West News Wire: The last of a line of American classic crooners, Tony Bennett, has away at the age of 96.
Bennett’s publicist, Sylvia Weiner, announced his passing on Friday, stating he did so in his native New York, according to news reporters. Bennett had been identified with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016, however Weiner did not specify the cause.
Anthony Dominick Benedetto, the father of Bennett, was born in the Astoria section of the Queens borough of New York.
He created hits for seven decades, including the everlasting I Left My Heart in San Francisco, thanks to his unfailingly upbeat spirit that crossed generations.
Frank Sinatra, another legendary US singer, called the former singing waiter “the best singer in the business” after he became a star in the 1950s. Bennett went on to win 20 Grammy awards, including a lifetime achievement award. generations.
The former singing waiter was referred to as “the best singer in the business” by another legendary US performer, Frank Sinatra, after he rose to fame.
Bennett’s professional life was full with highs and lows.
In the latter half of the 1970s, when he was in his 50s, he was confronted with a failing marriage, a cocaine addiction, a $2 million tax burden, and dim job prospects. He was able to escape it by handing over control to his son Danny, who helped raise his father’s profile among younger generations.
His colleagues become more varied as he got older. Bennett released a duets album with Lady Gaga in 2014 while he was in his late 80s, and the two embarked on a world tour together in 2015. On his well-liked Duet albums, he collaborated with a variety of artists, including Willie Nelson, Paul McCartney, Aretha Franklin, and more.
“Tony Bennett has not just bridged the generation gap, he has demolished it,” The New York Times said in 1994. “He has solidly connected with a younger crowd weaned on rock. And there have been no compromises.”
His renditions of old classics such as Stranger in Paradise, The Way You Look Tonight, Rags to Riches, I Wanna Be Around, The Lady Is a Tramp, and Body and Soul appealed to millions of young people.
Bennett marked his 90th birthday in 2016 with a party in New York that drew celebrities such as Hollywood actors Bruce Willis and John Travolta. The Empire State Building put on a light show in his honour. He also published a memoir in 2016 titled Just Getting Started.
Bennett revealed in early 2021 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease five years earlier, but he kept recording after the diagnosis and later tweeted, “Life is a gift – even with Alzheimer’s.”
Due to his illness, Bennett retired from performing after his final concerts at Radio City Music Hall on August 3 and 5, 2021.
