Legendary crooner Tony Bennett dies at the age of 96

Published

2 years ago

July 21, 2023

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Legendary pop and jazz singer Tony Bennett has died at the age of 96.

Bennett, known for his performances with singers as diverse as Frank Sinatra and Lady Gaga, sold millions of records around the world throughout his career and won 20 Grammys, including a lifetime achievement award.

One of the last of America’s great crooners, Bennett released his first album in 1952 when he was in his mid-20s and went on to chart in the US in every subsequent decade of his life.

Bennett picked up his first Grammy for his signature 1962 song, I Left My Heart In San Francisco.

He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016 and went public five years later.

His positivity was clear from a reworking of one of his famous quotes shared on his social media accounts: “Life is a gift – even with Alzheimer’s.”

In 2022, Bennett went on to perform his final shows, alongside Lady Gaga, who he shared his 20th Grammy Award with – at the tender age of 95.

Sinatra himself once described Bennett as “the best singer in the business” in an interview in 1965.

The legendary singer always called Bennett “kid”, even into old age.

With more than 70 albums to his name, Bennett is perhaps the only artist ever to have had new albums charting in the US in the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s.

In 2014, he broke his own record as the oldest living artist to hit the top of the weekly Billboard 200 album chart.

Performing well into his 90s, even after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016, Bennett was an entertainer beloved by all generations; Gaga was just one of the modern-day artists he collaborated with in later years.

Paul McCartney, John Legend, Christina Aguilera and Michael Bublé, as well as Sinatra, all feature on the long list of stars he worked with.

His 2011 duet with Amy Winehouse, Body And Soul, was the last song she recorded before her death.

A star is born

Born Anthony Dominick Benedetto on 3 August 1926, in Queens in New York City, to parents John and Anna, the young Tony and his older brother and sister, John and Mary, were raised by their mother following his father’s death when he was aged just 10.

As a child, he loved to sing and paint, and his passions were nurtured at the High School of Industrial Arts in Manhattan.

As he grew older, he developed a love of music listening to artists such as Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong and James ‘Jimmy’ Durante on the radio.

During his teenage years, Bennett sang while waiting tables, before enlisting in the army during the Second World War.

He served in the Battle of the Bulge – the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front, launched in 1944 through the forested Ardennes region between Belgium and Luxembourg – and participated in the liberation of a concentration camp, according to his official website biography.

Breakthrough in music

During his time in Europe, he performed with military bands and, following his return to America, he went on to have vocal studies at the American Theatre Wing School in New York.

The singer’s first nightclub performance came in 1946, alongside trombonist Tyree Glenn at the Shangri-La in Queens’ Astoria neighbourhood.

Three years later came his big break, when comedian Bob Hope noticed him working with actress and singer Pearl Bailey in Greenwich Village. At the time, he was performing under the stage name of Joe Bari.

Bennett’s first singles came in the 1950s, including chart-toppers Because Of You, Rags To Riches, and a remake of Hank Williams’ Cold, Cold Heart.

Dozens more singles followed and his voice took him around the world, selling millions of records and performing to sold-out venues – as well as for numerous stars and presidents.

Life away from the stage

A father of four, Bennett was married three times.

At his wedding to first wife Patricia Beech in 1952, some two thousand female fans reportedly gathered outside the ceremony, dressed in black in mock mourning.

The couple went on to have two sons, Danny and Dae, before they separated.

Bennett went on to marry actress Sandra Grant, with whom he had daughters Joanna and Antonia, and in 2007 married long-term partner Susan Crow, now Susan Benedetto.

Among his many gongs for his music, Bennett was also honoured with the Martin Luther King Center’s “salute to greatness” award for his efforts in fighting racial discrimination, after joining the activist in the Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights march in 1965.

US

Ex-FBI director James Comey charged with making false statement and obstruction

Published

22 hours ago

September 25, 2025

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Ex-FBI director James Comey charged with making false statement and obstruction

Ex-FBI director James Comey has been charged with making a false statement and obstruction in a criminal case.

Comey was fired months into Donald Trump‘s first presidency, in the middle of an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Fellow former FBI chief Robert Mueller took over the investigation, which found numerous contacts between Mr Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russian officials, but concluded that there was not enough evidence to establish a criminal conspiracy.

Mr Trump and his supporters labelled the investigation a “hoax” and a “witch hunt” used to undermine Mr Trump’s first administration – despite several government reviews showing that Moscow interfered on behalf of the Republican’s campaign.

The charges come days after the US president appeared to chide his attorney general, Pam Bondi, for not bringing criminal charges against Comey and other perceived political enemies quickly enough.

“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” Mr Trump wrote, referencing the fact that he himself had been indicted and impeached multiple times. “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”

When she announced the charges, Ms Bondi said: “No one is above the law. Today’s indictment reflects this Department of Justice’s commitment to holding those who abuse positions of power accountable for misleading the American people.”

Mr Trump celebrated the charges as “JUSTICE IN AMERICA” in a Truth Social post, adding that Comey “was indicted by a Grand Jury on two felony counts for various illegal and unlawful acts”.

After he was fired, Comey became a prominent critic of the president, calling him “morally unfit” for office.

The criminal case against Comey, who served as FBI director from 2013 to 2017, does not concern the substance of the Russia investigation.

Instead, it accuses him of having lied to Congress in 2020 when he said he never authorised anyone to serve as an anonymous source to a reporter about the investigation.

An internal watchdog for the US Justice Department found evidence of numerous errors but no political bias concerning the FBI’s opening of the investigation into Russian election interference.

In a 2019 report, the watchdog faulted Comey for asking a friend to give memos detailing Comey’s one-on-one interactions with Mr Trump to the New York Times.

