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Funds from 'Body and Soul' single from Bennett's forthcoming Duets II will go to Mitch Winehouse's foundation to help those battling addiction.
By Jocelyn Vena

Amy Winehouse
Photo: Ben Stansall/ AFP/ Getty Images

Tony Bennett hooked up with a number of modern pop stars for his September release, Duets II. And in the sea of A-list collaborators including Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey, Michael Buble, John Mayer and Carrie Underwood, to name a few, one name in particular stands out. Bennett was likely the last person to record with Amy Winehouse prior to her death last month.

Winehouse appears on the song "Body and Soul," and when Bennett sat down on the "Today" on Tuesday, he gave the late singer props for her professionalism in the recording studio. "That's right, that was the last record she made," he said. "It was great. She sang beautifully."

The legendary crooner also revealed that the track, which closes out the star-studded album, will serve as a charity single. The singer's dad, Mitch Winehouse, announced shortly after his daughter's death that he was planning to start a foundation that would assist people in getting help for addiction.

"Actually, what's going to happen is that we're putting that out ahead of the album [due out September 20]," Bennett said. "And it's going to a foundation that her father started to teach all the young children not to take drugs, and all the royalties of the record will go to that."

In an interview with the BBC last month, which teased a bit of the jazzy duet between the two, Bennett sang the praises of Winehouse. "Amy was beautiful. She was quite nervous but I thought I met Sinatra before a show and he was nervous and Duke Ellington and he was nervous. What calmed her down when we did the record, and I'll never forget it, I said the way you sound [you sound like] Dinah Washington ... and that calmed her down. She's truly a good jazz singer. She's not making believe it's jazz. She's completely original and she's good at it."

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