Legendary crooner Tony Bennett dies at the age of 96

Published

2 years ago

July 22, 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 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.

Sinatra’s eldest daughter Nancy was among those paying tribute.

“Tony was one of the most splendid people who ever lived. Kind, loving, talented and generous, he never let us down… Tony was a true champion,” she wrote on Twitter.

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, Bennett was an entertainer beloved by all generations; Lady 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.

Her father, Mitch Winehouse, described Bennett as “wonderful” and said he had been hugely supportive of the charity set up in her name.

He told Sky News: “You saw how he was with Lady Gaga and Amy. With younger singers he was an absolute diamond.

“In so many ways he helped us at our foundation… a totally wonderful guy.”

Musicians pay tribute

Other big names honouring the crooner included Elton John, who said in a statement on Facebook: “So sad to hear of Tony’s passing. Without doubt the classiest singer, man, and performer you will ever see.

“He’s irreplaceable. I loved and adored him.”

The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards tweeted: “May you Rest in Peace,” while country music singer Keith Urban said: “What a legacy of not only superb timeless music, but a class act study in cool, grace, and elegance.”

DJ and producer Brendan Jay Sullivan worked with Bennett several times, including on his duet with Lady Gaga.

He told Sky News that his music transcended generations, adding: “Tony Bennet created a way to slow down the time warp and slow down time between us.

“[He was a] wonderful time bridge between millennials and our dads – and our grandparents even.”

Producer and guitarist Nile Rodgers also paid tribute on Twitter. He wrote: “My most heartfelt condolences go out to Tony Bennett’s family and friends. They’re also my emotional family and friends.”

Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea wrote on Instagram: “I love the immortal Tony Bennett, what a dude, what a class act, what a singer. so grateful to have shared a stage with him. A beautiful human being.”

Outside the world of music, the Reverend Jesse Jackson paid tribute by praising Bennett for his civil rights work in the US.

The veteran campaigner said: “He marched with us in 1964. He was dedicated to civil and human rights and to the arts. He will live as long as we remember him.”

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

Trump says he will cancel all Biden executive orders ‘signed with autopen’

Published

19 hours ago

November 29, 2025

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Trump says he will cancel all Biden executive orders 'signed with autopen'

Donald Trump has said he will cancel all executive orders that he claims were signed with an autopen by his predecessor Joe Biden.

The US president alleged Mr Biden was “not involved” in signing the orders and claimed “the radical left lunatics circling Biden around the beautiful Resolute Desk in the Oval Office took the presidency away from him”. He did not provide any evidence for his claims.

An autopen is a device which reproduces a person’s signature, allowing them to repeatedly sign documents without having to do so by hand each time.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said: “Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of them, is hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect.

“The Autopen is not allowed to be used if approval is not specifically given by the President of the United States.”

He added: “I am hereby cancelling all Executive Orders, and anything else that was not directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally.

“Joe Biden was not involved in the Autopen process and, if he says he was, he will be brought up on charges of perjury.”

Mr Trump has repeatedly claimed Mr Biden was not mentally capable by the end of his term and his staff made decisions on his behalf, using an autopen to sign them off without his knowledge.

Mr Trump has not provided any evidence for his claims, while Mr Biden and his former aides have denied they made decisions on his behalf.

In June, Mr Biden said: “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency.

“I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”

Mr Trump has also used an autopen, but claimed he only used it “for very unimportant papers”.

Earlier this year, Mr Trump replaced a portrait of Mr Biden in the Oval Office with a picture of an autopen signing the former president’s name.

US

Suspect in US National Guard shooting now facing first-degree murder charge

Published

1 day ago

November 28, 2025

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Suspect in US National Guard shooting now facing first-degree murder charge

The suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington DC is facing a first-degree murder charge.

It follows the death of one of the soldiers, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom.

