Legendary singer Tony Bennett dead at 96

Tony Bennett, who has died after a battle with Alzheimer’s, had been singing and playing piano just days before his death.

Legendary singer Tony Bennett, who died on Friday aged 96, had been singing and playing piano just days before his death.

During a career that spanned eight decades, the crooner sold millions of records and won 20 Grammys, including a lifetime achievement award.

His biggest hits included The Way You Look Tonight, Fly Me To The Moon and (I Left My Heart) In San Francisco.

Fellow singer Frank Sinatra called Bennett “the greatest popular singer in the world”.

He was married three times and had four children.

Tony left us today but he was still singing the other day at his piano and his last song was, “Because of You,” his first #1 hit.

Tony, because of you we have your songs in our heart forever. ❤ pic.twitter.com/hsOqtSdTNg

— Tony Bennett (@itstonybennett) July 21, 2023

Bennett famously said in 2011 that “I’ve never worked a day in my life because I love what I do”.

Bennett’s death was confirmed by his publicist Sylvia Weinert who said he passed away in his home town of New York.

A cause of death was not given. However, in 2021, it was confirmed he had been diagnosed with the degenerative brain disease Alzheimer's in 2016.

“Tony left us today but he was still singing the other day at his piano and his last song was, Because of You his first number one hit,” Bennett’s team said on a social media post.

“Tony, because of you we have your songs in our heart forever.”

Singer Tony Bennett has died

Despite this he continued to perform until 2021 including a notable collaboration with Lady Gaga that saw him introduced to scores of younger fans in his ninth decade.

The two appeared on stage and produced two albums together. They were awarded a Grammy for their album Cheek to Cheek in 2015.

His duets with Lady Gaga made Bennett the oldest person ever to have a number one album, at the age of 88.

Bennett also performed with Aretha Franklin and Fred Astaire among others.

He came to Australia on multiple occasions including in 2012 where he was snapped on a bench in Sydney painting the Opera House.

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, winners of Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for 'Cheek to Cheek,' pose in the press room during The 57th Annual Grammy Awards in 2015. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Tony Bennett shows off his painting of the Sydney Opera House in 2015.

Bennett was born in 1926 in the then hard scrabble neighbourhood of Astoria in the Queens borough of New York City, the son of Italian immigrants. His birth name was Anthony Dominick Benedetto.

But it was fellow singer Bob Hope who rechristened him as “Tony Bennett”.

He and his older brother John were performers from a young age but while John preferred opera, Bennett was all in on the popular tunes of the time.

The family was rocked by his father’s death, when Tony was just 10, meaning the sons had to help their mother make ends meet.

He studied at the New York School of Industrial Art but to bring in a wage he took on a job as a singing waiter.

Tony Bennett in London in 1976. (Photo by David Redfern/Redferns)

Tony Bennett at the Sydney Opera House.

His artistic career was interrupted by World War II when he served as US Army infantryman in France and Germany.

In Wiesbaden, Germany, Bennett would perform with a US Army band for a radio show broadcast across thee war torn nation. It was the first time his voice had been heard by many people.

“During this period in the army, I enjoyed the most musical freedom I’ve ever had in my life,” Bennett later said.

“I could sing whatever I wanted, and there was no one around to tell me any different”.

After the war, Bennett became a crooner of commercial pop tunes and eventually signed with Columbia Records.

His first smash hit came in 1951 with Because of You, which gained popularity on jukeboxes, then reached number one on the pop charts, selling over a million copies.

Bennett’s career continued to skyrocket during the ‘50s with albums such as The Beat of My Heart and Basie Wings, Bennett Sings.

Tony Bennett with his second wife Sandra Grant and daughter, Joanne.

Against racism

He was outspoken against racism, dining with black troops during the war and performing with black fellow singers when the country was deeply divided on race.

In a then risky move for a popular entertainer, he accepted an invitation from singer Harry Belafonte to join civil rights icon Martin Luther King in the 1965 march from Selma, Alabama in support of equal voting rights for African-Americans.

Changing musical trends almost swept Bennett and his crooning ilk away. But by then he had a loyal audience.

“When rap came along, or disco, whatever the new fashion was at the moment, I didn’t try to find something that would fit whatever the style was of the whole music scene,” Bennett told the British culture magazine Clash.

“I just stayed myself and sang sincerely and tried to just stay honest with myself – never compromising, just doing the best songs that I could think of for the public.”

Tony Bennet with his third wife Susan Crow sketching outside the Park Hyatt Hotel in Sydney.

Married three times

Bennett’s first marriage came in 1952 to jazz fan Patricia Beech who he met at a performance in Cleveland.

Two thousand fans dressed in black outside the church in New York where the wedding was held mourning that their chance to be with Bennett was over.

The couple had two sons, Danny and Dae. The pair separated in 1965 and divorced in 1971.

He married again the same year he divorced to actor Sandra Grant. That marriage produced two daughters Joanna and Antonia. Bennett and Grant divorced in 1983.

In the 1980s he began a relationship with New York schoolteacher Susan Crow who was 40 years younger than him. This coupling was forever and the two married in 2007.

Tony Bennett is survived by his wife and four children.

He revealed in February 2021 that he was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and had been since 2016. He continued to sing and perform up until that year.

While he had trouble remembering what had just happened to him, his family said that he could still remember and sing all the words to his songs.

His last show was on August 5, 2021, at Radio City Music Hall with Lady Gaga.