Tony Bennett's Final Days Recounted

Tony Bennett, one of the most legendary singers in the world, passed away on Friday at the age of 96. His publicist Sylvia Weiner confirmed Bennett's death to The Associated Press. During the final years of his life, Bennett kept a relatively low profile, battling health issues. Here is how the singer spent his final years. 

While Weiner didn't give a specific cause of death, she did reveal that he died in his hometown of New York two weeks shy of his birthday. While he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2016, his cause of death hasn't been specified. Bennett's third wife Susan Crow said he felt physically fine when talking to her. "He would ask me, 'What is Alzheimer's?' she told OK. "I would explain, but he wouldn't get it. He'd tell me, 'Susan, I feel fine.' That's all he could process, physically he felt great. So nothing changed in his life. Anything that did change, he wasn't aware of."

According to DailyMail.com, Bennett was "no longer able to hold a conversation" in his final weeks. He was being "looked after very well and had physiotherapists visiting him daily," said the source. In 2021, his wife, Susan, discussed his diagnosis. "We came home one night after the show and he says, 'Susan, I can't remember the musicians' names," she recalled to Gayle King on CBS This Morning. "And I just chalked it up to him being, at the time, late 80s, we forget things. And he said, 'No, no, this isn't right.'"

Soon after, he was diagnosed with memory loss disease, but the family opted to keep it private for several years. "He always likes to say he's in the business of making people feel good so he never wanted the audience to know if he had a problem," Susan said. 

As of 20121, Susan maintained Bennett was "not in any pain," exercising five times a week and performing twice a week with a pianist. "Singing is everything to him," Susan told AARP. "Everything. It has saved his life many times. Many times. Through divorces and things."

"If he ever stops singing, that's when we'll know…," she added, becoming emotional. In August 2021, Bennett sang side-by-side with Lady Gaga in a series of concerts at Radio City Music Hall. 

"I think he really pushed through something to give the world the gift of knowing that things can change, and you can still be magnificent," Lady Gaga told "60 Minutes" after the show. "There's a lot about him that I miss. Because he's not the old Tony anymore. But when he sings, he's the old Tony," Susan said during her AARP interview. 

A few weeks later, his family announced that those would be his last shows. In April 2022 he won his 19th Grammy, along with Lady Gaga, for "Love for Sale."

"There is nothing that gives me greater joy or greater pride than [the fact] that I'm able to be with him and take care of him," Susan told CBS This Morning. "When people say, 'What do you do?' I say, 'I take care of a national treasure.'"