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. He was 96, just two weeks short of his birthday.
Keep scrolling for a collection of photos from Tony Bennett's life
Publicist Sylvia Weiner confirmed Bennett's death to The Associated Press, saying he died in his hometown of New York. There was no specific cause, but Bennett had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2016.
FILE - Singer Tony Bennett performs at the Statue of Liberty Museum opening celebration in New York on May 15, 2019.
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.
Bennett didn't tell his own story when performing; he let the music speak instead — the Gershwins and Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern. Unlike his friend and mentor Sinatra, he would interpret a song rather than embody it. If his singing and public life lacked the high drama of Sinatra's, Bennett appealed with an easy, courtly manner and an uncommonly rich and durable voice — "A tenor who sings like a baritone," he called himself — that made him a master of caressing a ballad or brightening an up-tempo number.
Photos: Tony Bennett through the years, 1926-2023
1951: Tony Bennett
Singer Tony Bennett is approached by autograph seekers as he leaves a performance on Oct. 4, 1951.
1960: Tony Bennett
Singer Tony Bennett is shown singing on June 23, 1960.
1968: Tony Bennett and Sandra Grant
Singer Tony Bennett and dancer Sandra Grant are shown in London, England, in 1968.
1969: Tony Bennett
Singer Tony Bennett is posing next to one of his paintings, in his New York City apartment, on May 23, 1969.
1972: Tony Bennett in London
Tony Bennett swings through Berkeley Square in London, May 4, 1972, where he's filming his own television series. He controls the series and he's relishing the chance to bring back into popular music melody, professionalism and honesty in presentation.
1972: Tony Bennett with family in London
American singer Tony Bennett, right, is shown with his wife Sandra and their 22-month-old daughter Joanna in London, England, on Jan. 4, 1972.
1974: Tony Bennett
Singer Tony Bennett is seen during a recording session at Regent Studios in New York City, on November 11, 1974.
1977: Tony Bennett
Singer Tony Bennett toasts his audience with campaign during a engagement April 10, 1977, at the hotel Sahara on the Las Vegas strip. Bennett, who was greatly influenced by Frank Sinatra, says he never gets tired of singing his biggest hit, "I left my heart in San Francisco," because that's the tune that keeps the people coming to see him.
1980: Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra, left, poses with Tony Bennett in this July 1980 file photo in Reno, Nev.
1980: Tony Bennett and Beverly Sills
Opera singer Beverly Sills and singer Tony Bennett are seen on January 8, 1980 at the Mayflower Hotel in New York.
1984: Tony Bennett and Dianne Feinstein
San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein and singer Tony Bennett, who sang “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” hang on to the outside of a cable car in San Francisco before taking a test ride, Wednesday, May 2, 1984.
1986: Tony Bennett and Ray Charles
Ray Charles, left, and Tony Bennett are shown at the Larabee Studios in Los Angeles, Jan. 4, 1986.
1990: Tony Bennett and Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald, right, sings a duet with Tony Bennett to close the evening, April 26, 1990 at the Radio City Music Hall in New York. Earlier in the evening Bennett arrived with a cake to help celebrate Ella's 73rd birthday.
1993: Tony Bennett and Natalie Cole at Grammy Awards
Singers Tony Bennett and Natalie Cole perform "Lady is a Tramp" during the 35th Grammy Awards Show, Feb. 24, 1993 in Los Angeles. Bennett and Cole presented a Grammy to Eric Clapton for the Album of the Year, while Bennett himself was given Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal for "Perfectly Frank" during the pre-televised portion of the show.
1995: Tony Bennett and Patti LaBelle perform at Super Bowl XXIX
Singers Tony Bennett and Patti LaBelle entertain the crowd during halftime at Super Bowl XXIX, Jan. 29, 1995 at Miami's Joe Robbie Stadium.
1995: Tony Bennett and President Bill Clinton
President Clinton laughs with singer Tony Bennett during a state dinner in honor of German Chancellor Helmut Kohl Thursday night, Feb. 9, 1995 in the State Dining Room of the White House.
1995: Tony Bennett wins multiple Grammys
Tony Bennett holds up his two Grammy awards backstage at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, Ca., Wednesday night, March 1, 1995. Bennett won album of the year for "MTV Unplugged" and best traditional pop vocal performance for "MTV Unplugged" at the Grammy Awards.
1995: Tony Bennett
Four-time Grammy winner Tony Bennett receives his honorary Doctor of Music Arts Degree cap at a rehearsal at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, Ill., Friday, Feb. 24, 1995.
1996: Tony Bennett and Carol Burnett at Emmy Awards
Carol Burnett gives a kiss to Tony Bennett after he won an Emmy for outstanding performance for a variety or music program at the 48th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in Pasadena, Calif., Sunday Sept. 8, 1996. He won for his performance "Tony Bennett Live by Request: A Valentine Special."
2004: Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett sings to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai at the concert for Maathai at the Oslo Spectrum Saturday Dec. 11, 2004. Maathai is the first environmentalist and the first African woman to be awarded the coveted prize.
2004: Tony Bennett
Singer Tony Bennett performs during the 58th Annual Tony Awards at New York's Radio City Music Hall, Sunday, June 6, 2004.
2005: Tony Bennett among Kennedy Center honorees
In this photograph provided by the White House, President Bush, right, congratulates performer Tina Turner during a reception for the Kennedy Center honorees in the East Room of the White House Sunday, Dec. 4, 2005. Other honorees are, from left, singer Tony Bennett, dancer Suzanne Farrell, actress Julie Harris, actor Robert Redford and singer Tina Turner. (AP Photo/The White House, Eric Draper)
2006: Tony Bennett and Billy Joel
Singers Tony Bennett, left and Billy Joel perform live on stage during the NBC "Today" show Friday, Sept. 22, 2006, in New York.
2006: Tony Bennett turns 80
Tony Bennett reacts after performing the song "San Francisco" during his 80th birthday celebration at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles, Thursday, Nov. 9, 2006.
2007: Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett accepts the award for best traditional pop vocal album for "Duets: An American Classic" at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2007, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
2007: Tony Bennett and Christina Aguilera
Tony Bennett and Christina Aguilera perform the song "Steppin' Out" during the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards Sunday, Sept. 16, 2007, in Los Angeles.
2010: Tony Bennett performs at World Series
Tony Bennett sings before Game 1 of baseball's World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010, in San Francisco.
2012: Tony Bennett wins multiple Grammy Awards
Tony Bennett poses backstage with the awards for best traditional pop vocal album for "Duets II" and best pop/duo/group performance for "Body and Soul" at the 54th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012 in Los Angeles.
