Tony Bennett & Top Latin Music Artists Star In Univision's Holiday Special "Feliz Navidad Con Los Nuestros...Tony Bennett y Sus Amigos" on Sunday, December 9th at 10:00pm ET

In Historic event, Bennett Becomes First Non-Latino Artist with Univision Primetime Special

Hosted By Univision's Giselle Blondet, the one hour music special will give an inside look at the recording of Bennett's critically praised "Viva Duets" Album - Featuring segments with Marc Anthony, Gloria Estefan, Romeo Santos, Vicente Fernandez, Thalia,

The special will also highlight solo performances of two Bennett classics and unveil newly recorded duets with Shaila Durcal and Armando Manzanero - Including a heartfelt rendition of "Silent Night" to usher in the Holiday Season

11/27/2012

NEW YORK, Nov. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Legendary entertainer and 17-time Grammy Winner Tony Bennett will become the first non-Hispanic celebrity personality to star in a primetime broadcast special on Univision - the country's leading Hispanic television network.  Set to air on Sunday, December 9th at 10:00pm ET, "Feliz Navidad Con Los Nuestros...Tony Bennett y Sus Amigos" is a unique mix of live performances and filmed vignettes related to Bennett's newly released CD, VIVA DUETS - which features the singer performing his greatest hits with today's top Latin music artists.

Hosted by Univision's Giselle Blondet, the hour-long special will share exclusive behind-the scenes footage from the recording of VIVA DUETS - including studio performances and Segments with Marc Anthony, Romeo Santos, Gloria Estefan, Vicente Fernandez, Thalia, Juan Luis Guerra, Chayanne & more of today's leading Latin music figures. Tony Bennett will also treat audiences to solo performances of his classic hits "I Wanna Be Around" and "I Left My Heart In San Francisco," and unveil new duet performances with Latin stars Shaila Durcal and Armando Manzanero. Bennett will join Manzanero on a special rendition of the famed composer's "Yesterday I Heard The Rain," and collaborate with Durcal on "Steppin' Out (With My Baby)," and a heartfelt performance of "Silent Night" to usher in the holiday season.

VIVA DUETS recently debuted at #5 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart, giving Bennett his third consecutive top five album during his '80's (including the multi-platinum DUETS and DUETS II releases). Hailed by press as "a sublime & jovial meeting of cultures... a bilingual beauty and musical masterpiece,"  VIVA DUETS also hit #1 on iTunes charts in the U.S. and several  Latin-American countries - including Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and El Salvador.

Tony Bennett commented, "It has been a heartwarming journey to meet and record with all the artists from the Latin music world and I have been overwhelmed by their generous spirit and musicality.  I am truly honored to have been welcomed into this community of artists."

"We are honored to have a musical legend like Tony Bennett on our air," " said Alberto Ciurana, president of Programming & Content, Univision Networks. "His music transcends cultures and speaks to our commitment to celebrate our culture and connect America, which is why we are proud to bring this event alongside an A-list line up of guests to our viewers."

About Tony Bennett:
Entering his seventh decade as a recording artist with 17 Grammy Awards including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award to his credit, Bennett has earned his legendary status many times over. He remains the Columbia recording artist with the greatest longevity at the label and his DUET II CD, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Album charts making him the oldest artist to achieve the top spot at the age of 85.  His 2007 prime-time special, "Tony Bennett: An American Classic," won seven Emmy Awards and was directed by Academy Award winner Rob Marshall.  He is a Kennedy Center Honoree and an NEA Jazz Master. Bennett marched alongside Martin Luther King in his 1965 civil rights march and was honored with the Martin Luther King's Salute to Greatness Award and the UN's Humanitarian Award. In addition to performing, he is a visual artist as well, with three of his original paintings featured in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC.  He has published three books - his autobiography, "The Good Life," and two books of his paintings, "Tony Bennett: What My Heart Has Seen," and "Tony Bennett In the Studio: A Life of Art and Music."  Bennett founded, in association with the Department of Education in New York City, the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts - a public arts high school in his hometown of Astoria, Queens. With his wife Susan, he established Exploring the Arts, a charitable organization which supports arts education in NYC public high schools.  Exploring the Arts supports 14 public high schools throughout New York City.  This fall he will release a new book, LIFE IS A GIFT and the documentary film, THE ZEN OF BENNETT. For more information please visit www.tonybennett.com, www.zenofbennett.comwww.exploringthearts.org.

About Univision Communications Inc.
Univision Communications Inc. (UCI) is the leading media company serving Hispanic America. Its assets include Univision Network, one of the top five networks in the U.S. regardless of language and the most-watched Spanish-language broadcast television network in the country reaching 96% of U.S. Hispanic households; TeleFutura Network, a general-interest Spanish-language broadcast television network reaching 88% of U.S. Hispanic households; Univision Cable Networks, including Galavision, the country's leading Spanish-language cable network, as well as Univision tlnovelas, a new 24-hour cable network dedicated to novelas, Univision Deportes Network, a new 24-hour cable network dedicated to sports, ForoTV, a new 24-hour Spanish-language cable network dedicated to news, and an additional  suite of six cable offerings - De Pelicula, De Pelicula Clasico, Bandamax, Ritmoson, Telehit and Clasico TV; Univision Studios, which produces and co-produces reality shows, dramatic series and other programming formats for the Company's platforms; Univision Television Group, which owns and/or operates 62 television stations in major U.S. Hispanic markets and Puerto Rico; Univision Radio, the leading Hispanic radio group which owns and/or operates 69 radio stations in 16 of the top 25 U.S. Hispanic markets and Puerto Rico; Univision Interactive Media, a network of national and local online and mobile sites including Univision.com, which continues to be the #1 most-visited Spanish-language website among U.S. online Hispanics, Univision Movil, a longstanding industry-leader with unique, relevant mobile products and services, and Univision Partner Group, a specialized advertising and publisher network. Headquartered in New York City, UCI has television network operations in Miami and television and radio stations and sales offices in major cities throughout the United States. For more information, please visit Univision.net.

(Clips and photos of the Tony Bennett special on Univision available upon request)

SOURCE RPM/Columbia Records

For further information: Clara Pablo, for Univision, +1-305-471-3915, cpablo@univision.net; or John Reilly, for Rogers & Cowan, +1-212-878-5076, jreilly@rogersandcowan.com; or Sylvia Weiner, for RPM Productions, +1-908-301-1779, sweiner@rpm-productions.com