More than anybody else I'd like to thank Count Basie for teaching me how to perform.

Sharon told Bennett that a career singing "sweet saccharine songs like 'Blue Velvet'" wouldn't last long and encouraged Bennett to focus even more on his jazz inclinations. Da Capo Press. Morgan as co-hosts of the summer-long Perry Presents.

Raised in New York City Bennett began singing at an early age. Several top hits such as "Rags to Riches" followed in the early 1950s. Army in the European Theatre.