Legendary singer Tony Bennett dies at the age of 96

Singer Tony Bennett, who won 20 Grammys and sold over 50 million records worldwide, has died aged 96.

The last of the great saloon singers of the mid-20th century, whose esteemed career spanned seven decades, died on Friday, just two weeks shy of his birthday.

The legendary crooner was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016 but continued to perform and record through 2021.

On Friday publicist Sylvia Weiner confirmed Bennett’s death to the Associated Press, saying he died in his hometown of New York.

Just a few days earlier he had been at his piano singing his first number one hit, Because of You, a post to his social media accounts said.

The singer was famous for hits including I Left My Heart in San Francisco in 1962 and became the torchbearer for the Great American Songbook.

The reflective ballad I Left My Heart in San Francisco became a grassroots phenomenon which stayed on the charts for more than two years and earned Bennett his first two Grammys, including record of the year.

He released more than 70 albums during his career, which won him a host of Grammys and a lifetime achievement award.

Bennett more recently collaborated with a string of modern day stars.

In 2014, at age 88, Bennett broke his own record as the oldest living performer with a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart for Cheek to Cheek, his duets project with Lady Gaga, which saw the pair tackle a series of jazz standards.

Three years earlier, he topped the charts with Duets II, featuring such contemporary stars as Gaga, Carrie Underwood and Amy Winehouse, in her last studio recording.

His rapport with Winehouse was captured in the Oscar-nominated documentary Amy, which showed Bennett patiently encouraging the insecure young singer through a performance of Body and Soul.

“I enjoy entertaining the audience, making them forget their problems,” he told The Associated Press in 2006.

“I think people ... are touched if they hear something that’s sincere and honest and maybe has a little sense of humour ... I just like to make people feel good when I perform.”

He released more than 70 albums, bringing him 19 competitive Grammys - all but two after he reached his 60s - and enjoyed deep and lasting affection from fans and fellow artists.

His last public appearance was with Lady Gaga in New York at Radio City Music Hall in August 2021 before his last album release, Love for Sale, which featured duets with Lady Gaga.

Bennett was born in Queens, New York, in 1926, the grandson of immigrants from the impoverished Italian province of Calabria.

He enjoyed a glorious career since first finding success in the 1950s, performing traditional pop standards and big band music.

He is survived by his wife Susan, daughters Johanna and Antonia, sons Danny and Dae and nine grandchildren. (Evening Standard)