2014: Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga, right, and Tony Bennett arrive for a media event at the Brussels' city hall on Monday Sept. 22 , 2014. Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett will give a short concert on the Brussels' Grand Place for 6,500 clients of mobile operator Mobistar.
2015: Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga
Tony Bennett, left, and Lady Gaga perform at the 57th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2015, in Los Angeles.
2016: Tony Bennett turns 90
In this Aug. 3, 2016 file photo, singer Tony Bennett arrives for his 90th birthday celebration at the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Plaza in New York. The Library of Congress announced Tuesday that the 90-year-old Bennett is the recipient of the lifetime achievement award.
2017: Tony Bennett
Singer/honoree Tony Bennett performs onstage during the 2017 Gershwin Prize Honoree's Tribute Concert at the DAR Constitution Hall on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017 in Washington
2018: Tony Bennett and John Legend
Tony Bennett, left, and John Legend present the award for best rap/sung performance at the 60th annual Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018, in New York.
2019: Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett arrives at the 61st annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, in Los Angeles.
2019: Tony Bennett
Singer Tony Bennett performs at the Statue of Liberty Museum opening celebration at Battery Park on Wednesday, May 15, 2019, in New York.
"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 was praised often by his peers, but never more meaningfully than by what Sinatra said in a 1965 Life magazine interview: "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."
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. In 2014, at age 88, Bennett broke his own record as the oldest living performer with a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart for "Cheek to Cheek," his duets project with Lady Gaga. 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. 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."
FILE - Tony Bennett, who performed 200 dates a year, is pictured at his New York studio where he enjoys painting, May 13, 1991.
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.
For 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.
"No country has given the world such great music," Bennett said in a 2015 interview with Downbeat Magazine. "Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern. Those songs will never die."
Ironically, his most famous contribution came through two unknowns, George Cory and Douglass Cross, who in the early '60s provided Bennett with his signature song at a time his career was in a lull. They gave Bennett's musical director, pianist Ralph Sharon, some sheet music that he stuck in a dresser drawer and forgot about until he was packing for a tour that included a stop in San Francisco.
"Ralph saw some sheet music in his shirt drawer ... and on top of the pile was a song called 'I Left My Heart In San Francisco.' Ralph thought it would be good material for San Francisco," Bennett said. "We were rehearsing and the bartender in the club in Little Rock, Arkansas, said, 'If you record that song, I'm going to be the first to buy it.'"
Photos: Those we've lost in 2023
Tina Turner
Tina Turner, the unstoppable singer and stage performer who teamed with husband Ike Turner for a dynamic run of hit records and live shows in the 1960s and '70s and survived her horrifying marriage to triumph in middle age with the chart-topping "What's Love Got to Do With It," died May 24, 2023, at 83. Few stars traveled so far — she was born Anna Mae Bullock in a segregated Tennessee hospital and spent her latter years on a 260,000 square foot estate on Lake Zurich — and overcame so much. Her trademarks included a growling contralto that might smolder or explode, her bold smile and strong cheekbones, her palette of wigs and the muscular, quick-stepping legs she did not shy from showing off. She sold more than 150 million records worldwide, won 12 Grammys, was voted along with Ike into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 (and on her own in 2021 ) and was honored at the Kennedy Center in 2005. Her life became the basis for a film, a Broadway musical and an HBO documentary in 2021 that she called her public farewell.
Raquel Welch
Raquel Welch, whose emergence from the sea in a skimpy, furry bikini in the film “One Million Years B.C.” would propel her to international sex symbol status throughout the 1960s and '70s, died Feb. 15, 2023. She was 82. Welch’s breakthrough came in 1966's campy prehistoric flick “One Million Years B.C.,” despite having a grand total of three lines. Clad in a brown doeskin bikini, she successfully evaded pterodactyls but not the notice of the public.
Jim Brown
Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Brown, the unstoppable running back who retired at the peak of his brilliant career to become an actor as well as a prominent civil rights advocate during the 1960s, died May 18, 2023. He was 87. One of the greatest players in football history and one of the game’s first superstars, Brown was chosen the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1965 and shattered the league’s record books in a short career spanning 1957-65. Brown led the Cleveland Browns to their last NFL title in 1964 before retiring in his prime after the ’65 season to become an actor. He appeared in more than 30 films, including “Any Given Sunday” and “The Dirty Dozen.” When he finished playing, Brown became a prominent leader in the Black power movement during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s.
Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte, the civil rights and entertainment giant who began as a groundbreaking actor and singer and became an activist, humanitarian and conscience of the world, died April 25, 2023. He was 96. With his glowing, handsome face and silky-husky voice, Belafonte was one of the first Black performers to gain a wide following on film and to sell a million records as a singer; many still know him for his signature hit “Banana Boat Song (Day-O),” and its call of “Day-O! Daaaaay-O.” But he forged a greater legacy once he scaled back his performing career in the 1960s and lived out his hero Paul Robeson’s decree that artists are “gatekeepers of truth.”
Lisa Marie Presley
Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of Elvis Presley and a singer-songwriter dedicated to her father’s legacy, died Jan. 12, 2023. She was 54. Presley shared her father's brooding charisma — the hooded eyes, the insolent smile, the low, sultry voice — and followed him professionally, releasing her own rock albums in the 2000s.
David Crosby
David Crosby, the brash rock musician who evolved from a baby-faced harmony singer with the Byrds to a mustachioed hippie superstar and an ongoing troubadour in Crosby, Stills, Nash & (sometimes) Young, died Jan. 18, 2023, at age 81. While he only wrote a handful of widely known songs, the witty and ever opinionated Crosby was on the front lines of the cultural revolution of the ’60s and ’70s — whether triumphing with Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young on stage at Woodstock, testifying on behalf of a hirsute generation in his anthem “Almost Cut My Hair” or mourning the assassination of Robert Kennedy in “Long Time Gone.”
Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick, a character actor who specialized in intense, icy and possibly sinister authority figures on TV and film, including “The Wire,” "Fringe” and the "John Wick” franchise, died March 17, 2023. He was 60. Reddick was often put in a suit or a crisp uniform during his career, playing tall, taciturn and elegant men of distinction. He was best known for his role as straight-laced Lt. Cedric Daniels on the hit HBO series “The Wire,” where his character was agonizingly trapped in the messy politics of the Baltimore police department.
Richard Belzer
Richard Belzer, the longtime stand-up comedian who became one of TV's most indelible detectives as John Munch in "Homicide: Life on the Street" and “Law & Order: SVU,” died Feb. 19, 2023. He was 78. For more than two decades and across 10 series — even including appearances on “30 Rock” and “Arrested Development” — Belzer played the wise-cracking, acerbic homicide detective prone to conspiracy theories. Belzer first played Munch on a 1993 episode of “Homicide” and last played him in 2016 on “Law & Order: SVU.”
