Legendary Singer Who Endured For Generations Was 96 – Deadline

Tony Bennett, the legendary singer whose lengthy profession loved a resurgence that prolonged into his 90s, has died.

Bennett was 96.

His publicist confirmed his passing, in line with the AP.

Bennett battled Alzheimer’s illness, however even after that prognosis, he continued to carry out, together with a memorable sequence of ultimate concert events in New York in 2021 the place he was joined by Lady Gaga. An album with Gaga received two Grammy awards.

His profession over a 70 yr span suffered its ups and downs, notably as musical tastes modified, however Bennett loved a late resurgence within the Nineties. With over 70 albums, he received 19 Grammys, lots of them late in life.

Bennett was lively within the civil rights motion, becoming a member of with Harry Belafonte, who died earlier this yr, in Montgomery, AL following Bloody Sunday in Selma, AL. They marched with Martin Luther King Jr., a second that helped shift public opinion and rally passage of the Voting Rights Act.

He continued to talk out on social causes later in life, notably on gun violence, and was shut mates with Nancy Pelosi, touring to Washington to attend her swearing in ceremony when she returned to the speakership in 2019.

Bennett’s endurance by generations was all of the extra uncommon in that he didn’t change his musical fashion, and as a substitute introduced pop and jazz requirements from the Great American Songbook to new audiences. One of his greatest recognized was I Left My Heart In San Francisco, which grew to become one of many metropolis’s anthems and was chosen for the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in 2018. The earlier yr, when Bennett was acknowledged with the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, he was feted by Stevie Wonder, Gloria Estefan, Josh Groban and others, and instructed the group, “I’ve performed all over the world, but this is the best I’ve ever felt on stage.”

Often cited was the reward that Bennett obtained from Frank Sinatra, a buddy, who instructed Life journal in 1965, “For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business. He excites me when I watch him. He moves me. He’s the singer who gets across what the composer has in mind, and probably a little more.”

Bennett’s profession

More to return.