NEW YORK — Tony Bennett passed away on Friday. He was a renowned and enduring stylist whose love of traditional American melodies and talent at writing new standards, including “I Left My Heart In San Francisco,” adorned a decades-long career and won fans from Frank Sinatra to Lady Gaga. Just two weeks away from his 96th birthday, he was alive.
Bennett’s death was verified to The Associated Press by his publicist Sylvia Weiner, who stated that he passed away in his native New York. Bennett had been identified with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016, but the cause was unknown.
Bennett, the last of the great saloon singers of the middle of the 20th century, frequently stated that his life’s goal was to build “a hit catalogue rather than hit records.” In addition to having more than 70 albums released, he won 19 competitive Grammy Awards—all but two of them after turning 60—and won the enduring love of his fans and fellow musicians.
When Bennett performed, he didn’t use his narrative; instead, he let the songs of the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and Jerome Kern speak for themselves. Instead of embodying a song, he would interpret it, unlike his friend and mentor Sinatra.
Bennett was attracted by an easy, courtly demeanor and an extraordinarily rich and durable voice—”A tenor who sings like a baritone,” he termed himself—that made him a master of caressing a ballad or lightening an up-tempo piece, even if his singing and public life lacked the high drama of Sinatra’s.
Tony Bennett passed away on Friday.
The Associated Press quoted him as saying, “I enjoy entertaining the audience, making them forget their problems,” in 2006. “I believe that when people hear something true, honest, and humorous, they are touched. I enjoy making people happy when I perform.
Bennett received much acclaim from his contemporaries, but none was more significant than Frank Sinatra’s assessment of him in a 1965 interview with Life magazine: “For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business.” When I watch him, he makes me excited. He affects me. He is the singer who most accurately conveys the composer’s intentions and perhaps more.
In addition to surviving the rise of rock music, he persevered for so long and did so well that he won over new admirers and colleagues, some of whom were even his grandchildren’s age. As the oldest surviving performer with a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 list with “Cheek to Cheek,” his duet’s album with Lady Gaga, Bennett shattered his record as the oldest living performer in 2014 at 88.
He had already topped the charts with “Duets II,” featuring modern singers like Gaga, Carrie Underwood, and Amy Winehouse in her final studio album. His relationship with Winehouse was depicted in the Oscar-nominated documentary “Amy,” which showed Bennett kindly supporting the insecure young vocalist as she sang “Body and Soul.”
Lady Gaga and Porter collaborated on the title track, “Night and Day,” and other songs for Porter’s final album, “Love for Sale,” released in 2021.
Tony Bennett passed away on Friday.
Despite Bennett’s artistic achievements, Improv was a financial disaster for him. He also experienced problems in his personal life. In 1971, his marriage to Patricia Beech, an artist, ended. The same year, he wed Sandra Grant, an actress; nonetheless, the union disintegrated in 1984. His obligations nearly forced him into bankruptcy without any record deals, and the IRS attempted to confiscate his Los Angeles home.
He went to his son Danny after a nearly deadly drug overdose in 1979, and Danny eventually agreed to serve as his manager. After giving up drugs and organizing his finances, Bennett relocated to New York and started doing more than 200 gigs annually.
Nine grandchildren are left behind, including his wife Susan, daughters Johanna and Antonia, and sons Danny and Dae.
Tony Bennett passed away on Friday.
Bennett was honored by the Kennedy Centre in 2005 and awarded a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2006. Additionally, he received two Emmy Awards for “Tony Bennett: An American Classic” (2007) and “Tony Bennett Live By Request: A Valentine Special” (1996).
In addition to singing, Bennett traveled with his sketchbook and took art lessons to further his lifelong passion for painting. His paintings, which have his family’s signature and feature landscapes of Central Park and portraits of his musical friends, were featured in public and private collections, including the Smithsonian Museum of American Art.
Bennett told the AP 2006, “I love to paint as much as I love to sing.” It was a benefit since I could turn to my painting for a great lift if I started to feel burned out from singing. I, therefore, constantly remain in this creative state.
SOURCE – (AP)
