Tony Bennett, master vocalist, creator of new American standards and perhaps the most famous duet partner of all time, has died, The Associated Press reported Friday. He was 96.
Bennett died in his native New York just two weeks shy of his 97th birthday, his publicist Sylvia Weiner confirmed to the AP. No specific cause was given, though Bennett had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2016.
Bennett created a vast catalog of pop, jazz and American standard records, recording more than 70 albums, winning 19 competitive Grammy Awards (and one lifetime achievement Grammy) and the admiration of, for all practical purposes, anyone who ever stepped up to a microphone to sing. His permanent warm smile and affable nature knew no depths, making him the perfect foil to friend, mentor, occasional collaborator (and infamous curmudgeon) Frank Sinatra – the only American singer to whom he might be reasonably compared.
Bennett’s eight-decade career was more of a slow-motion roller-coster than rocketship ride: He had modest hits like “Because of You” and “Rags to Riches” in the early 1950s, but his popularity lulled for years before the dawn of the 1960s, when two unknown songwriters gave some sheet music to Bennett’s musical director and pianist. Bennett tucked “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” in a dresser drawer, where it sat for months until he was about to embark on a tour that would include the Bay Area.
The song was released in 1962 as a B-side – then stewed on the charts for more than two years, winning Bennett his first two Grammys, including record of the year. But rock music’s British Invasion and psychedelia was lurking right around the corner, and it would seem that Bennett, pushing 40 and already aging out of pop-star status, had seen the heights of his career, as the timeless music of his heroes Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and Irving Berlin was fast falling out of fashion.
A near-fatal cocaine overdose in 1979 and the flagging country-music career of his son Danny turned out to be a huge positive turning point. Danny Bennett began working as his father’s de facto manager, getting his spiraling finances under control, booking him in small theaters and clubs and insisting that he stick to what he did best – classic American Songbook music.
That led to appearances on late-night TV, a guest spot as a character on “The Simpsons” and, finally, an appearance on MTV Unplugged in 1994, including duets with k.d. Lang and Elvis Costello – resulting in “MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett,” which went platinum and won two Grammys including Album of the Year.
With that, Bennett’s third act was well underway – and had serious staying power, cementing his status as nothing short of American treasure. His 80th birthday in 2006 – the year he recorded “Duets” – was celebrated across the country by just about every musician and TV host you could name.
In 2011 he recorded “Duets II” with Lady Gaga, Carrie Underwood and Amy Winehouse – the British torch singer’s last recording before her death. Three years later he recorded “Cheek to Cheek” with Gaga, a record that would make him the oldest living performer to have a No. 1 album at age 88. He would duet one more time with Gaga, the 2021 release “Love for Sale,” which would be his final album.
Bennett is survived by four children and fourth wife Susan Crow, whom he first encountered literally before she was born: Crow’s mother, a devoted Bay Area fan of the singer, posed for a photograph with the then-40-year-old in 1966. Susan later became the head of his regional fan club as a teen, and the two entered into a long-term romantic partnership in the late 1980s; they were married in 2007 by former New York governor Mario Cuomo.
