Tony Bennett is retiring from performing live and has canceled his upcoming tour on strict doctor's orders.
The crooner, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016, had several shows lined up for the remainder of the year but they will no longer take place as Bennett has to focus on his health.
"There won’t be any additional concerts," his son, Danny Bennett, told Variety. "This was a hard decision for us to make, as he is a capable performer. This is however doctors’ orders. His continued health is the most important part of this, and when Tony’s wife, Susan, heard the doctors she said, 'Absolutely not.'"
The announcement comes on the heels of two successful Radio City concerts with Lady Gaga. The events were held to mark Tony's 95th birthday last week. Following that, Tony was to embark upon a casino tour along the east coast, but Danny explained that his father will be "doing other things, but not those upcoming shows."
"It’s not the singing aspect but, rather, the traveling," he continued. "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 on stage, for instance — something as simple as that."
Danny emphasized that, while they were not worried about Tony being able to sing, the concern was "from a physical stand point … about human nature."
This is not the end for Tony's music career though. He and Lady Gaga have a new duets album, "Love for Sale," due out in October. This is the pair's second album of duets. In 2014, they released "Cheek To Cheek," and have been working on "Love for Sale" over the course of two years, while navigating around Tony’s Alzheimer's.
"The day we released ‘Cheek To Cheek’ in 2014, @itstonybennett called me and asked me if I wanted to record another album with him, this time celebrating the songs of Cole Porter," Lady Gaga tweeted last week. "I’m always honored to sing with my friend Tony, so of course I accepted the invitation."
Commenting on how his father is still able to sing on stage despite his age and Alzheimer's, Danny credits Tony's love for music.
"Dealing as we have with Alzheimer’s for the last four-five years, it’s cognitive. He has short-term memory loss. That, however, does not mean that he doesn’t still have all this stored up inside of him. He doesn’t use a Teleprompter. He never misses a line," Danny said.
"He hits that stage, and goes. Tony may not remember every part of doing that show. But, when he stepped to the side of the stage, the first thing he told me was: 'I love being a singer.'"
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Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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