Full list by date of death

Tony Bennett

Singer

Born - 3 August 1926, New York City, USA
Died - 21 July 2023

Strongly-built, thickly black-haired, no-neck singer with squinty smile, the supreme American song stylist over several decades, acclaimed by both Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby as the greatest singer of them all. Bennett may have (to quote his most famous song) left his heart in San Francisco, but he was born of Italian parentage in Astoria, in the Queens district of New York City, as Antonio Benedetto, the son of a grocer. Originally a singing waiter, he became a nightclub performer and best-selling record artist, his biggest hits including Stranger in Paradise, Rags to Riches and Blue Velvet. Latterly, he became known for his duets with such disparate figures as Lady Gaga, Christine Aguilera and Amy Winehouse. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease in 2016, but continued singing until 2021, dying a fortnight shy of his 97th birthday. Occasional film appearances, usually as himself, included those in The Oscar (1966), The Scout (1994), Analyze This (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Manufacturing Dissent (2007), Last Play at Shea (2010), Muppets Most Wanted (2014) and Amy (2015).