Cindy Williams
Cindy Williams, who was among the most recognizable stars in America in the 1970s and 1980s for her role as Shirley opposite Penny Marshall's Laverne on the beloved sitcom "Laverne & Shirley," died Jan. 25, 2023. She was 75. Williams played the straitlaced Shirley Feeney to Marshall's more libertine Laverne DeFazio on the show about a pair of blue-collar roommates who toiled on the assembly line of a Milwaukee brewery in the 1950s and 1960s.
Alan Arkin
Alan Arkin, the wry character actor who demonstrated his versatility in everything from farcical comedy to chilling drama as he received four Academy Award nominations and won an Oscar in 2007 for "Little Miss Sunshine," has died. He was 89. A member of Chicago's famed Second City comedy troupe, Arkin was an immediate success in movies with the Cold War spoof "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming" and peaked late in life with his win as best supporting actor for the surprise 2006 hit "Little Miss Sunshine.”
Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Lightfoot, the folk singer-songwriter known for “If You Could Read My Mind" and "Sundown” and for songs that told tales of Canadian identity, died May 1, 2023. He was 84. One of the most renowned voices to emerge from Toronto’s Yorkville folk club scene in the 1960s, Lightfoot recorded 20 studio albums and penned hundreds of songs, including “Carefree Highway," “Early Morning Rain” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."
Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck, a guitar virtuoso who pushed the boundaries of blues, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll, influencing generations of shredders along the way and becoming known as the guitar player’s guitar player, died Jan. 10, 2023. He was 78. Beck was among the rock-guitarist pantheon from the late ’60s that included Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix. Beck won eight Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice — once with the Yardbirds in 1992 and again as a solo artist in 2009.
Bobby Caldwell
Bobby Caldwell, a soulful R&B singer and songwriter who had a major hit in 1978 with “What You Won't Do for Love” and a voice and musical style adored by generations of his fellow artists, died March 14, 2023. He was 71. The smooth soul jam “What You Won't Do for Love” went to No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 6 on what was then called the Hot Selling Soul Singles chart. It became a long-term standard and career-defining hit for Caldwell, who also wrote the song.
Gary Rossington
Gary Rossington, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s last surviving original member who also helped to found the group, died March 5, 2023, at age 71. According to Rolling Stone, it was during a fateful Little League game, Ronnie Van Zant hit a line drive into the shoulder blades of opposing player Bob Burns and met his future bandmates. Rossington, Burns, Van Zant, and guitarist Allen Collins gathered that afternoon at Burns’ Jacksonville home to jam the Rolling Stone’s “Time Is on My Side.”
Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter, an influential jazz innovator whose lyrical, complex jazz compositions and pioneering saxophone playing sounded through more than half a century of American music, died March 2, 2023. He was 89.
Jerry Springer
Jerry Springer, the onetime mayor and news anchor whose namesake TV show featured a three-ring circus of dysfunctional families willing to bare all on weekday afternoons including brawls, obscenities and blurred images of nudity, died April 27, 2023, at age 79. At its peak, “The Jerry Springer Show” was a ratings powerhouse and a U.S. cultural pariah, synonymous with lurid drama. Known for chair-throwing and bleep-filled arguments, the daytime talk show was a favorite American guilty pleasure over its 27-year run, at one point topping Oprah Winfrey’s show.
Jacklyn Zeman
Jacklyn Zeman, who became one of the most recognizable actors on daytime television during 45 years of playing nurse Bobbie Spencer on ABC’s “General Hospital,” died May 10, 2023. She was 70. Zeman joined “General Hospital” in 1977 as Barbara Jean, who went by Bobbie, and was the feisty younger sister of Anthony Geary’s Luke Spencer.
John Beasley
John Beasley, the veteran character actor who played a kindly school bus driver on the TV drama “Everwood” and appeared in dozens of films dating back to the 1980s, died May 30, 2023. He was 79. Beasley played an assistant coach in the 1993 football film “Rudy” and a retired preacher in 1997's “The Apostle,” co-starring and directed by Robert Duvall.
Michael Lerner
Michael Lerner, the Brooklyn-born character actor who played a myriad of imposing figures in his 60 years in the business, including monologuing movie mogul Jack Lipnick in “Barton Fink,” the crooked club owner Bugsy Calhoun in “Harlem Nights” and an angry publishing executive in “Elf” died April 8, 2023. He was 81.
Tom Sizemore
Tom Sizemore, the “Saving Private Ryan” actor whose bright 1990s star burned out under the weight of his own domestic violence and drug convictions, died March3, 2023, at age 61. Sizemore became a star with acclaimed appearances in “Natural Born Killers” and the cult-classic crime thriller “Heat.”
Charles Kimbrough
Charles Kimbrough, a Tony- and Emmy-nominated actor who played a straight-laced news anchor opposite Candice Bergen on “Murphy Brown,” died Jan. 11, 2023. He was 86. Kimbrough played newsman Jim Dial across the 10 seasons of CBS hit sitcom “Murphy Brown" between 1988 and 1998, earning an Emmy nomination in 1990 for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series. He reprised the role for three episodes in the 2018 reboot.
Julian Sands
Actor Julian Sands, who starred in several Oscar-nominated films in the late 1980s and '90s including “A Room With a View” and “Leaving Las Vegas,” was found dead on a Southern California mountain in June 2023, five months after he disappeared while hiking. He was 65. Sands, who was born, raised and began acting in England, worked constantly in film and television, amassing more than 150 credits in a 40-year career. During a 10-year span from 1985 to 1995, he played major roles in a series of acclaimed films.
Cynthia Weil
Cynthia Weil, a Grammy-winning lyricist of notable range and endurance who enjoyed a decades-long partnership with husband Barry Mann and helped write "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," "On Broadway," "Walking in the Rain" and dozens of other hits, died June 1, 2023, at age 82.
Sheldon Harnick
Tony- and Grammy Award-winning lyricist Sheldon Harnick, who with composer Jerry Bock made up the premier musical-theater songwriting duos of the 1950s and 1960s with shows such as "Fiddler on the Roof," "Fiorello!" and "The Apple Tree," died June 23, 2023. He was 99.
Barrett Strong
Barrett Strong, one of Motown’s founding artists and most gifted songwriters who sang lead on the company’s breakthrough single “Money (That’s What I Want)” and later collaborated with Norman Whitfield on such classics as “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “War” and “Papa Was a Rollin' Stone,” died Jan. 29, 2023. He was 81.