During Mr Trump’s first term, the Justice Department declined to pursue criminal charges against Comey.

The case against Comey is the starkest example of the Trump administration using law enforcement to target a critic, following the president’s promise of retribution against the former FBI chief during his 2024 election campaign.

If Comey is convicted of making a false statement and obstruction, he faces up to five years in prison.

US

FBI shares details of handwritten notes allegedly written by Dallas shooting suspect

Published

1 day ago

September 25, 2025

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FBI shares details of handwritten notes allegedly written by Dallas shooting suspect

A handwritten note recovered after a deadly shooting in Dallas detailed the suspect’s desire to inflict “real terror” on US immigration agents, the head of the FBI has said.

One person was killed and two people were critically injured after a gunman opened fire at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday.

All three victims were in a transport van outside the facility at the time, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

Several more people were injured before the gunman took his own life, officials said.

FBI director, Kash Patel, said the agency had seized devices and processed “writings” obtained at the scene and in the suspect’s home since the attack.

A handwritten note recovered read: “Hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror, to think, ‘is there a sniper with AP rounds on that roof?”

The FBI previously said the suspect left a bullet casing engraved with the phrase “ANTI-ICE” at the scene.

Mr Kash said in a post on X: “While the investigation is ongoing, an initial review of the evidence shows an ideological motive behind this attack.”

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told Sky News partner NBC that ICE agents pulled some of the detainees out of the line of fire.

“The shooter was just shooting at random vehicles inside,” Mr Lyons said

“They were still hit inside the vehicle. You know, there were some brave men and women on the ground that went into those vans, pulling those detainees out while they were under fire.”

According to the FBI, evidence recovered so far shows a high level of planning ahead of the shooting, including searches of buildings belonging to the Dallas County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Officials have not yet disclosed the identity of the victims.

US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem identified the gunman, in a Fox News interview, as Joshua Jahn, 29.

Ms Noem said he had fired the bullets from a nearby rooftop.

Mr Jahn’s older brother, Noah Jahn, who lives around 30 miles north of Dallas in McKinney, said he was not aware his brother held any negative feelings towards ICE.

He said: “I didn’t know he had any political intent at all.”

The shooting comes at a time of heightened tension in the US following the assassination of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk.

Mr Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, was shot dead by a sniper while speaking at an event in Utah on 10 September.

Tyler Robinson, 22, has been charged with the murder of Mr Kirk.

US

Trump administration will push back if FIFA ban Israel from international football as UEFA close to suspension decision

Published

1 day ago

September 25, 2025

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The Trump administration will work to prevent FIFA banning Israel from international football ahead of the 2026 World Cup, Sky News can reveal.

It comes as we have also learnt that European governing body UEFA is heading towards its own decision to suspend Israeli teams over the war in Gaza – with many FAs and members of the executive committee understood to favour that.

Israel’s next match is against Norway on 11 October in a men’s World Cup qualifier.

Football’s world and European governing bodies were urged this week by United Nations (UN) advisory experts to impose sporting sanctions.

FIFA has not responded to the UN special rapporteurs as Israel’s men continue trying to qualify for next year’s World Cup, which is largely being played in the United States.

And the US government, through Marco Rubio’s state department, has made a direct intervention to stop sporting sanctions being imposed.

A state department spokesperson told Sky News: “We will absolutely work to fully stop any effort to attempt to ban Israel’s national soccer team from the World Cup.”

FIFA launched an investigation last year into allegations of discrimination raised by the Palestine Football Association against the Israeli FA.

There is also an investigation into whether teams from Israeli settlements in the West Bank playing in Israeli competitions breaches FIFA regulations.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has a close relationship with US President Donald Trump and is a regular visitor to the White House. He has been in New York this week, meeting world leaders around the UN General Assembly – while also at FIFA’s office in Trump Tower.

During a speech after collecting an Atlantic Council Global Citizen Award last night, Mr Infantino referenced the war while speaking on bringing people together in “a divided world, in an aggressive world”.

In an indirect reference to the challenge of sanctioning countries over wars, Mr Infantino said there are 80 countries where there are conflicts.

He added: “I suffer when I see children suffer. I cry when I see mothers crying, whether it’s in Gaza… anywhere in the world.”

Sky News revealed yesterday that discussions are taking place at high levels in European football about whether Israel should be banned but no decision has been taken.

Officials have been deliberating over why Russia remains banned over the war in Ukraine but Israel is clear to continue playing in European club competitions and on the international stage as the death toll mounts.

UEFA has previously publicly said there is a difference in how the wars started – with Russia launching an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and Israel responding to the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks.

But a UN commission of inquiry has now said Israel is committing genocide in Gaza – accusations rejected by Israel.

That led to UN advisers calling for Israeli teams to be expelled from world football.

“Sports cannot be business as usual and something has to change and Israel has to be excluded,” Alexandra Xanthaki, the UN special rapporteur for cultural rights, told Sky News.

“I think that when we talk about teams, national teams, not individual athletes, of states that are subject to valid claims of genocide… this is where this is for sure a red line.”

Among the athletes killed during the war is the footballer known as the Palestinian Pele – Suleiman al Obeid – who the Palestine FA announced in August died in an Israeli airstrike.

The Palestine Olympic Committee this week said the Israeli sports system has been an “active participant” in war.

“Over 1,000 athletes have had their lives extinguished. Thousands more are wounded, maimed or disabled,” said POC President Jibril Rajoub, who also heads the FA.

“Our stadiums, our facilities, our dreams, all have been ground into dust.”

A suspension of Israeli teams would prevent Aston Villa having to go ahead with their match in the Europa League against Maccabi Tel Aviv in November.

FIFA did not respond to a request for comment.