Legendary crooner Tony Bennett has Alzheimer’s disease, his family has revealed.
In an interview with AARP Magazine published Monday, the 94-year-old singer’s wife Susan Bennett said he was diagnosed in 2016 and began to show real signs of decline in 2018 while working with Lady Gaga on the forthcoming follow-up to their Cheek to Cheek duets album.
(At a 2015 performance at the Montreal Casino, Bennett told the audience he was “delighted to be back in Toronto” and left the stage after singing only a few songs.)
“There’s a lot about him that I miss,” Susan said. “Because he’s not the old Tony anymore … But when he sings, he’s the old Tony.”
Dr. Gayatri Devi, who diagnosed Bennett, told the magazine: “He is doing so many things, at 94, that many people without dementia cannot do.”
The singer has a Mediterranean diet and exercise regimen and continues to practice music twice a week. He has not performed in concert since last March (when the COVID-19 pandemic put an end to live shows) and has not appeared publicly since last October's virtual Carousel of Hope Ball.
Susan, 54, said she hopes Bennett's final days will be peaceful. “Hopefully he’ll just go to sleep one night and that will be that,” she said. “I’m hoping and praying that he won’t take a turn for the worse that’s really crazy bad.”