During an interview with Anderson Cooper for 60 Minutes, Tony Bennett‘s wife, Susan Crow, opened up about the music icon’s fight against Alzheimer’s.
“Every day is different. Tony late at night, sometimes early in the morning, he’s more alert, if I can use that word,” Susan shared of the 95-year-old. “So, I’ll tell him, ‘Tone, you’re gonna be on 60 Minutes.’ He’s, like, ‘Great. I said, ‘You remember that show, 60 Minutes.’ He’s, like, ‘I do,'” she continued. “But in any other given moment, he won’t know.”
The legendary crooner’s 55-year old spouse revealed that Bennett recognizes family members, but does not know that he has the degenerative neurological disease following his 2016 diagnosis.
Cooper explained that Bennett struggles to keep conversation and that his condition has “really progressed” in severity. However, when called to rehearse, “Suddenly Tony comes shuffling out, much more energetically and he gives thumbs up to the camera, and he’s suddenly making eye contact with everybody… He knows the entire song, there’s no cue cards, there’s no sheet music on the piano that he’s reading, so it’s all just in his brain.”
Bennett recently released his final album Love For Sale, a collection of duets with Lady Gaga who talked about working with Tony Bennett.
Tony Bennett officially retired from performing live in August after appearing for a final time at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.
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Author: Al Denté
Photo: Tom Beetz