Suzanne Chiles is the creator of and primary author for The Year of Tony Bennett.
Suzanne was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1950. She studied piano and clarinet and played clarinet in her high school band and was first chair clarinet for the Birmingham Youth Symphony. She had the great pleasure of playing in pit orchestras for musicals while in high school and college.
Suzanne earned a Bachelor of Arts in Theater in 1972 from Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama. She then earned a Master of Fine Arts in Theater in 1976 from Trinity University at the Dallas Theater Center in Dallas, Texas. She worked as a professional lighting designer, stage manager and technical director for regional professional theaters. After a career in theater, she became a technical writer and works today as a software technical writer for a Fortune 500 company. She also founded Fresh Ink Foundry, a company that specializes in preparing books for publication for all book readers, including the Kindle, Nook, and iPad devices for the Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Apple bookstores.
Suzanne lives in the Portland, Oregon area with her cat, Ani. Her hobbies, in addition to blogging about Tony Bennett, include reading, writing, and attending plays and concerts. She regularly attends the Monterey Jazz Festival.
She has been a fan of the Great American Songbook for as long as she can remember.
It was great meeting you and Lesley at the Monterey Jazz Festival. I’ve enjoyed the blog since then. It is really fun to read every day and listen to the song.
Hi Nina! Thanks so much for continuing to visit the blog. Lesley and I are really glad that we got to meet you at Monterey this year. Lots of great releases from Mr. Bennett coming up for us all to look forward to: Viva Duets, The Life is a Gift book, and the theatrical and streaming video release of The Zen of Bennett!
Thank you for all you do on behalf of Tony Benedetto.
I am very impressed with all you have accomplished in life.
You have a wonderful résumé !
I am always willing to assist anyone who wants to further TONY BENNETT’s wonderful career
In the old days we’d sin off by saying:
Bennettly yours,
Nick Riggio
Thanks, Nick. I was very lucky to have parents who encouraged my brother and I in every way possible, with instruments and music lessons and the promise of paying for our undergraduate education.
Bennettly yours,
Suzanne