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00:00 American singer Tony Bennett has passed away at the age of 96. His publicist has
00:04 confirmed that he died in his hometown of New York during his career. He
00:09 released over 70 albums. We can now bring in our culture editor Eve Jackson. Eve, a
00:15 career spanning seven decades, where does one even begin?
00:18 Well what a life, what a career, what a voice, Delano. Since the 1950s the
00:24 crooner has sold millions of albums, more than 50 million albums. He won
00:28 19 Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award and two Emmys. Now his
00:34 first big hit was Because of You back in 1951. It shot straight to the top of the
00:40 charts in the United States and 70 years later he's still recording. In
00:46 2021 he made Love for Sale, it was his album of duets with Lady Gaga. It was his
00:52 61st album and it shows that seven decades on he was still relevant, still
00:57 adored by the public. He was also the oldest man to have a number one album in
01:02 the United States. That was with Cheek to Cheek, the other album of duets he did
01:06 with Lady Gaga and an album called Duets 2 a few years prior to that. But
01:12 perhaps the greatest compliment he ever received was from none other than
01:15 Frank Sinatra. He said Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business, he
01:21 excites me when I watch him, he moves me. Now he's known for so many different
01:25 songs and The Way You Look Tonight, Body and Soul, but perhaps the most famous is
01:29 from 1962, I Left My Heart in San Francisco.
01:35 I left my heart in San Francisco, high on a hill. It calls to me.
02:04 I left my heart in San Francisco from 1962. Now Tony Bennett, who was diagnosed with
02:13 Alzheimer's in 2016, he wrote on Twitter though, life is a gift even with
02:18 Alzheimer's and despite his illness apparently he was still able to sing and
02:22 the whole range of his repertoire. And because he had this career that spanned
02:25 what seven decades he was able to collaborate with a whole host of artists.
02:29 And everyone was queuing up to work with him, Aretha Franklin, James Taylor,
02:33 The Chicks, Bono, Michael Bublé, Elton John, Barbara Streisand and Billy Joel and of
02:38 course Frank Sinatra. But perhaps the collaboration we'll remember most of all
02:42 is the latest one he did that I talked about earlier with Lady Gaga and this is
02:46 the title track of their last recording together in 2021, it's called Love for Sale.
02:51 There we are, performing well into his 90s. He last performed in August
03:20 2021, it was with none other than Lady Gaga and they played two sold-out
03:25 concerts and it was Tony Bennett's last performance in New York.
03:30 What a career. Thank you very much for that, Ingrid Jackson there.