Tony Bennett’s wife, Susan Benedetto, breaks her silence over his death at age 96 after a seven-year battle with Alzheimer’s
Tony Bennett’s wife, Susan Benedetto, broke her silence over the legendary artist’s death just two weeks before his 97th birthday.
On Friday night, she and his son Danny, from his first marriage to Patricia Beech, released a statement on his Instagram, saying: “Thank you to all of Tony’s fans, friends and colleagues who celebrated his life and humanity and shared their love for him and his musical legacy.”
From his first gigs as a singing waiter in Queens to his final gigs in 2021 at Radio City Music Hall, Tony enjoyed performing the songs he loved and making people happy. And as sad as it has been for all of us today, we can forever find joy in Tony’s legacy,” they continued.
Within an hour, the post received more than 29,335 likes and thousands of comments from fans, who took to social media to describe the 19-time Grammy winner as an “icon” and a “class act.”
Born in Long Island City, Queens in 1926, the eminent musician enjoyed a decades-long career collaborating with everyone from Frank Sinatra to Lady Gaga.
He died in his hometown of New York, his publicist Sylvia Weiner confirmed.
His Biggest Fan: Tony Bennett’s wife, Susan Benedetto, broke her silence over the legendary artist’s death just two weeks before his 97th birthday (seen in 2019)
Benedetto was Tony Bennett’s third and final wife before he sadly passed away in July 2023.
She was born Susan Crow in San Francisco in the 1960s; the name Benedetto comes from Tony, as his real last name, with Bennet as a stage alias.
Susan taught social studies at New York’s Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts after qualifying from Columbia University’s Teachers College.
Prior to teaching, she owned Creative Artists Management in Manhattan, which advised artists on how to manage their careers.
In 1999, after meeting Tony, she continued her work in the performing arts when the couple founded the non-profit Exploring the Arts to promote and support arts education in New York and Los Angeles.
In a 2013 Huffington Post article, she wrote, “I happen to be one of those lucky people who can honestly say dreams come true.
“Being able to work with my husband, Tony Bennett, has been such a dream.”
They also founded a high school together in 2001 – the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts – in Tony’s hometown of Queens, New York.
There Susan went to work as a social studies teacher and then as an assistant principal at the school.
A legend: On Friday night, she and his son, Danny, from his first marriage to Patricia Beech, released a statement on his Instagram, saying: ‘Thank you to all of Tony’s fans, friends and colleagues who celebrated his life and humanity and shared their love for him and his musical legacy’
Family first: Tony’s music producer Danny Bennett’s son (pictured right) was spotted leaving his late father’s apartment with wife Hadley Spanier
Tragedy: Danny seemed sad as they walked the streets of the Big Apple
The father of four began dating Susan in the late 1980s, following his 1983 divorce from his second wife, Susan Grant.
The pair were separated by a 40-year age difference and met at a concert when she was in her 20s and he in his 60s.
The San Francisco-born fan ran a local chapter of his fan club when she was a teenager in the 1970s, the AARP article claimed.
However, they kind of had a meeting years earlier, before Susan was even born.
Tony met Susan’s mother when she was pregnant with the singer’s future wife, as revealed in his 2016 memoir Just Getting Started.
Marion and Dayl Crow, Susan’s parents, were fans of the singer and attended one of his shows in New York City in 1966, and were able to pose for a photo with him backstage.
“As fate would have it, Marion was pregnant with…Susan at the time!” Tony wrote.
“It’s a picture we all laugh at, knowing the incredible events that followed.”
They finally tied the knot on June 21, 2007 in New York City.
Unlikely love story: Susan met Tony at a concert when she was in her 20s and he in his 60s (pictured in interview with CBS in 2021)
Common Interests: Tony and Susan worked together on a number of projects centered around the performing arts
Susan and Tony had no children together, but Tony did have four children from his first two marriages.
The last of them, Antonia, was born in 1974, several years before Tony and Susan were to marry.
Susan worked closely with Tony’s oldest son D’Andrea, or Danny, when he was the singer’s manager, especially when Tony was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
Statement: In 2021, the iconic American singer, then 94, announced that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2016
In February 2021, Susan confirmed that AARP that the singer had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease five years earlier.
She described how Tony “wasn’t always sure where he is or what was going on around him” and that “everyday objects as familiar as a fork or a set of house keys can be completely mysterious to him.”
“It’s no fun arguing with someone you don’t understand,” she added.
“But I feel bad talking about it because we are so much luckier than so many people with this diagnosis.
“We have such a good team. Danny takes care of Tony’s affairs. We have great doctors.’
Susan also opened up about her husband’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis again during an October 2021 interview with CBS.
“He recognizes me, thank God, his children, you know we are blessed in many ways,” she said.