Singer Bennett done with performing live
Announcement follows recent cancellation of 2021 tour dates by 95-year-old musician
Tony Bennett has retired from performing, his son and longtime manager Danny Bennett confirmed.
Just a week after the crooner joined frequent collaborator Lady Gaga for two sold-out shows at Manhattan’s Radio City Music Hall, filmed for broadcast at a later date, his son says that the legendary performer will no longer return to the stage and that upcoming tour dates are canceled.
“There won’t be any additional concerts,” Danny Bennett told Variety. “This was a hard decision for us to make, as he is a capable performer. This is, however, doctors’ orders.”
The Grammy-winning musician, whose chart-topping career spans seven decades, told AARP Magazine earlier this year that he had been living with Alzheimer’s disease since 2016.
Still, in April 2020, during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” singer inspired a mass sing-along of his signature tune in honor of the frontline workers battling the outbreak.
Bennett first belted out the song in 1961 at the Fairmont Hotel’s Venetian Room. It was originally written for San Francisco Opera singer Claramae Turner, with the lyrics by Douglass Cross and music by George Cory. But Bennett made it world famous and had often performed it during San Francisco Giants games and other city events.
“I have been blessed with a beautiful signature song that has made me a citizen of the world,” Bennett told The Chronicle in 2011. “I love to perform it for everyone.”
As for his work with Lady Gaga, they had previously collaborated on the song “The Lady Is a Tramp” for Bennett’s 2011 “Duets II” album. The pop star and Bennett’s collaborative album “Cheek to Cheek” premiered at No. 1 on the Billboard Album charts and earned them a Grammy for best traditional pop vocal.
The pair are now set to release a second collaborative album Oct. 1, titled “Love for Sale,” consisting of music written by Cole Porter. The first single, “I Get a Kick Out of You,” is available now.
They were expected to perform from that album at much-anticipated New York shows — “One Last Time: An Evening With Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga” — billed as Bennett’s final concerts in the Big Apple. He was then scheduled to continue touring at other venues along the East Coast.
But Bennett, who turned 95 on Aug. 3, canceled
the remainder of his 2021 tour and soon after, his son confirmed he was effectively retiring from the stage.
“His continued health is the most important part of this,” his son explained. “And when we heard the doctors — when Tony’s wife, Susan, heard them — she said, ‘Absolutely not.’ He’ll be doing other things, but not those upcoming shows. It’s not the singing aspect but, rather, the traveling.
“Look, he gets tired. The decision is being made that doing concerts now is just too much for him. We don’t want him to fall onstage, for instance — something as simple as that.”
Danny Bennett, who has managed his father for more than 40 years, said that he still has the voice that has earned him 20 Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award.
“We’re not worried about him being able to sing. We are worried, from a physical standpoint, about human nature,” he added.
Bennett’s six-date fall tour was scheduled to begin Sept. 25 with a show in Mashantucket, Conn., before traveling to Staten Island, N.Y.; Bensalem, Penn.; Bethesda, Md.; and conclude in December, with two concerts in Oklahoma.
Ticket holders should check with the local venues for information regarding refunds.