Tony Bennett, last of the classic American crooners, dead at 96

Tony Bennett, the last in a generation of classic American crooners whose ceaselessly cheery spirit bridged generations to make him a hitmaker across seven decades, died yesterday in New York. He was 96.
Raised in an era when big bands defined US pop music, Bennett achieved an improbable second act when he started winning over young audiences in the 1990s – not by reinventing himself but by demonstrating his sheer joy in belting out the standards.
At age 88, Bennett in 2014 became the oldest person ever to reach number one on the US album chart through a collection of duets with Lady Gaga, who became his friend and touring companion as younger stars rushed to work with the singing great.
Bennett, who revealed in 2016 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, died in his hometown, his publicist Sylvia Weiner announced, without revealing a cause.
Tributes quickly poured in from the music, political and acting worlds.
“Without doubt the classiest singer, man and performer you will ever see. He’s irreplaceable. I loved and adored him,” Elton John wrote on Instagram.
Senator Chuck Schumer remembered Bennett as a “true son of Queens whose music reminder us of so many of the good things in life”.
“Thank you. We’ll miss you,” Schumer wrote.
Bennett – born Anthony Dominick Benedetto in the Astoria neighbourhood of New York’s Queens borough – was married three times and had four children including Antonia Bennett, who has followed his path as a singer of pop and jazz standards.
He marked his 90th birthday with a star-studded concert at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, which was turned into a television special and album.
Bennett toured the United States and Europe into his final decade, playing his last public performance before the coronavirus pandemic halted touring in New Jersey on March 11, 2020.
Soon after, he revealed he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016. He had kept his condition quiet for years.
Upon turning 95, Bennett played two more birthday concerts, again at Radio City Music Hall, with Lady Gaga – shows billed as his farewell to New York.
“And let the music play as long as there’s a song to sing / And I will stay younger than spring,” he crooned during the first of his farewell shows, in a rendition of his ballad This Is All I Ask.
“You’ve been a good audience,” Bennett said prior to his encore. “I love this audience.”