Willis Reed
Willis Reed, who dramatically emerged from the locker room minutes before Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals to spark the New York Knicks to their first championship and create one of sports’ most enduring examples of playing through pain, died March 21, 2023. He was 80.
Tim McCarver
Tim McCarver, the All-Star catcher and Hall of Fame broadcaster who during 60 years in baseball won two World Series titles with the St. Louis Cardinals and had a long run as one of the country's most recognized, incisive and talkative television commentators, died Feb. 16, 2023. He was 81.
Billy Packer
Billy Packer (left), an Emmy award-winning college basketball broadcaster who covered 34 Final Fours for NBC and CBS, died Jan. 26, 2023. He was 82. Packer’s broadcasting career coincided with the growth of college basketball. He worked as analyst or color commentator on every Final Four from 1975 to 2008. He received a Sports Emmy for Outstanding Sports Personality, Studio and Sports Analyst in 1993.
The Iron Sheik
The Iron Sheik, a former pro wrestler who relished playing a burly, bombastic villain in 1980s battles with some of the sport's biggest stars and later became a popular Twitter personality, died June 7, 2023. He was 81. During his pro wrestling career, he donned curled boots and used the “Camel Clutch” as his finishing move during individual and tag team clashes in which he played the role of an anti-American heel for the WWF, which later became the WWE.
Treat Williams
Actor Treat Williams, whose nearly 50-year career included starring roles in the TV series “Everwood” and the movie “Hair,” died June 12, 2023, after a motorcycle crash in Vermont. He was 71. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his role as hippie leader George Berger in the 1979 movie version of the hit musical “Hair.”
Daniel Ellsberg
Daniel Ellsberg, the history-making whistleblower who by leaking the Pentagon Papers revealed longtime government doubts and deceit about the Vietnam War and inspired acts of retaliation by President Richard Nixon that helped lead to his resignation, died June 16, 2023. He was 92.
Pat Robertson
Pat Robertson, a religious broadcaster who turned a tiny Virginia station into the global Christian Broadcasting Network, tried a run for president and helped make religion central to Republican Party politics in America through his Christian Coalition, died June 8, 2023. He was 93. For more than a half-century, Robertson was a familiar presence in American living rooms, known for his “700 Club” television show, and in later years, his televised pronouncements of God’s judgment, blaming natural disasters on everything from homosexuality to the teaching of evolution.
Robert Blake
Robert Blake, the Emmy award-winning performer who went from acclaim for his acting to notoriety when he was tried and acquitted in the killing of his wife, died March 9, 2023, at age 89. Blake, star of the 1970s TV show, "Baretta," never recovered from the long ordeal which began with the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, outside a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001. The story of their strange marriage, the child it produced and its violent end was a Hollywood tragedy played out in court. Blake portrayed real-life murderer Perry Smith in the movie of Truman Capote's true crime best seller "In Cold Blood."
Ted Kaczynski
Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, the Harvard-educated mathematician who retreated to a dingy shack in the Montana wilderness and ran a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, died June 10, 2023. He was 81. Branded the “Unabomber” by the FBI, Kaczynski died by suicide at the federal prison medical center in Butner, North Carolina.
Lloyd Morrisett
Lloyd Morrisett, the co-creator of the beloved children's education TV series “Sesame Street,” which uses empathy and fuzzy monsters like Abby Cadabby, Elmo and Cookie Monster to charm and teach generations around the world, died Jan. 15, 2023. He was 93.
Chaim Topol
Chaim Topol, a leading Israeli actor who charmed generations of theatergoers and movie-watchers with his portrayal of Tevye, the long-suffering and charismatic milkman in “Fiddler on the Roof,” died March 8, 2023, at age 87. A recipient of two Golden Globe awards and nominee for both an Academy Award and a Tony Award, Topol long has ranked among Israel’s most decorated actors.
Len Goodman
Len Goodman, a long-serving judge on “Dancing with the Stars” and “Strictly Come Dancing" who helped revive interest in ballroom dancing on both sides of the Atlantic, died April 22, 2023. He was 78.
Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach, the singularly gifted and popular composer who delighted millions with the quirky arrangements and unforgettable melodies of "Walk on By," "Do You Know the Way to San Jose" and dozens of other hits, died Feb. 8, 2023. The Grammy, Oscar and Tony-winning composer was 94. Over the past 70 years, only Lennon-McCartney, Carole King and a handful of others rivaled his genius for instantly catchy songs that remained performed, played and hummed long after they were written. He had a run of top 10 hits from the 1950s into the 21st century, and his music was heard everywhere from movie soundtracks and radios to home stereo systems and iPods, whether “Alfie” and “I Say a Little Prayer” or “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” and “This Guy’s in Love with You.”
Stella Stevens
Stella Stevens, a prominent leading lady in 1960s and 70s comedies perhaps best known for playing the object of Jerry Lewis’s affection in “The Nutty Professor,” died Feb. 17, 2023. She was 84. She was a prolific actor in television and film up through the 1990s, officially retiring in 2010.
Barry Humphries
Tony Award-winning comedian Barry Humphries, internationally renowned for his garish stage persona Dame Edna Everage, a condescending and imperfectly-veiled snob whose evolving character has delighted audiences over seven decades, died April 22, 2023. He was 89.
Annie Wersching
Actor Annie Wersching, best known for playing FBI agent Renee Walker in the series “24" and providing the voice for Tess in the video game “The Last of Us,” died Jan. 29, 2023. She was 45. Her first credit was in “Star Trek: Enterprise,” and she would go on to have recurring roles in the seventh and eighth seasons of “24,” “Bosch," “The Vampire Diaries,” Marvel's “Runaways,” “The Rookie" and, most recently, the second season of “Star Trek: Picard” as the Borg Queen.
Dave Hollis
Dave Hollis, who left his post as a Disney executive to help his wife run a successful lifestyle empire, died Feb. 12, 2023. He was 47. Hollis worked for Disney for 17 years and had been head of distribution for the company for seven years when he left in 2018 to join his wife's venture. The parents of four moved from Los Angeles to the Austin area, collaborated on livestreams, podcasts and organized life-affirming conferences. In their podcast, “Rise Together,” they focused on marriage.
Christine King Farris
Christine King Farris, the last living sibling of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., died June 29, 2023. She was 95. For decades after her brother's assassination in 1968, Farris worked along with his widow, Coretta Scott King, to preserve and promote his legacy. But unlike her high-profile sister-in-law, Farris' activism — and grief — was often behind the scenes.
