Tony Bennett retires from performing

“He’ll be doing other things, but not those upcoming shows. It’s not the singing aspect but, rather, the traveling. Look, he gets tired,” Danny Bennett continues. “The decision is being made that doing concerts now is just too much for him. We don’t want him to fall on stage, for instance—something as simple as that.”

The man deserves some rest. His forthcoming Cheek To Cheek follow-up with Lady Gaga, a Cole Porter tribute titled Love For Sale, will be his last album. Earlier this year, the singer’s family revealed that the elder Bennett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016.

“They kept telling me that we lied, that there was no way Tony had Alzheimer’s,” Danny Bennett said. “I assured everyone that he does. … Yes, here he was, at 95, and still singing like this: Strong, emotive. But still, it is a complex question: how can he do this?

“My answer is that this is where he has lived his whole life and where he is most happy—on the stage, making music. Dealing as we have with Alzheimer’s for the last four-five years, it’s cognitive. He has short-term memory loss. That, however, does not mean that he doesn’t still have all this stored up inside of him. He doesn’t use a Teleprompter. He never misses a line. He hits that stage, and goes. Tony may not remember every part of doing that show. But, when he stepped to the side of the stage, the first thing he told me was: ‘I love being a singer.’”

Here come the waterworks. Bennett and Gaga’s Love For Sale is scheduled for release on October 1.