#31: Happiness Street (Corner Sunshine Square) by Tony Bennett
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CJCH
Peak Month: October 1956
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #6
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #38
YouTube: “Happiness Street (Corner Sunshine Square)”
Lyrics: “Happiness Street (Corner Sunshine Square)”
Anthony Dominick Benedetto was born in New York City in 1926. His parents were grocer John Benedetto and seamstress Anna (nee Suraci), and he was the first member of his family to be born in a hospital. Both parents had come from the Calabria region in southern Italy. With a father who was ailing and unable to work, Anthony and his brother and sister grew up with their parents in poverty. Anthony had an uncle in vaudeville who inspired him as a young child to consider entertaining as a career. By age 10 Anthony was already singing, and performed at the opening of the Triborough Bridge, standing next to Mayor Fiorello La Guardia who patted him on the head. He began singing for money at age 13, performing as a singing waiter in several Italian restaurants around Queens. Though he had an aptitude to study painting and music, he dropped out at age 16 to help support his family. He worked as a copy boy and runner for the Associated Press in Manhattan and in several other low-skilled, low-paying jobs. Anthony mostly set his sights on a professional singing career, returning to performing as a singing waiter, playing and winning amateur nights all around the city, and enjoying a successful engagement at a nightclub in Paramus, New Jersey.