Tony Bennett, one of the most beloved voices in the history of American music, dies at 96

Tony Bennett, one of the most beloved and recognizable voices in the history of American popular music, died Friday at 96, less than two weeks shy of his birthday, his publicist said in a statement.

Bennett died in his hometown of New York, Sylvia Weiner said. A cause was not immediately disclosed.

Bennett provided the soundtrack for generations of romantic evenings and proved that his timeless brand of standards could have broad, consistent appeal as the music industry shifted with the rise of rock and rap.

In recent years, even as his velvety voice found purchase with a new generation, he privately faced a cognitive disorder. On Feb. 1, 2021, his family said in AARP magazine that Bennett had Alzheimer’s for the previous five years — even though he still managed to record more music.

“Life is a gift — even with Alzheimer’s,” Bennett’s official account tweeted at the time.

And what a gift it was: The life and career of Bennett, a World War II veteran and a civil rights activist, could provide fodder for a number of biopics, but his most enduring legacy is likely to be his unique vocal style, which made him a superstar in the 1950s and helped him enjoy a remarkable second act over the last 25 years of his life.

“The way that we dispose of music all the time, and dispose of art and decades (past) all the time, as if they’re dated, that being nostalgic is for geeks — it’s painful,” Bennett’s friend and frequent collaborator Lady Gaga said in 2015. “So much of the music that has been introduced through the Great American Songbook, through Fred Astaire, is passed on through generations of men and women, and Tony is one of those men.”

Born Anthony Dominick Benedetto on Aug. 3, 1926, in Astoria in the Queens borough of New York City, he got his start in music after having studied singing at the American Theatre Wing. He was reported to have been discovered by the legendary African American singer Pearl Bailey, who hired him to open for her in 1949.

A year later, Bennett began to make his own mark, signing with Columbia Records and crooning hits such as “Rags to Riches” and “Because of You.” His signature hit, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” arrived in 1962 as a B-side that launched him to the A-list.

The songs effectively straddled the worlds of pop and jazz while earning critical acclaim: Bennett won the 1962 Grammys for record of the year and solo vocal performance.

The statuettes would prove to be the first of 20 Grammys over his seven-decade career, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He won his last Grammy for his collaborative album with Lady Gaga, “Love For Sale,” which was released in 2021.

Other accolades in his celebrated career include two Emmy awards and being named a Kennedy Center honoree, a Gershwin Prize honoree and a NEA Jazz Master.

Perhaps because of his close connection with jazz musicians, among them Duke Ellington and Count Basie, Bennett also launched himself into the civil rights movement of the era. He was recruited by the actor Harry Belafonte for Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1965 march from Selma, Alabama, a career risk at a time when his audience was predominantly white.

“I said I’m not, I’m walking away from all this,” Bennett told CNN in 2013. “This is just insane. It’s so ignorant. But then he told me what went down, what was going down, how some Blacks were burned, had gasoline thrown on them and they were burned. When I heard that, I said, ‘I’ll go with you.’ You know, I just realized that this is insanity.”

As popular music evolved, Bennett’s style fell out of fashion. And while aficionados praised some of his work in the late 1960s, the ‘70s and the ‘80s, audiences backed away. During this dark period, Bennett got heavily involved in drugs.

“I used to take pills — uppies, downies and sleepies,” he wrote in his 2011 autobiography. “I was in a completely self-destructive tailspin.”

And yet, Bennett survived and kicked his drug habit cold. He would emerge triumphant in the ‘90s, completing one of the most impressive comebacks in music history. He was embraced wholeheartedly by the MTV generation (recording duets with younger pop stars), and his 1994 “Unplugged” set for the network took home the Grammy for album of the year.

“It wasn’t a surprise at all,” Bennett told The Independent in 2011. “And I’ll tell you why. Good music is good music. I’m not concerned with whether someone who listens to me is old or young. In fact, in many ways, I’m not interested in the young at all. I’m interested in age. People learn to live properly when they get of an age, you know?

“The late Duke Ellington once said to me that he was really offended by the word ‘category,’” he added. “Music has no category; it’s either good or it isn’t, and I sing good songs, great songs, written by the best songwriters. It’s that kind of quality that makes them last. Trust me, people will be singing these songs forever.”

Between the recording sessions and concerts, Bennett proved that he had a talent for the visual arts, as well. His paintings, brushed under his birth name, have been exhibited in the Smithsonian and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

His last public concert performances, "One Last Time” with Lady Gaga, were at Radio City Music Hall on Aug. 3 and 5, 2021, to celebrate his 95th birthday.

He and his wife also founded the nonprofit group, Exploring the Arts, to support and fund arts education in public high schools. In that endeavor, the New York City public high school, Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, was founded in Astoria, his publicist said.

Tributes poured in for Bennett Friday.

"The Nanny" star and SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said, “He exemplified a person who was good as gold, sweet like sugar & a deeply feeling, empathic human being. I wish more had the stuff you were made of Tony. RIP.”

"What a legacy of not only superb timeless music, but a class act study in cool, grace, and elegance," singer Keith Urban wrote on social media. Musician Carole King called his passing "such a big loss."

Italian American guitarist hailed Bennett as "the most beautiful voice of our lives, our loves and our heartaches."

Bennett is survived by his wife since 2007, Susan Benedetto, and four children, including Antonia Bennett, who has become an accomplished standards singer in her own right.