American master pop vocalist Tony Bennett passes away at 96

New York [US]: Tony Bennett, the master pop vocalist with a professional career spanning eight decades with a No 1 album at age 85, died Friday morning in New York City. He was 96.

Bennett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016, but continued to perform and record through 2021, reported Variety. His peer Frank Sinatra regarded him as the greatest popular singer in the world.

His recordings were mostly made for Columbia Records, which signed him in 1950. He was best known for his signature 1962 hit, ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco’.

As per Variety, he was equally at home in front of intimate combos (which often featured his pianist and longtime musical director Ralph Sharon) and lushly arranged orchestras.

Though never strictly a jazz singer, he flourished in jazz settings and cut memorable sessions with Count Basie’s big band and the lyrical pianist Bill Evans.

Active as a recording artist from 1949, and one of the top pop performers in the ‘50s and early ‘60s, Bennett saw his career surge anew in the ‘90s and again in the new millennium, under the management of his son Danny.

His last public appearance was with Gaga at Radio City Music Hall in August 2021, two months before his last release, the Bennett-Gaga set “Love for Sale,” the sequel to their chart-topping 2014 collaboration “Cheek to Cheek,” reported Variety.

He won 18 Grammy Awards (with 36 total nominations), and a Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient in 2001. Apart from these achievements, he also recieved two Emmy Awards. He was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2005 and a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 2006.

He is survived by his wife Susan Benedetto, his two sons, Danny and Dae Bennett, his daughters Johanna Bennett and Antonia Bennett, and nine grandchildren, reported Variety.