Iconic Singer Tony Bennett Passes Away at the Age of 96

 New York, Tony Bennett, a renowned performer known for his unflinching devotion to classic American music and his ability to pen timeless standards like the cherished "I Left My Heart In San Francisco," has died at the age of 96. His spokeswoman Sylvia Weiner informed The Associated Press that he had passed away. Bennett, a native of New York, passed away two weeks before his birthday in his birthplace.

Bennett's death was verified to The Associated Press by his publicist Sylvia Weiner, who stated that he passed away in his hometown in New York. Bennett had been identified with Alzheimer's disease in 2016, but the cause was unknown.

Bennett, the last of the great saloon singers of the middle of the 20th century, frequently stated that his lifelong goal was to produce "a hit catalog rather than hit records." He put out more than 70 albums, winning 19 competitive Grammys, all but two of which came after he turned 60, and he received enduring love from his fans and his contemporaries.

When Bennett performed, he didn't use his own narrative; instead, he let the songs of the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and Jerome Kern speak for themselves. Instead of embodying a song, he would interpret it, unlike his friend and mentor Sinatra. Bennett was attracted by an easy, courtly demeanor and an exceptionally rich and durable voice—"A tenor who sings like a baritone," he termed himself—that made him a master of caressing a ballad or lightening an up-tempo piece, even if his singing and public life lacked the high drama of Sinatra's.

"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 humor. ... I just like to make people feel good when I perform.

Bennett received a lot of praise from his peers, but none was more significant than Frank Sinatra's remarks about him in a 1965 interview with Life magazine: "For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business. He excites me when I watch him. He moves me. He's the singer who gets across what the composer has in mind, and probably a little more."

In addition to surviving the rise of rock music, he persevered for so long and did so well that he won over new admirers and colleagues, some of whom were even his grandchildren's age. As the oldest surviving performer with a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 list with "Cheek to Cheek," his duets album with Lady Gaga, Bennett shattered his own record as the oldest living performer in 2014 at the age of 88. With "Duets II," which featured modern singers like Gaga, Carrie Underwood, and Amy Winehouse in her final studio album, he had already topped the charts. His relationship with Winehouse was depicted in the Oscar-nominated documentary "Amy," which showed Bennett kindly supporting the insecure young vocalist as she sang "Body and Soul."

Lady Gaga and Porter collaborated on the title track, "Night and Day," and other songs for Porter's final album, "Love for Sale," which was released in 2021.

Such collaborations were a cornerstone of Bennett's campaign to introduce new audiences to what he called the Great American Songbook because he was one of the few musicians to transition effortlessly between pop and jazz.

In a 2015 interview with Downbeat Magazine, Bennett stated that "no country has given the world such great music." Songs by Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin will never be forgotten.

The loss of Tony Bennett ushers in a new era in music, but his artistic brilliance and contributions to the history of American music will definitely live on for many years to come. The songs of the Great American Songbook will never go out of style, as he famously said, guaranteeing that his legacy endures forever.

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Source: Iconic singer Tony Bennett dies at 96 (msn.com)