STRANGER IN PARADISE Tony Bennett dead at 96: Iconic singer who won 20 Grammys and sold over 50million records worldwide passes away

LEGENDARY singer Tony Bennett - whose career spanned eight decades, winning 20 Grammy Awards and selling over 50million records worldwide - has died at age 96.

Bennett, a two-time Emmy Award winner, died on Friday morning in New York City.

Grammy Award winner Tony Bennett died at 96 on Friday

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga performing in 2019

One of the last photos of the iconic singer exiting Radio City Music Hall in New York City

Tony Bennett was considered one of the greatest performers of the 20th century

A cause of death has not been determined.

Bennett was two weeks shy of his 97th birthday.

The iconic singer, who served during the final stages of World War II, was considered one of the greatest performers of the 20th century.

His peer Frank Sinatra called him the greatest popular singer in the world.

He began his career as a crooner of commercial pop tunes and eventually signed with Columbia Records.

His first smash hit came in 1951 with Because of You, which gained popularity on jukeboxes, then reached number one on the pop charts, selling over a million copies.

Bennett's career continued to skyrocket during the late 1950s with albums such as The Beat of My Heart and Basie Wings, Bennett Sings.

His career took a hit during the mid-1960s with the evaluation of the rock music genre, however, he bounced back in the late 1980s when he expanded his reach to a younger hip audience.

During this time, Bennett continued to put out award-winning albums, including Portrait of the Artist, the Frank Sinatra homage Perfectly Frank, and the Fred Astaire tribute Steppin' Out.

His homage albums both achieved gold status and won Grammys for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance and further established Bennett as the inheritor of the mantle of a classic American great.

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