David Jude Jolicoeur
David Jude Jolicoeur, known widely as Trugoy the Dove and one of the founding members of the Long Island hip-hop trio De La Soul, died Feb. 12, 2023. He was 54. De La Soul’s debut studio album “3 Feet High and Rising,” produced by Prince Paul, was released in 1989 by Tommy Boy Records and praised for being a more light-hearted and positive counterpart to more charged rap offerings. De La Soul signaled the beginning of alternative hip-hop.
Robbie Knievel
Robbie Knievel, an American stunt performer who set records with daredevil motorcycle jumps following the tire tracks of his thrill-seeking father — including at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in 1989 and a Grand Canyon chasm a decade later — died Jan. 13, 2023. He was 60.
Gina Lollobrigida
Italian film legend Gina Lollobrigida, who achieved international stardom during the 1950s and was dubbed “the most beautiful woman in the world” after the title of one of her movies, died Jan. 16, 2023. She was 95. Besides “The World’s Most Beautiful Woman” in 1955, career highlights included Golden Globe-winner “Come September,” with Rock Hudson; “Trapeze;” “Beat the Devil,” a 1953 John Huston film starring Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones; and “Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell.”
Lynette Hardaway ("Diamond")
Lynette Hardaway, an ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump and one half of the conservative political commentary duo Diamond and Silk, died Jan. 9, 2023. She was 51. Hardaway (pictured at left), known by the moniker “Diamond,” carved out a unique role as a Black woman who loudly backed Trump and right-wing policies.
Adam Rich
Adam Rich, the child actor with a pageboy mop-top who charmed TV audiences as “America’s little brother” on “Eight is Enough,” died Jan. 7, 2023. He was 54. Rich had a limited acting career after starring at age 8 as Nicholas Bradford, the youngest of eight children, on the ABC hit dramedy that ran from from 1977 to 1981.
Bobby Hull
Hall of Fame forward Bobby Hull, who helped the Chicago Blackhawks win the 1961 Stanley Cup Final, has died. Hull was 84. The two-time MVP was one of the most prolific scorers in NHL history, leading the league in goals seven times. Nicknamed “The Golden Jet” for his speed and blond hair, he posted 13 consecutive seasons with 30 goals or more from 1959-72.
Charles White
Charles White, the Southern California tailback who won the Heisman Trophy in 1979, died Jan. 11, 2023. He was 64. A two-time All-American and Los Angeles native, White won a national title in 1978 before claiming the Heisman in the following season, when he captained the Trojans and led the nation in yards rushing.
Jerry Richardson
Jerry Richardson, the Carolina Panthers founder and for years one of the NFL’s most influential owners until a scandal forced him to sell the team, died March 1, 2023. He was 86.
Sister André
Lucile Randon, a French nun known as Sister André and believed to be the world's oldest person, died Jan. 17, 2023, at age 118. She was born in the town of Ales, southern France, on Feb. 11, 1904. She was also one of the world’s oldest survivors of COVID-19.
Tatjana Patitz
Tatjana Patitz, one of an elite group of famed supermodels who graced magazine covers in the 1980s and ’90s and appeared in George Michael's “Freedom! '90” music video, died at age 56.
Russell Banks
Russell Banks, an award-winning fiction writer who rooted such novels as “Affliction” and “The Sweet Hereafter” in the wintry, rural communities of his native Northeast and imagined the dreams and downfalls of everyone from modern blue-collar workers to the radical abolitionist John Brown in “Cloudsplitter," died Jan. 7, 2023. He was 82.
Cardinal George Pell
Cardinal George Pell, a onetime financial adviser to Pope Francis who spent 404 days in solitary confinement in his native Australia on child sex abuse charges before his convictions were overturned, died Jan. 10, 2023. He was 81.
Ken Block
Ken Block, a motorsports icon known for his stunt driving and for co-founding the action sports apparel brand DC Shoes, died Jan. 2, 2023, in a snowmobiling accident near his home in Utah. Block rose to fame as a rally car driver and in 2005 was awarded Rally America's Rookie of the Year honors.
Walter Cunningham
Walter Cunningham, the last surviving astronaut from the first successful crewed space mission in NASA's Apollo program, died Jan. 3, 2023. He was 90. Cunningham was one of three astronauts aboard the 1968 Apollo 7 mission, an 11-day spaceflight that beamed live television broadcasts as they orbited Earth, paving the way for the moon landing less than a year later.
Anton Walkes
Professional soccer player Anton Walkes died Jan. 18, 2023, from injuries he sustained in a boat crash off the coast of Miami. He was 25. Walkes began his career with English Premier League club Tottenham and also played for Portsmouth before signing with Atlanta United in MLS. He joined Charlotte for the club’s debut MLS season in 2022.
Pat Schroeder
Former U.S. Rep. Pat Schroeder, a pioneer for women’s and family rights in Congress, died March 13, 2023. She was 82. Schroeder took on the powerful elite with her rapier wit and antics for 24 years, shaking up stodgy government institutions by forcing them to acknowledge that women had a role in government. She was elected to Congress in Colorado in 1972 and won easy reelection 11 times from her safe district in Denver.
Seymour Stein
Seymour Stein, the brash, prescient and highly successful founder of Sire Records who helped launched the careers of Madonna, Talking Heads and many others, died April 2, 2023, at age 80. Stein helped found the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation and was himself inducted into the Rock Hall in 2005.
Klaus Teuber
Klaus Teuber, creator of the hugely popular Catan board game in which players compete to build settlements on a fictional island, died April 1, 2023. He was 70. The board game, originally called The Settlers of Catan when introduced in 1995 and based on a set of hexagonal tiles, has sold tens of millions of copies and is available in more than 40 languages.
Ginnie Newhart
Ginnie Newhart, who was married to comedy legend Bob Newhart for six decades and inspired the classic ending of his “Newhart” series, died April 23, 2023. She was 82.
Vida Blue
Vida Blue, a hard-throwing left-hander who became one of baseball’s biggest draws in the early 1970s and helped lead the brash A’s to three straight World Series titles before his career was derailed by drug problems, died May 6, 2023. He was 73.
Martin Amis
British novelist Martin Amis, who brought a rock ‘n’ roll sensibility to his stories and lifestyle, died May 20, 2023. He was 73. Amis was a leading voice among a generation of writers that included his good friend, the late Christopher Hitchens, Ian McEwan and Salman Rushdie. Among his best-known works were “Money,” a satire about consumerism in London, “The Information” and “London Fields,” along with his 2000 memoir, “Experience."
