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Death sketchbook12/3/2023 ![]() Long associated with San Francisco, Bennett would note that his true home was Astoria, the working-class community in the New York City borough of Queens, where he grew up during the Great Depression. ![]() "They're all giants in the industry, and all of a sudden they're saying to me 'You're the master,'" Bennett told the AP in 2006. ![]() He celebrated his 80th birthday with "Duets: An American Classic," featuring Barbra Streisand, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder among others. He also won Grammys for his collaborations with other singers: "Playin' With My Friends - Bennett Sings the Blues," and his Louis Armstrong tribute, "A Wonderful World" with lang, the first full album he had ever recorded with another singer. The evening's performance resulted in the album, "Tony Bennett: MTV Unplugged," which won two Grammys, including album of the year.īennett would win Grammys for his tributes to female vocalists ("Here's to the Ladies"), Billie Holiday ("Tony Bennett on Holiday"), and Duke Ellington ("Bennett Sings Ellington - Hot & Cool"). That led to an offer in 1994 to do an episode of "MTV Unplugged" with special guests Elvis Costello and k.d. He made guest appearances on "Late Night with David Letterman" and became a celebrity guest artist on "The Simpsons." He wore a black T-shirt and sunglasses as a presenter with the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the 1993 MTV Music Video Awards, and his own video of "Steppin' Out With My Baby" from his Grammy-winning Fred Astaire tribute album ended up on MTV's hip "Buzz Bin." But after turning 60, an age when even the most popular artists often settle for just pleasing their older fans, Bennett and his son and manager, Danny, found creative ways to market the singer to the MTV Generation. Released in 1962 as the B-side of the single "Once Upon a Time," the reflective ballad became a grassroots phenomenon staying on the charts for more than two years and earning Bennett his first two Grammys, including record of the year.īy his early 40s, he was seemingly out of fashion. His final album, the 2021 release "Love for Sale," featured duets with Lady Gaga on the title track, "Night and Day" and other Porter songs.įor Bennett, one of the few performers to move easily between pop and jazz, such collaborations were part of his crusade to expose new audiences to what he called the Great American Songbook. 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." 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. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart for "Cheek to Cheek," his duets project with Lady Gaga. In 2014, at age 88, Bennett broke his own record as the oldest living performer with a No. He not only survived the rise of rock music but endured so long and so well that he gained new fans and collaborators, some young enough to be his grandchildren. The last of the great saloon singers of the mid-20th century, Bennett often said his lifelong ambition was to create "a hit catalog rather than hit records." 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. There was no specific cause, but Bennett had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2016. Publicist Sylvia Weiner confirmed Bennett's death to The Associated Press, saying he died in his hometown of New York. He was 96, just two weeks short of his birthday. NEW YORK - Tony Bennett, the eminent and timeless stylist whose devotion to classic American songs and knack for creating new standards such as "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" graced a decadeslong career that brought him admirers from Frank Sinatra to Lady Gaga, died Friday. Singer and entertainer Tony Bennett, known for standards such as "I Left My Heart In San Francisco," died at 96, just two weeks short of his birthday. ![]()
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