TONY BENNETT 1926-2023 - HIS LIFE & LEGACY

FANS AND FAMOUS FRIENDS REMEMBER THE LEGENDARY CROONER

- Jennie Noonan

Days before his passing at age 96, Tony Bennett was still singing at his piano in his hometown of New York City. “His last song was ‘Because of You’, his first #1 hit,” read a statement posted to his Instagram account on July 21. “Tony, because of you, we have your songs in our heart forever.”

During a career that spanned eight decades, Bennett, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016, sold millions of records and won 20 Grammy awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. He is survived by his wife, Susan, four children from earlier marriages and nine grandchildren. “From his first performances as a singing waiter in Queens to his last performances in 2021 at Radio City Music Hall, Tony delighted in performing the songs he loved and making people happy,” Bennett’s widow and his son Danny wrote in a statement. “And as sad as today has been for all of us, we can find joy in Tony’s legacy forever.”

Born Anthony Dominick Benedetto in Queens, New York, his father, a grocer from southern Italy, died when he was 10 and his mother, Anna, worked as a seamstress to support her children. Bennett studied music and painting at New York’s School of Industrial Art, and his career gathered steam once he returned from serving in the US army after being drafted towards the end of World War II. After scoring his first No. 1 hit in 1951, Bennett dropped one of his most popular songs, ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco’, in 1962 and went on to successfully release music, ranging from swinging big band standards to jazz, in every decade since. He earned high praise from all quarters, including from Frank Sinatra who used to call Bennett “the best singer in the business” as well as describing him as someone who had “four sets of balls”.