2023-07-22 00:01:55
New York.
Tony Bennett probably celebrated the peak of his career around his 90th birthday: galas with showers of confetti, concerts with Billy Joel and for Hillary and Bill Clinton, plus an autobiography entitled “Just Getting Started”.
Bennett, who was celebrated by the “New York Times” as “America’s treasure and New York’s biggest tearjerker”, had previously released the album “Cheek to Cheek” with Lady Gaga, followed a few years later by a second joint album. Bennett is “the ultimate gentleman,” praised the 60-year-old pop diva. “He taught me so much about jazz. About life.”
Bennett had been in the music business for more than 60 years, but he clearly enjoyed his late and all the more successful comeback. Around two weeks before his 97th birthday, the musician died on Friday in New York at the age of 96, as reported by the “New York Times” and AP, citing Bennett’s spokeswoman. In early 2021, Bennett’s family announced that he had Alzheimer’s disease. A few months later, the singer gave two sold-out concerts with Lady Gaga in New York – his last major performances.
Mourning for Tony Bennett: “The last of his kind”
Numerous companions and stars publicly mourned Bennett. The musician was “a real talent, a real gentleman and a real friend,” wrote former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Former US President Barack Obama called Bennett an “iconic songwriter”. “He was a good man too – Michelle and I will forever be honored that he performed at my inauguration.” Former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi called Bennett a “national treasure”.
Actor George Takei called Bennett “the last of his kind” and singer Elton John praised him as “irreplaceable”. Actor Josh Gad wrote, “This shouldn’t hurt so much cause any of us would take 96 years but – oh man! – it’s hard to imagine the world without the great Tony Bennett.”
Sinatra helped him a lot
He owes his career to Frank Sinatra, Bennett once said in an interview. “He changed my life. In an article in Life Magazine he emphasized that I was the best singer he had ever heard. I was so mediocre at the time and had a million-selling record every now and then, but for me it was all about being good, not the most famous. Then he called me the best he had ever heard. And since then my concerts have sold out all over the world.”
In gratitude, Bennett founded a school for musically gifted youth in New York and named it after Sinatra. The school is in his home district of Astoria, in the New York borough of Queens. It was here that Bennett was born Anthony Dominick Benedetto in 1926.
His father died when he was just a little boy. His mother supported him and his two siblings as a seamstress. As a teenager, Bennett performed as a singer. During World War II he served as a soldier, including in Germany and France. It was a “front row seat in hell,” he said later. Back in the US, he launched his career with songs like “Because of You”, “Rags to Riches” and then the hit that would stay with him throughout his life, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”.
A career with ups and downs
On the side, Bennett has always painted, mostly nature and New York’s Central Park. “Nature is the boss.” The father of four lived just south of the park with his third wife, Susan, who was around 40 years his junior, and their dog “Happy”. As often as he could, he sat down on a bench and painted. “Most people respect it when they see me painting. They stay calm. I come here very early in the morning. Later it gets interesting. It’s impossible on weekends.” Bennett has published two art books and three of his works have entered the collection of the Smithsonian Museum.
Bennett’s music career, on the other hand, had its ups and downs. He couldn’t cope with rock in the 70s, took drugs and suffered from depression. “I had moments of uncertainty and darkness, but I was able to pull myself out of it.” Bennett never wanted to change himself or his style, despite all the depths. “If something is good, it’s always good. You don’t have to change it.” (dpa)
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