Doyle Brunson
Doyle Brunson, one of the most influential poker players of all time and a two-time world champion, died May 14, 2023. He was 89. Brunson, called the Godfather of Poker and also known as “Texas Dolly,” won 10 World Series of Poker tournaments — second only to Phil Hellmuth's 16. He also captured world championships in 1976 and 1977 and was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1988.
Hodding Carter III
Hodding Carter III, a Mississippi journalist and civil rights activist who as U.S. State Department spokesman informed Americans about the Iran hostage crisis and later won awards for his televised documentaries, died May 11, 2023. He was 88.
Ray Stevenson
Ray Stevenson, who played the villainous British governor in “RRR,” an Asgardian warrior in the “Thor” films, and a member of the 13th Legion in HBO’s “Rome,” died May 21, 2023. He was 58. He made his film debut in Paul Greengrass’s 1998 film “The Theory of Flight.” In 2004, he appeared in Antoine Fuqua’s “King Arthur” as a knight of the round table and several years later played the lead in the pre-Disney Marvel adaptation “Punisher: War Zone." Though “Punisher” was not the best-reviewed film, he'd get another taste of Marvel in the first three "Thor” films, in which he played Volstagg. Other prominent film roles included the “Divergent” trilogy, “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” and “The Transporter: Refueled.”
Astrud Gilberto
Astrud Gilberto, the Brazilian singer, songwriter and entertainer whose off-hand, English-language cameo on “The Girl from Ipanema” made her a worldwide voice of bossa nova, died June 5, 2023, at age 83.
Tori Bowie
U.S. Olympic champion sprinter Tori Bowie died May 2, 2023, from complications of childbirth, according to an autopsy report. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Bowie won silver in the 100 and bronze in the 200. She then ran the anchor leg on a 4x100 team with Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix and English Gardner to take gold.
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi, the boastful billionaire media mogul who was Italy's longest-serving premier despite scandals over his sex-fueled parties and allegations of corruption, died June 12, 2023. He was 86. A onetime cruise ship crooner, Berlusconi used his television networks and immense wealth to launch his long political career, inspiring both loyalty and loathing.
John Goodenough
John Goodenough, who shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work developing the lithium-ion battery that transformed technology with rechargeable power for devices ranging from cellphones, computers, and pacemakers to electric cars, died June 25, 2023, at age 100.
Coco Lee
Coco Lee, a Hong Kong-born singer and songwriter who had a highly successful career in Asia, has died by suicide July 5, 2023. She was 48. She was the first Chinese singer to break into the American market, and her English song “Do You Want My Love” charted at #4 on Billboard's Hot Dance Breakouts chart in December 1999.
If you or someone you know exhibits warning signs of suicide, call 1-800-273-TALK, text 741741 or visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
Jane Birkin
Actor and singer Jane Birkin, who made France her home and charmed the country with her English grace, natural style and social activism, died July 16, 2023, at age 76. The London-born star and fashion icon was known for her musical and romantic relationship with French singer Serge Gainsbourg. Their songs notably included the steamy “Je t’aime moi non plus" ("I Love You, Me Neither"). Birkin's ethereal, British-accented singing voice interlaced with his gruff baritone in the 1969 duet that helped make her famous and was forbidden in Italy after being denounced in the Vatican newspaper.
Tony Bennett
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 July 21, 2023. He was 96, just two weeks short of his birthday. 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.
Sinéad O’Connor
Sinéad O’Connor, the gifted Irish singer-songwriter who became a superstar in her mid-20s and was known as much for her private struggles and provocative actions as for her fierce and expressive music, died July 26, 2023, at age 56. Recognizable by her shaved head and with a multi-octave mezzo soprano of extraordinary emotional range, O’Connor began her career singing on the streets of Dublin and soon rose to international fame. She was a star from her 1987 debut album, “The Lion and the Cobra,” and became a sensation in 1990 with her cover of Prince’s ballad “Nothing Compares 2 U,” a seething, shattering performance that topped charts from Europe to Australia and was heightened by a promotional video featuring the gray-eyed O’Connor in intense close-up.
Paul Reubens
Paul Reubens, the actor and comedian whose character Pee-wee Herman became a cultural phenomenon through films and TV shows, died July 30, 2023, at age 70. Reubens died after a six-year struggle with cancer that he did not make public, his publicist said in a statement.
Angus Cloud
Angus Cloud, the actor who starred as the drug dealer Fezco “Fez” O'Neill on the HBO series “Euphoria,” died July 31, 2023. He was 25. Cloud hadn’t acted before he was cast in “Euphoria.” He was walking down the street in New York when casting scout Eléonore Hendricks noticed him. Cloud was resistant at first, suspecting a scam. Then casting director Jennifer Venditti met with him and series creator Sam Levinson eventually made him a co-star in the series alongside Zendaya for its first two seasons.
Mark Margolis
Mark Margolis, who had a breakout role as a mobster in “Scarface” but became best known decades later for his indelible, fearsome portrayal of a vindictive former drug kingpin in TV's “Breaking Bad," died Aug. 3, 2023. He was 83. Margolis was nominated for an Emmy in 2012 for outstanding guest actor in “Breaking Bad” as Hector “Tio” Salamanca, the murderous elderly don who was unable to speak following a stroke. But this actor did not need dialogue; he communicated via facial expressions and the sometimes menacing use of a barhop bell taped to his wheelchair.
Clarence Avant
Clarence Avant, the judicious manager, entrepreneur, facilitator and adviser who helped launch or guide the careers of Quincy Jones, Bill Withers and many others and came to be known as the "Black Godfather" of music and beyond, died Aug. 13, 2023. He was 92.
William Friedkin
William Friedkin, the generation-defining director who brought a visceral realism to 1970s hits “The French Connection” and “The Exorcist" and was quickly anointed one of Hollywood's top directors when he was only in his 30s, died Aug. 7, 2023. He was 87. Friedkin won the best director Oscar for “The French Connection.”
Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson, The Band’s lead guitarist and songwriter who in such classics as “The Weight” and “Up on Cripple Creek” mined American music and folklore and helped reshape contemporary rock, died Aug. 9, 2023, at 80. The Canadian-born Robertson was a high school dropout and one-man melting pot — part-Jewish, part-Mohawk and Cayuga — who fell in love with the seemingly limitless sounds and byways of his adopted country and wrote out of a sense of amazement and discovery at a time when the Vietnam War had alienated millions of young Americans.
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.
By his early 40s, he was seemingly out of fashion. 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. 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."
That led to an offer in 1994 to do an episode of "MTV Unplugged" with special guests Elvis Costello and k.d. lang. The evening's performance resulted in the album, "Tony Bennett: MTV Unplugged," which won two Grammys, including album of the year.
