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‘He would say that to me all the time’: Late Tony Bennett’s wife Susan Benedetto reveals his last words to her
Tony Bennett died at the age of 96 after a seven-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease
A month after legendary musician Tony Bennett passed away, his wife Susan Benedetto has opened up about his last days. The 96-year-old legendary pop, jazz and big-band vocalist battled Alzheimer’s for seven years.
Susan, 56, opened up in an interview with TODAY, talking about the days leading up to Tony’s death. Speaking of his last words to her, Susan said, “That he loved me. Yeah. He would wake up every day and still say that. He woke up happy every day. Even if he had had a bad day or night, he didn’t remember it. That was the only blessing. He woke up happy. And he’s just like, ‘Susan. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.’ And he would say that to me all the time.”
Susan revealed that Tony remembered his songs, and used to sing one of them in the days before his death. “He sang ‘Because of You.’ We were getting him up to exercise, and so it was easy to just latch onto the piano," she said.
"And I said, ‘Ton, why don’t you get up and you can sing?’ You know, any excuse to just get him up. I said, ‘Why don’t you sing?’ He’s like, ‘What do you want to hear?’ I said, ‘How about singing “Because of You”?’ So he sang ‘Because of You,'" Susan recalled, adding, “Literally, that was the last song he sang, yeah."
‘Music never left him’
‘Because of You’ was a song that helped establish Tony’s career. “Well, of course, it bookends his career, if you think just musically speaking. That was his first hit. And then that was literally just the last song that he sang. So the music never left him," Susan said.
“And when he did have more alert moments, or, like, first thing in the morning, he didn’t ask really about anyone or anything except, ‘Am I working tonight?’ And the other day he’s like, ‘Susan, am I in a good theater tonight?’ He’d say stuff like that,” she added.
Once Tony's career began becoming successful, there was no looking back. Millions of fans congratulated him for his enormous success on his 80th anniversary. IMDb says, “In November 2006, Bennett hosted a Gala-party in his honor at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. There he enjoyed live performances by numerous celebrities. The party came to culmination when Mr. Bennett entertained his guests by singing his best known hits: 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco' and 'What A Good Life’.”
