Tony Bennett, the legendary crooner and beloved interpreter of American standards, has died. He was 96.
Publicist Sylvia Weiner confirmed Bennett’s death to The Associated Press, saying he died in his hometown of New York. There was no specific cause, but Bennett had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016.
Bennett’s chart-topping career spanned seven decades. He gained his first pop success in the early 1950s and enjoyed a career revival in the 1990s and became popular with younger audiences in part because of an appearance on “MTV Unplugged.” The 19-time Grammy-winner continued recording and touring constantly, and his 2014 collaboration with Lady Gaga, “Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga: Cheek to Cheek,” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts.
In February 2021, his family revealed Bennett had Alzheimer’s disease. He was first diagnosed with the irreversible neurological disorder in 2016. At the time, his wife said he endured “increasingly rarer moments of clarity and awareness.”
“He’s not the old Tony anymore,” his wife, Susan, told the AARP magazine. “But when he sings, he’s the old Tony.”
Still, he continued to rehearse for an end-of-year tour and twice a week went through his 90-minute set with his longtime pianist, Lee Musiker. By August, Bennett was forced to cancel his fall and winter 2021 tour dates and retire from performing.
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
Bennett’s heart may have been in San Francisco but many are noting his soul was in New York.
Carlos Roman, who manages the building next to Bennett’s on Central Park South, referred to the late singer as "one of the greats."
On Friday, Roman's building was playing Bennett’s iconic music in the lobby, with Roman recalling his encounters with the crooner.
“Many years ago I was a police officer in Guam," Roman told News 4 New York. "He came to Guam and I was escorting him around. And then years later he’s walking down the street and sees me and says, 'Hey Guam!'"
The son of an Italian immigrant grocer, Anthony Dominick Benedetto, grew up in the working-class neighborhood of Astoria, Queens, across the river from the towers of Manhattan.
"We grew up during the Depression," Bennett told The Associated Press in a 2006 interview. "My father died when I was 10 years old and my mother, who was a seamstress, had to raise three children. But I had a beautiful family of Italian-Americans that were so wonderful to my mother. Her sisters and brothers would bring their families around every Sunday and make a circle around my brother, sister and myself. ... They had so much fun being entertained by us."
Bob Hope discovered Bennett in a Greenwich Village club in 1949 and invited the young singer to tour with him. The comedian also persuaded him to change his stage name to Tony Bennett. Columbia's A&R chief Mitch Miller signed the singer and released his first single in 1950.
His big break came with the release of "Because of You" in 1951, which reached number one on the Billboard charts and stayed there for ten weeks. He'd go on to have several chart-topping hits, including "The Best is Yet to Come," ''Everybody Loves a Winner," and "I Left My Heart in San Francisco."
The San Francisco Giants paid tribute to Bennett on Friday.
"We cherish the memories of his friendship and many visits," the team wrote on its Twitter page.
Bennett rediscovered success in his 80s with a younger generation after recording "The Lady Is a Tramp" with Lady Gaga in 2011 for his album, "Duets II." The two went on to record two albums together, 2014's "Cheek to Cheek" which debuted at number one on the Billboard charts, and "Love for Sale" in 2021 – the latter billed as Bennett's last after the revelation of his Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
Bennett's ties to New York City extend to the Big Apple, not only being his home, but also a place so near and dear to his heart that it was the focus of philanthropic efforts.
Bennett and his wife founded the Frank Sinatra School of the arts in Astoria, Queens. One of his paintings hangs in the principal's office at the school.
“In the beginning when the school started Tony and Susan were here all of the time," Principal Gideon Frankel.
Bennett is survived by his wife, Susan Crow, and their four children — Danny, Dae, Joanna and Antonia Bennett.
