Just weeks before turning 96, Tony Bennett was spotted enjoying Manhattan’s warm weather while being pushed through Central Park by a male nurse.
The legendary musician, who turns 96 in less than a month, was spotted smiling and waving as he was wheeled about New York City this week.
Last year, the city celebrated Tony Bennett Day on August 3 – his birthday – for the first time, honouring the musician’s contributions to music and the arts.
Lady Gaga’s handsome pal was spotted sporting perfect white shoes, a pair of cosy Adidas sweatpants with the renowned red stripes down the side, and a sky blue Nike polo shirt with a matching black zip-up jacket.
Bennett’s nurse appeared to be just as delighted to be out and about in the bright metropolis as he grinned as Bennett waved to people inside a restaurant they passed.
They were also seen enjoying the park’s lush flora. The Queens-born performer has spent the most of his life in New York City, where he lives in a sprawling apartment overlooking Central Park. He relocated to his Central Park South apartment 25 years ago to be closer to it.
Sony Music Entertainment, which owns Bennett’s label Columbia Records, honoured him with a seat in the park bearing his name on his 95th birthday. The bench sits east of Center Drive, near Central Park South and Sixth Avenue, close to his home.
The Fly Me to the Moon singer was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2016, and he announced his retirement from performing in August, bringing his seven-decade career to an end.
Bennett has spent his retirement painting, cooking, and rolling through his favourite park.
Early this month, the Grammy Award winner was spotted in the park with his wife Susan Bendetto, who inherited his original surname.
It was the first time the father-of-four was seen using a wheelchair to navigate the city’s narrow streets.
In August, Benedetto said he still recognised her and his children – sons Danny, 68, and Dae, 67, from Bennett’s first marriage to Patricia Beech, which ended in 1971; and daughters Joanna, 52, and Antonia, 48, from Bennett’s second marriage to actress Sandra Grant, who divorced Bennett in 1984.
Benedetto and Bennett married in a ceremony officiated by former New York governor Mario Cuomo in 2007.
Benedetto was a high school teacher who like the singer’s music.
‘When she was nineteen she had tickets to see me perform at the Masonic Temple in San Francisco and she put in a request to say hello backstage after the show, probably not expecting a response,’ Bennett wrote in his book.
‘The request was sent to me, and it tickled me that someone of her age was so devoted to my music.
‘I not only agreed to say hello to her backstage, but asked her to be my date for the evening, and that’s how it really all began.’
When Benedetto and Bennett disclosed his Alzheimer’s diagnosis in February 2021, she stated it had been difficult to accept in the five years since his condition had been diagnosed.
‘There’s a lot about him that I miss, because he’s not the old Tony anymore,’ she said in the interview. ‘But when he sings, he’s the old Tony.’
She said he had avoided some of the more severe symptoms of Alzheimer’s, such as rage, terror, and depression.
Benedetto stated that the World War II veteran is oblivious to the fact that he has Alzheimer’s disease.
‘He recognizes me, thank goodness, his children you know, we are blessed in a lot of ways. He’s very sweet. He doesn’t know he has it,’ she said.