I’m lucky to have had an older brother and sister who always looked out for me.
I’m lucky to have grown up during the Great Depression and now to live in a place that overlooks Central Park.
I’m lucky to have served in a war and survived. I know a lot of people who didn’t.
I’m lucky to have lived to sing and make a living at it. I’m lucky to have come along at a time when I could sing some of the greatest songs of all time, by some of the greatest songwriters, and lucky to have worked alongside some of the truly great talents. I am lucky to have known, among so many names I cherish, Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Lady Gaga, Louis Armstrong, Amy Winehouse, and the queen of England (who is even a little older than me).
I am lucky to have found love and have four amazing children and seven incredible grandchildren.
I am lucky to have had success, lost my way, had some rough times, and been able to come roaring back. I am lucky to have met people all over the world and been able to bring something into their lives.
I am lucky to have worked with my pianist, Ralph Sharon, for fifty years, and that he found a song that he left for years in his shirt drawer called “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” And I’m lucky to still be working with magnificent musicians who tour with me along the way through so many great venues around the world.
I am lucky to still be singing, performing, and entertaining people all over the world at an age that is long after many great performers have retired. And I’m just getting started.
This book is about people who have helped, influenced, and steered me along the way. Some, like my parents, I knew very well. A few I didn’t know at all. But I’ve been lucky that their lives, their work, their words, their example have helped inspire and steer me.
I’ve learned a lot about singing from composers and instrumentalists, but also from artists, painters, and looking at the trees in Central Park. And I’ve learned a lot about life from my own family, the people with whom I’ve worked, names you’ve heard and those you haven’t, and people I’ve met along the road and on the street (and these days by e-mail). I hope I’ve learned from my own experiences and even—especially—from my own mistakes. As I come singing, happily and steadily, into my ninety-first year, this book is about some of the lives that have made mine the blessing it has been to me.
No one is alone—onstage or in life. A singer is lucky to be in the spotlight. But each breath and note are a partnership between the talents who write the song, the musicians who bring it alive, and only then—finally—the man or woman who gives the song a voice. I try to put everything into that song—and into life.
Life abounds with lessons, if we’re lucky enough to be alert to them. But they’re not always what we think they’re about. Experiences leave marks in our minds and hearts. Years later, we find that they snap into place.
Tuscany