The other soldier, Andrew Wolfe, 24, was taken to hospital in critical condition after the incident on Wednesday afternoon. On Friday, West Virginia’s governor said Wolfe remained in a “very critical condition”.

US attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office said the suspect, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, now faces charges including one count of first-degree murder, three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed.

Pirro said there are “many charges to come” beyond the upgraded murder charge and that Lakanwal had driven across the country to launch an “ambush-style” attack with a revolver.

She said her heart went out to the family of Beckstrom, who volunteered to serve and “ended up being shot ambush-style on the cold streets of Washington DC by an individual who will now be charged with murder in the first degree”.

President Donald Trump called Beckstrom, part of the West Virginia guard, a “highly respected” and “magnificent person”.

Investigators are continuing to execute warrants in the state of Washington, where the suspect lived, and other parts of the country, Pirro said.

However, she declined to discuss the suspect’s motive, saying officials have been working around the clock on that question.

Officials said Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration programme that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the US’s chaotic withdrawal from the country.

People who knew him say he served in a CIA-backed Afghan Army unit before immigrating to the US.

Kristina Widman, who claims to be Lakanwal’s former landlord, said he had been living in Bellingham, close to Seattle, with his wife and five children.

The #AfghanEvac charity said Lakanwal applied for asylum during the Biden administration, but his asylum was approved under the Trump administration.

On Wednesday night, Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who had entered under the Biden administration.

The director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, said in a statement that the agency would take additional steps to screen people from 19 “high-risk” countries “to the maximum degree possible”.

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The President has since said he wants to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations and is promising to seek to expel millions of immigrants from the US by revoking their legal status.

Organisations that work with refugees are worried that those who fled dangerous situations to start again in America will face a backlash after the shooting.

US

US to review immigration from 19 countries after Washington DC double shooting

Published

1 day ago

November 28, 2025

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US to review immigration from 19 countries after Washington DC double shooting

The US will review green cards issued to the citizens of 19 countries after two members of the National Guard were shot by a suspected Afghan gunman in Washington DC.

Immigration from Afghanistan has also been suspended indefinitely, the White House said, following the double shooting on Wednesday.

Joseph Edlow, director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), revealed the order from President Trump.

He wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “At the direction of @POTUS, I have directed a full scale, rigorous re-examination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.”

Asked which countries would be affected, USCIS pointed to a presidential proclamation from June listing 19 countries.

The proclamation sought to “fully restrict” arrivals from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.

It also “partially” restricted arrivals from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, has been named as the suspected gunman in this week’s shooting and has been detained.

He worked as part of a CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan, and reportedly came to the States under a programme meant to help Afghans who’d risked their lives assisting US troops in Afghanistan.

He’s thought to have driven thousands of miles to the capital from his home in Washington state, where he lives with his wife and five children.

Attorney general Pam Bondi called him “a lone gunman” who “opened fire without provocation, ambush style”.

President Trump described him as a “savage monster”.

He was granted asylum in April this year, according to NBC News.

One of his victims, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, died of her wounds, while the other, Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in a critical condition.

Lakanwal reportedly came to the US under Operation Allies Welcome, a programme enacted by former President Joe Biden after he pulled American forces out of Afghanistan in 2021.

Edlow explictly targeted the previous president as he announced the new green card regime.

He wrote on X: “The protection of this country and of the American people remains paramount, and the American people will not bear the cost of the prior administration’s reckless resettlement policies.”

Speaking after the attack, President Trump was even more caustic.

He said: “The suspect in custody is a foreigner, who entered our country from Afghanistan, a hellhole on Earth.

“He was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021 on those infamous flights that everybody was talking about.

“His status was extended under legislation signed by President Biden – a disastrous president, the worst in the history of our country.”

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He continued: “This attack underscores the greatest national security threat facing our nation.

“The last administration let in 20 million unknown and unvetted foreigners from all over the world, from places that you don’t even want to know about.

“No country can tolerate such a risk to our very survival.”