Tony Bennett opens up about Alzheimer s diagnosis after four years
Photo: Noam Galai (Getty Images)
Iconic performer Tony Bennett has opened up to the AARP about living with Alzheimer’s Disease, a diagnosis that he and his family have chosen to keep private for four years.
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The singer with the help of his wife, Susan, son/manager Danny, and a team of neurologists revealed in an in-depth profile for the association’s magazine that he was first diagnosed with the condition in 2016. Bennett, who has maintained a very active career for over 75 years, has continued to perform with the likes of Lady Gaga since then: AARP writer John Colapinto recounts footage of a performance from the duo, noting that Gaga seemed “clearly aware of his condition” and that the older singer barely spoke beyond one-word responses a far cry from his storied penchant for charismatic storytelling between songs.
Bennett, 94, has increasingly rare moments of clarity and awareness
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CREDIT: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Tony Bennett, the iconic singer of jazz, show tunes and standards, has shared that the singer has battled Alzheimer’s disease over the past four years in a new feature in
AARP magazine. It was also revealed that Bennett has completed a second album with Lady Gaga that will drop this year. The unlikely duo previously teamed on 2011’s “The Lady Is a Tramp” and their 2014
Cheek To Cheek album.
In revealing the diagnosis, Bennett, 94, is characterized in the story as having “increasingly rare moments of clarity and awareness” which “reveal the depths of his debility.” The Bennett family hopes to reduce the stigma around the degenerative neurological disease by going public with his battle.
Singer Tony Bennett reveals he has Alzheimer s disease kingdomfm.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kingdomfm.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett (Alan Davidson/Daily Mail/PA)
“But there was little doubt that the disease had progressed. Even his increasingly rare moments of clarity and awareness reveal the depths of his debility.”
Bennett has collaborated with artists including Lady Gaga and Amy Winehouse.
In the spring he is to release a follow-up to the album Cheek To Cheek, which he released with Gaga in 2014, according to AARP.
Bennett has won 19 Grammys, the most recent of which came in 2018 when he was 91 years of age.
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2nd Feb 2021 6:00 AM Legendary singer Tony Bennett is living with Alzheimer s disease, his family have revealed in a heartbreaking new interview detailing the recording of his next album with Lady Gaga. Bennett, 94, appeared lost and bewildered during recording sessions for the musical sequel to their 2014 Grammy-winning collaboration Cheek To Cheek, with Gaga sobbing openly as she witnessed his decline.
Reporter John Colapinto, writing for AARP, describes the veteran crooner s cognitive decline: When I asked him, Are you excited about the new record with Gaga? he stared at me silently, he wrote. Other prompts and questions from Lady Gaga were met with uncertain, one-word answers.