Who is Tony Bennett’s wife? What to know about Susan Benedetto
Tony Bennett and Susan Benedetto (née Crow) have had a decades-long relationship.
In Bennett's memoir "Just Getting Started," he said he met his wife backstage at one of his concerts when she was 19, according to People.
Bennett, who is 40 years older than Benedetto, married her in 2007 after his first two marriages to Patricia Beech and Sandra Grant failed.
Benedetto has been by her husband's side ever since they got married and also became his caregiver when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016.
“I have my moments and it gets very difficult,” she told AARP. “It’s no fun arguing with someone who doesn’t understand you. But I feel badly talking about it because we are so much more fortunate than so many people with this diagnosis. We have such a good team.”
Sadly, on Friday, July 21, Bennett's publicist Sylvia Weiner confirmed to TODAY that Bennett had died. He was 96. An official cause of death has not yet been revealed.
Read on to learn more about Bennett's wife, Benedetto.
Benedetto's parents are big fans of Bennett's
In Bennett's 2016 memoir, "Just Getting Started," he recalled the time he met his wife’s parents, Marion and Dayl Crow.
According to People, the "Rags to Riches" singer said they attended one of his New York City shows in 1966 when he was 40 years old. And when the couple went backstage to pose for a picture with him, Bennett realized that Marion was pregnant with Benedetto.
“As fate would have it, Marion was pregnant at the time with … Susan!” Bennett reportedly wrote. “It’s a photo we all laugh about, knowing the incredible turn of events that followed.”
Benedetto also met Bennett the same way her parents did
According to People, Benett wrote in his book "Just Getting Started," that he met Benedetto when she was 19 years old, and like her parents, he also met her backstage at one of his concerts.
“It tickled me that someone of her age was so devoted to my music,” Bennett reportedly wrote. “I not only agreed to say hello to her backstage but asked her to be my date for the evening, and that’s how it all really began, foreshadowed by a backstage photo taken in 1966!”
Bennett also reportedly explained that Benedetto became a huge fan of his music because of her parents. And when she was a teenager, she heralded a local fan club of his in the San Francisco Bay Area in California.
In a 2021 AARP article, it was mentioned that Benedetto would request his songs on the radio, when every other kid at the time was listening to Elton John or the Stones.
Lady Gaga adores Benedetto
Lady Gaga made her adoration for Benedetto known when she appeared on BBC Radio 2’s “The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show” in November 2021 to talk about Bennett's struggle with Alzheimer's disease and their Grammy nominations for their Cole Porter tribute album, “Love for Sale.”
According to CNN, she said, "Tony is one of my most favorite people on the whole planet and I love him with all my heart. I love his family with all my heart, I love his wife, Susan, with all my heart. I can’t tell you how much I learned from him and what it’s like to sing with a legend for so many years."
“I’ve sung with Tony for almost 10 years, and it’s heartbreaking to watch what he’s going through having Alzheimer’s," Gaga reportedly continued.
Benedetto is a huge supporter of the arts
In 1999, Benedetto started the nonprofit organization, Exploring the Arts (ETA), with her hubby.
The organization gives students access to a well-rounded education.
"Together they are committed to restoring the arts in American classrooms nationwide. One school, one city at a time," the organization's official website reads.
Benedetto also talked about her love for the arts in an 2014 op-ed essay she wrote for the Huffington Post.
"As a former public school history teacher and the wife of an artist, I understand firsthand the value of an arts education for our students, as well as the important role artists play in our society," she wrote.
"The arts teach empathy. The arts express and evoke emotion, enabling us to feel how others feel and find common ground," Benedetto added. "The arts help eliminate prejudice by encouraging multiple perspectives. And of course, the arts entertain -- they can be fun!"
Benedetto has a background in education
According to the official website of Lady Gaga's non-profit organization, Born This Way Foundation, Benedetto is "a certified and licensed New York state teacher."
The site states that the blonde beauty used to teach social studies at the prestigious Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts. Then from there, she taught the same subject and worked as an assistant principal at the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, which she co-founded with Bennett in 2001.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
