Tony Bennett, the timeless singer whose career spanned more than seven decades and included collaborations with artists from Lady Gaga to Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder, has died at age 96. His publicist confirmed Bennett’s death to The Associated Press.
In a 2014 interview with the NewsHour’s Jeffrey Brown, Bennett said he continued to perform in his later years because of the desire to always improve and grow– something that was instilled in him as a young child.
“I was blessed with a wonderful Italian-American family. My father died when I was 10 years old. And all my relatives, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, they would come over every Sunday. And my brother, my sister and myself would entertain them,” he recalled. “So they created a passion in me of always trying to improve.”
Watch more from the interview by tapping the link in our bio. Tim McPhillips, Yasmeen Alamiri, Travis Daub, Julia Griffin and Dan Cooney produced and edited this post.
Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG
Find more from PBS NewsHour at https://www.pbs.org/newshour
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6
Follow us:
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pbsnews
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/newshour
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/newshour
Facebook: http://www.pbs.org/newshour
Subscribe:
PBS NewsHour podcasts: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/podcasts
Newsletters: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/subscribe
