There are many stars in the entertainment industry who are tagged with the term “legend”, but only a few define the word better thanTony Bennett, and after 70 years the true icon has been forced to retire on the advice of doctors. Danny Bennett, the crooner’s son and manager of forty years, said on Friday that the appearances his father made with Lady Gaga at Radio City Music Hall in New York would be his final performances after cancelling the remaining dates of his current tour. The news will be a huge blow to the 95 year old’s fans, but come only months after it was revealed that the star was diagnosed with dementia back in 2016.

According to Danny Bennett, the decision was made on the orders of doctors, but he was quick to point out that his father has not lost his ability to put on a show but the retirement was essential to avoid any issues arising from the star falling or having other mishaps while on stage to due his advancing condition. It was reported by AARP The Magazine that Bennett may still be able to belt out his best known hits, but very rarely speaks otherwise and “when he does, his words are halting; at times, he seems lost and bewildered.”

Following seven decades in the business, there is no one who can deny that Bennett, who has worked alongside some of the industries biggest stars over the years, deserves his retirement, but it many would have wished it could be in better circumstances. However, it is clear that if he was not suffering from dementia, Bennett, like many from his generation, would have continued to work to the point he could have joined those celebrities to have passed away on stage.

Bennett’s biggest hit will always be his signature tune,I Left My Heart In San Francisco, which spent 21 weeks on the Billboard chart back in 1962. Other hits have includedStranger in Paradise, Rags To Riches, There’ll Be No Teardrops Tonight, as well has his versions of many standard crooner classics such asMy Way, Luck Be A Ladyand more.

Although he has never stopped working, after a career lull in the 1980s, Bennett had a surrprise revival in the 90s, appearing at the MTV Music Awards in 1993 and gaining his ownMTV Unpluggedset in 1994, in which he duetted with Elvis Costello and k.d. lang. The following year, he won the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance Grammy and Album of the Year.

Although heading into his 90s, that didn’t stop Bennett’s production of work through the 2000s and 2010s, which was elevated to another level when he recorded a duet album with Lady Gaga in 2014. Despite his unexpected retirement and the cancellation of his tour, fans of Bennett will be given one more slice of magic when his second album with Lady Gaga, Love For Sale, is released on October 1st.

We would like to join his fans in wishing him as well as the situation allows for the future and thank him for many years of music.