“My time with Tony has changed me forever. Frank Sinatra said he was the best singer in the world and I don’t think Frank lied.” -Lady Gaga, USA Today
In 2014, crooner Tony Bennett and pop star Lady Gaga (aka Stephanie Germanotta) released “Cheek to Cheek” a Grammy-award winning duet that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
They promised to return with a new project, and when Bennett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in 2016, there was a heightened sense of urgency to get back into the studio and record “Love for Sale” (out now).
These days, Bennett keeps mostly to his NYC apartment with his wife, Susan Crow, who revealed on “60 Minutes” this past Sunday that the icon is no longer aware that he suffers from dementia, saying the singer continues to slip into a fog brought on by the disease.
However, when the piano keys strike, Bennett is once again reconnected to his old self — a cognitive miracle that enabled him to perform at Radio City Music Hall over the summer.
It was his final show, and what a way to say goodbye.
70 years of memories
Beginning with the No. 1 hit “Because of You” in 1951, Bennett crooned through a decade of chart-topping singles, which led to the international best seller “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” in 1962.
Threatened with sinking into casino-act irrelevance over the next two decades, and at one point struggling with drug and alcohol problems, he sharpened his artistic focus, concentrating on American Songbook standards.
And aided by his son Danny, who became his manager in 1979, Bennett climbed back into pop culture stardom through the ’80s and reached a new demographic-defying pinnacle with a 1994 “MTV Unplugged” recording, according to a Times biography.
Bennett became a permanent fixture in the limelight, and has left a legacy that won’t be duplicated.
Make a pledge and become a member of Italian Sons and Daughters of America today!
.
