Tony Bennett’s son, D’Andrea “Danny” Bennett, revealed the late music legend’s last words to him were, “Thank you.”
The pop, jazz and big-band vocalist died July 21 at the age of 96 in his hometown of New York, his publicist Sylvia Weiner confirmed to The Post.
Tony Bennett’s wife, Susan Benedetto, whom he wed in 2007, and his son sat for their first joint interview since the singer’s death.
“Can’t say it better than that,” his son told Hoda Kotb on August 3’s episode of the TODAY show.
His eldest child, from Bennett’s 20-year marriage with ex-wife Patricia Beech, remembered his late father as a “man of the people.”
“And so we experienced that as kids,” said Bennett, mentioning that he and his family “never took that for granted … It was an amazing journey.”
The father and son duo worked closely together. Bennett worked as his father’s manager from 1971 to 2021, to help broaden his younger fanbase which he referred to as the “MTV Generation.”
“He came into my office one time. And he said, ‘I was watching MTV.’ He goes, ‘I think I can do that.’”
His son took on the challenge, booking the jazz icon for various performances filled with a new generation of music lovers.
“I put him on these shows that were, you know, 60,000 kids at RFK Stadium, between Nine Inch Nails and PJ Harvey,” Danny admitted.
“It was a little nerve-wracking,” he added. “[Tony] turned to me and he said, ‘Can I ask you a question?’ And he goes, ‘You think Frank (Sinatra) would do this?’ And I said No ….”
Once Bennett revealed he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, a progressive, degenerative brain disease, in 2021, his family assumed the “Fly Me to the Moon” crooner would slow down.
But he had other plans.
“Tony’s like, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. You know, I wanna keep singing.’”
His son added, “We’d take him to the doctor and he’d go, ‘What am I– why am I here?’
The “Rags to Riches” singer always reassured his loved ones that he was doing all right and didn’t need constant medical attention.
“Susan. I’m really okay. We don’t have to come back,” he would say.
The last song he sang was his 1951 hit “Because of You.”
“The music never left him,” Bennett’s wife revealed.
Before he died, the Grammy-award winner told Benedetto, “That he loved me … he would wake up every day and still say that,” she said. “He woke up happy every day.”
The beloved singer is survived by his wife Benedetto; Danny and his other son, Dae Bennett; his daughters, Joanna and Antonia Bennett; and nine grandchildren.
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