Tony Bennett, Master Pop Vocalist, Dies at 96

Tony Bennett, Master Pop Vocalist, Dies at 96! Tony Bennett, the master pop vocalist who had a professional career spanning eight decades with a No. 1 album at age 85, died on Friday morning in New York City. He was 96. Bennett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016, but had continued to perform and record through 2021. His peer Frank Sinatra called him the greatest popular singer in the world. His recordings – most of them made for Columbia Records, which signed him in 1950 – were characterized by ebullience, immense warmth, vocal clarity and emotional openness. A gifted and technically accomplished interpreter of the Great American Songbook, he may be best known for his signature 1962 hit “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”