Tony Bennett Diagnosed With Alzheimer’s Disease
Tony Bennett has opened up about his battle with Alzheimer’s disease. The jazz icon and his family broke the news to AARP magazine, revealing that he was first diagnosed in 2016 but chose to keep it private until now.
Despite the diagnosis, Tony Bennett continued to record and tour through March of 2020. However, Bennett’s wife, Susan, says the 94-year-old’s condition has worsened. She tells AARP that her husband is “not always sure where he is or what is happening around him,” and that “mundane objects as familiar as a fork or a set of house keys can be utterly mysterious to him.”
Remarkably, the legendary singer is still releasing new music. Tony Bennett’s latest collaboration with Lady Gaga will come out this spring. It will be the duo’s first album since the success of their Grammy Award-winning 2014 hit Cheek to Cheek. According to Entertainment Weekly, the new tracks were recorded over two years, from 2018 to 2020.
Bennett’s neurologist told AARP that the beloved star has “cognitive issues, but multiple other areas of his brain are still resilient and functioning well.” Dr. Gayatri Devi adds that Tony is “doing so many things, at 94, that many people without dementia cannot do. He really is the symbol of hope for someone with a cognitive disorder.” Continuing to sing has also helped Bennett. Dr. Devi says, “It kept him on his toes and also stimulated his brain in a significant way.”
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