Bennett 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"). 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. He celebrated his 80th birthday with "Duets: An American Classic," featuring Barbra Streisand, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder among others.
"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.
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. The singer chose his old neighborhood as the site for the "Fame"-style public high school, the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, that he and his third wife, Susan Crow Benedetto, a former teacher, helped found in 2001.
The school is not far from the birthplace of the man who was once Anthony Dominick Benedetto. His father was an Italian immigrant who inspired his love of singing, but he died when Anthony was 10. Bennett credited his mother, Anna, with teaching him a valuable lesson as he watched her working at home, supporting her three children as a seamstress doing piecework after his father died.
FILE - Veteran singer Tony Bennett displays his two Grammy's backstage at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Wednesday, March 1, 1995.
"We were very impoverished," Bennett said in a 2016 AP interview. "I saw her working and every once in a while she'd take a dress and throw it over her shoulder and she'd say, 'Don't have me work on a bad dress. I'll only work on good dresses.'"
He studied commercial art in high school, but had to drop out to help support his family. The teenager got a job as a copy boy for the AP, performed as a singing waiter and competed in amateur shows. A combat infantryman during World War II, he served as a librarian for the Armed Forces Network after the war and sang with an army big band in occupied Germany. His earliest recording is a 1946 air check from Armed Forces Radio of the blues "St. James Infirmary."
Bennett took advantage of the GI Bill to attend the American Theater Wing, which later became The Actors Studio. His acting lessons helped him develop his phrasing and learn how to tell a story. He learned the more intimate Bel Canto vocal technique which helped him sustain and extend the expressive range of his voice. And he took to heart the advice of his vocal coach, Miriam Spier.
"She said please don't imitate other singers because you'll just be one of the chorus whoever you imitate whether it's Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra and won't develop an original sound," Bennett recalled in the 2006 AP interview. "She said imitate musicians that you like, find out how they phrase. I was particularly influenced by the jazz musicians like (pianist) Art Tatum and (saxophonists) Lester Young and Stan Getz."
In 1947, Bennett made his first recording, the Gershwins' standard "Fascinatin' Rhythm" for a small label under the stage name Joe Bari. The following year he gained notice when he finished behind Rosemary Clooney on the radio show "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts." Bennett's big break came in 1949 when singer Pearl Bailey invited him to join her revue at a Greenwich Village club. Bob Hope dropped by one night and was so impressed that he offered the young singer a spot opening his shows at the famed Paramount Theater, where teens had swooned for Sinatra. But the comedian didn't care for his stage name and thought his real name was too long for the marquee.
"He thought for a moment, then he said, 'We'll call you Tony Bennett,'" the singer wrote in his autobiography, "The Good Life," published in 1998.
In 1950, Mitch Miller, the head of Columbia Records' pop singles division, signed Bennett and released the single, "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams," a semi-hit. Bennett was on the verge of being dropped from the label in 1951 when he had his first No. 1 on the pop charts with "Because of You." More hits followed, including "Rags to Riches," "Blue Velvet," and Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart," the first country song to become an international pop hit.
Bennett found himself frequently clashing with Miller, who pushed him to sing Sinatra-style ballads and gimmicky novelty songs. But Bennett took advantage of the young LP album format, starting in 1955 with "Cloud 7," featuring a small jazz combo led by guitarist Chuck Wayne. Bennett reached out to the jazz audience with such innovative albums as the 1957 "The Beat of My Heart," an album of standards that paired him with such jazz percussion masters as Chico Hamilton, and Art Blakey. He also became the first white male singer to record with the Count Basie Orchestra, releasing two albums in 1958. Sinatra would later do the same.
Bennett's friendship with Black musicians and his disgust at the racial prejudice he encountered in the Army led him to become an active supporter of the Civil Rights Movement. He answered Harry Belafonte's call to join Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march and perform for the protesters.
Bennett's early career peaked in the 1960s as he topped the charts with "San Francisco" and became the first male pop solo performer to headline at Carnegie Hall, releasing a live album of the 1962 concert.
In 1966, he released "The Movie Song Album," a personal favorite which featured Johnny Mandel's Oscar-winning song "The Shadow of Your Smile" and "Maybe September," the theme from the epic flop "The Oscar," noteworthy because it marked Bennett's first and only big-screen acting role.
But as rock continued to overtake traditional pop, he clashed with Columbia label head Clive Davis, who insisted that the singer do the 1970 album "Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today," with such songs as "MacArthur Park" and "Little Green Apples." Bennett left Columbia in 1972, and went on to form his own record label, Improv, which in 1975-76 produced two duet albums with the impressionistic pianist Bill Evans now considered jazz classics.
Despite artistic successes, Improv proved a financial disaster for Bennett, who also faced difficulties in his personal life. His marriage to artist Patricia Beech collapsed in 1971. He wed actress Sandra Grant the same year, but that marriage ended in 1984. With no recording deals, his debts brought him close to bankruptcy and the IRS was trying to seize his house in Los Angeles. After a near-fatal drug overdose in 1979, he turned to his son, Danny, who eventually signed on as his manager. Bennett kicked his drug habit and got his finances in order, moved back to New York and resumed doing more than 200 shows a year.
Music icon Bennett, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2016 gave his final public performances alongside Gaga at the Radio City Music Hall in New York in August with the pair also collaborating on his final album, a collection of duets called Love for Sale.
He is survived by his wife Susan, daughters Johanna and Antonia, sons Danny and Dae and nine grandchildren.
Bennett was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2005 and a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 2006. He also won two Emmy Awards — for "Tony Bennett Live By Request: A Valentine Special" (1996) and "Tony Bennett: An American Classic" (2007).
Besides singing, Bennett pursued his lifelong passion for painting by taking art lessons and bringing his sketchbook on the road. His paintings, signed with his family name Benedetto — including portraits of his musician friends and Central Park landscapes — were displayed in public and private collections, including the Smithsonian Museum of American Art.
"I love to paint as much as I love to sing," Bennett told the AP in 2006. "It worked out to be such a blessing in my life because if I started getting burnt-out singing ... I would go to my painting and that's a big lift. ... So I stay in this creative zone all the time."
Photos: Tony Bennett through the years, 1926-2023
1951: Tony Bennett
Singer Tony Bennett is approached by autograph seekers as he leaves a performance on Oct. 4, 1951.
1960: Tony Bennett
Singer Tony Bennett is shown singing on June 23, 1960.
1968: Tony Bennett and Sandra Grant
Singer Tony Bennett and dancer Sandra Grant are shown in London, England, in 1968.
