Even though it was expected, it was still a shock that I saw on the news of Tony Bennett’s passing. After all he was suffering from Alzheimer’s and he was ninety-six.
I never really thought much of him growing up. After all, that kind of music was for my parents, along with Pat Boone, The Kingston Trio and Perry Como. His music wasn’t my music. According to my dad he proposed to Mom from the song “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”
But I found out that couldn’t have been the case since the song supposedly came out in 1962. Dad proposed to Mom in 1957. So, it must’ve been another crooner of that era. It was still a good song and it obviously got him the fame and money to launch his career further.
At any rate the fact he got of these accolades in his career in such a short span, I thought, seemed monumental. It came to my attention, like every other entertainer of that era, he also had a drug problem and had to walk away from the business, making a comeback later in appearances with Conan and Letterman.
I saw the episode earlier this year when 60 minutes aired him doing the final tour with Lady Gaga. I was impressed that he could remember the lyrics and the beat to each and every song he performed, acting as if he weren’t stricken with that awful disease at all. It was in those interviews that one could see how he withdrew, his confused expressions when the interviewer asked him a question that I saw how Alzheimer’s indeed tainted him.
Jerry Schellhammer 