Tony Bennett On 'The Good Life'

If you're looking for someone whose art links the generations, look no further than Tony Bennett, whose magic seems to touch everyone. He has been making music for 50 years now. CBS This Morning Co- Anchor Mark McEwen spent some time with the performer to talk about life and music, and to find out what it means to last for 50 years in show business.

"It means I have a charmed life, because I happen to love what I do," Bennett says. "My family name is Benedetto and translated into Italian, it means 'the blessed one.' That's where I'm at. I've been very fortunate. I count my blessings every morning."

The biggest change for him in recent years has been a calming down, says Bennett. "I used to be very emotional when I was younger, very nervous and upset about things all the time. Now, it's nature itself. As you get older, you just finally say, well, this is what's new."

In his new autobiography, Tony Bennett: The Good Life, Bennett looks back at his triumphs and struggles. He is candid in the book about his own past drug use.

When asked why he decided to talk about it, Bennett says that a lot of his friends died of drug abuse. And, he says, "It's against lifeÂ… I've never been addicted actually. The only thing I've been addicted to is coffee. But it was party time in the '60s. Everybody was doing all kinds of stuff. I got out just in time. The ones that didn't get out in time died."

In the 60's, Bennett also marched side by side with Martin Luther King Jr. Why did he do it?

"I just cannot stand bigotry. It's so dangerous," he says simply. "I'm always looking for the next stage in human development. When is everybody going to learn we're all here, everybody's here, we're all going to go through the same process, we're born, we live, we die. As long as we accept that, everything is mellow."

Bennett's love of music goes hand in hand with a love of art. Painting is another way to communicate. "I entertain people with paintings, which is singing. I love communicating like that," he says.

Tony Bennett has always been great at communicating. His latest album is a collection of songs for children called The Playground. It's the latest in a string of albums in the '90s.

Frank Sinatra said he was the finest singer for his money. Bennett found that to be the most generous act one artist could do for another.

"I was always a happy-go-lucky singer. I was just having fun singing b-bop and listening to Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker at Birdland and saying, this is it, this is the kind of music I like," says Bennett. "But when he said that, I had to live up to that accolade. So, he really lifted me up by my bootstraps, helped me a lot."

Though he has more than lived up to the accolade, Tony Bennett hopes for a more modest egacy: "I like to be known as a good person. That's it."

To celebrate Tony Bennett's 50 years in show business, Mark McEwen will host a tribute Monday night on the A&E cable network.