1969: Tony Bennett
Singer Tony Bennett is posing next to one of his paintings, in his New York City apartment, on May 23, 1969.
1972: Tony Bennett in London
Tony Bennett swings through Berkeley Square in London, May 4, 1972, where he's filming his own television series. He controls the series and he's relishing the chance to bring back into popular music melody, professionalism and honesty in presentation.
1972: Tony Bennett with family in London
American singer Tony Bennett, right, is shown with his wife Sandra and their 22-month-old daughter Joanna in London, England, on Jan. 4, 1972.
1974: Tony Bennett
Singer Tony Bennett is seen during a recording session at Regent Studios in New York City, on November 11, 1974.
1977: Tony Bennett
Singer Tony Bennett toasts his audience with campaign during a engagement April 10, 1977, at the hotel Sahara on the Las Vegas strip. Bennett, who was greatly influenced by Frank Sinatra, says he never gets tired of singing his biggest hit, "I left my heart in San Francisco," because that's the tune that keeps the people coming to see him.
1980: Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra, left, poses with Tony Bennett in this July 1980 file photo in Reno, Nev.
1980: Tony Bennett and Beverly Sills
Opera singer Beverly Sills and singer Tony Bennett are seen on January 8, 1980 at the Mayflower Hotel in New York.
1984: Tony Bennett and Dianne Feinstein
San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein and singer Tony Bennett, who sang “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” hang on to the outside of a cable car in San Francisco before taking a test ride, Wednesday, May 2, 1984.
1986: Tony Bennett and Ray Charles
Ray Charles, left, and Tony Bennett are shown at the Larabee Studios in Los Angeles, Jan. 4, 1986.
1990: Tony Bennett and Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald, right, sings a duet with Tony Bennett to close the evening, April 26, 1990 at the Radio City Music Hall in New York. Earlier in the evening Bennett arrived with a cake to help celebrate Ella's 73rd birthday.
1993: Tony Bennett and Natalie Cole at Grammy Awards
Singers Tony Bennett and Natalie Cole perform "Lady is a Tramp" during the 35th Grammy Awards Show, Feb. 24, 1993 in Los Angeles. Bennett and Cole presented a Grammy to Eric Clapton for the Album of the Year, while Bennett himself was given Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal for "Perfectly Frank" during the pre-televised portion of the show.
1995: Tony Bennett and Patti LaBelle perform at Super Bowl XXIX
Singers Tony Bennett and Patti LaBelle entertain the crowd during halftime at Super Bowl XXIX, Jan. 29, 1995 at Miami's Joe Robbie Stadium.
1995: Tony Bennett and President Bill Clinton
President Clinton laughs with singer Tony Bennett during a state dinner in honor of German Chancellor Helmut Kohl Thursday night, Feb. 9, 1995 in the State Dining Room of the White House.
1995: Tony Bennett wins multiple Grammys
Tony Bennett holds up his two Grammy awards backstage at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, Ca., Wednesday night, March 1, 1995. Bennett won album of the year for "MTV Unplugged" and best traditional pop vocal performance for "MTV Unplugged" at the Grammy Awards.
1995: Tony Bennett
Four-time Grammy winner Tony Bennett receives his honorary Doctor of Music Arts Degree cap at a rehearsal at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, Ill., Friday, Feb. 24, 1995.
1996: Tony Bennett and Carol Burnett at Emmy Awards
Carol Burnett gives a kiss to Tony Bennett after he won an Emmy for outstanding performance for a variety or music program at the 48th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in Pasadena, Calif., Sunday Sept. 8, 1996. He won for his performance "Tony Bennett Live by Request: A Valentine Special."
2004: Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett sings to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai at the concert for Maathai at the Oslo Spectrum Saturday Dec. 11, 2004. Maathai is the first environmentalist and the first African woman to be awarded the coveted prize.
2004: Tony Bennett
Singer Tony Bennett performs during the 58th Annual Tony Awards at New York's Radio City Music Hall, Sunday, June 6, 2004.
2005: Tony Bennett among Kennedy Center honorees
In this photograph provided by the White House, President Bush, right, congratulates performer Tina Turner during a reception for the Kennedy Center honorees in the East Room of the White House Sunday, Dec. 4, 2005. Other honorees are, from left, singer Tony Bennett, dancer Suzanne Farrell, actress Julie Harris, actor Robert Redford and singer Tina Turner. (AP Photo/The White House, Eric Draper)
2006: Tony Bennett and Billy Joel
Singers Tony Bennett, left and Billy Joel perform live on stage during the NBC "Today" show Friday, Sept. 22, 2006, in New York.
2006: Tony Bennett turns 80
Tony Bennett reacts after performing the song "San Francisco" during his 80th birthday celebration at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles, Thursday, Nov. 9, 2006.
2007: Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett accepts the award for best traditional pop vocal album for "Duets: An American Classic" at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2007, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
2007: Tony Bennett and Christina Aguilera
Tony Bennett and Christina Aguilera perform the song "Steppin' Out" during the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards Sunday, Sept. 16, 2007, in Los Angeles.
2010: Tony Bennett performs at World Series
Tony Bennett sings before Game 1 of baseball's World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010, in San Francisco.
2012: Tony Bennett wins multiple Grammy Awards
Tony Bennett poses backstage with the awards for best traditional pop vocal album for "Duets II" and best pop/duo/group performance for "Body and Soul" at the 54th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012 in Los Angeles.
2014: Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga, right, and Tony Bennett arrive for a media event at the Brussels' city hall on Monday Sept. 22 , 2014. Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett will give a short concert on the Brussels' Grand Place for 6,500 clients of mobile operator Mobistar.
2015: Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga
Tony Bennett, left, and Lady Gaga perform at the 57th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2015, in Los Angeles.
2016: Tony Bennett turns 90
In this Aug. 3, 2016 file photo, singer Tony Bennett arrives for his 90th birthday celebration at the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Plaza in New York. The Library of Congress announced Tuesday that the 90-year-old Bennett is the recipient of the lifetime achievement award.
2017: Tony Bennett
Singer/honoree Tony Bennett performs onstage during the 2017 Gershwin Prize Honoree's Tribute Concert at the DAR Constitution Hall on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017 in Washington
2018: Tony Bennett and John Legend
Tony Bennett, left, and John Legend present the award for best rap/sung performance at the 60th annual Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018, in New York.
2019: Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett arrives at the 61st annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, in Los Angeles.
2019: Tony Bennett
Singer Tony Bennett performs at the Statue of Liberty Museum opening celebration at Battery Park on Wednesday, May 15, 2019, in New York.
