Tony Bennett's music 'crossed generations'

Let's learn more about the breaking news that we brought you a little earlier: American singer Tony Bennett died at the age of 96. His publicist confirmed his death. It happened in the hometown of New York. Tony Bennett was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2016. The singer released more than 70 albums and won 20 Grammy Awards. Well, let's talk to Kelly Allen, the celebrity editor for Fabulous magazine, who joins us now. Kelly, this was an incredible singer, an incredible act. We're talking about a man whose career spanned seven decades, yes. I think that's it, I think people, I think people forget what an impressive career he had, he released it for 70 albums, he had 19 Grammy Awards, I mean, he continued to break records until he retired, he retired in 2021, but As in 2014, he was 88 years old. he broke his own record of being the oldest living artist to have a number one album on the billboard, so he was someone who loved to perform and continued to do so until 2021.

He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2016 and I think it became too difficult for he acted and did some performances with Lady Gaga and after the ones that his son announced were going to be his laugh, I think that's the thing, it's not just the long career, it's the way it passed through

generations

because certainly He collaborated with people like Lady Gaga and, in fact, Amy Winehouse also brought him to this new kind of market that maybe had never heard of him or his

music

before. Yes, he wasn't really the master of reinvention because he stayed the same, he stuck to what he knew. which was the Great American Songbook, but he had the ability to find new audiences for it.

Frank Sinatra, you know he's right up there with people like Frank Sinatra, but Frank Sinatra himself described him as the best singer in the business, yes, he really did. I think that's what, yeah, Frank, he said that his

music

moves me and I think that's what's interesting, obviously Frank had that kind of drama in his public life. Tony really let the music do the talking for him, it was more about When doing the performance he described himself as a tenor who sings in baritone. It was just the same, but people loved her. It's a strange thing because obviously nowadays we have many types of reinventions and people don't tend to. having that longevity of sort of crossing people's lives like some of his fans and I were grandchildren of kids who had originally heard him when he first came out, yeah, he performed for every president from Eisenhower to Obama, which it just puts her career in context and it was the second act of her career, Kelly, that saw her um well, her most critically acclaimed success in the fact that you know, we say she won 20 Grammy Awards, um only two of them were before the age of 60. he was older and going to younger audiences.

You mentioned Amy Winehouse there and Lady Gaga, but also people like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, yeah, I think that's exactly it, it's kind of like he, um, brought in these new young people. I like the listeners and there's always something like that about music, it's for the youth and as you get to 60 you'd probably think, oh maybe my career is over, but he absolutely brought in these new young women and people like Red. Hot Chili Peppers and I mean, Lady Gaga has always gushed about how incredible she is, what kind of mentor he's been in her career and I think also with Amy Winehouse, I mean Amy in her um, the movie I don't remember the year. of her showed them together performing together and she talked about the impact that he has and I think that's what he wanted to give back to the music industry and help the next generation, like I think he fed off the energy. from working with them and collaborating with them and I think that's why you had this longevity.

It's really sad that it was actually his birthday. In two days he was in sector 97. So we just found out about his death today which is very sad