Tony Bennett diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease

Singer discovered he had the condition five years ago

Tony Bennett has Alzheimer’s disease, it has been revealed.

The news was announced in an article published by AARP The Magazine on Monday.

“Life is a gift – even with Alzheimer’s,” the crooner, 94, tweeted while sharing a link to the feature.

“Thank you to Susan and my family for their support, and AARP The Magazine for telling my story,”

Despite his diagnosis in 2016, Bennett has completed work on his second Lady Gaga collaboration following their 2014 record Cheek to Cheek.

The follow-up is scheduled to be released this spring with the duo having recorded their jazz covers between 2018 and early 2020.

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga will release their second collaboration later this year (Getty Images for NARAS)

A documentary has been tracking their collaboration and, in what is described as raw footage, the “Born This Way” singer is said to have “pain and sadness in [her] face” after learning of Bennett’s diagnosis.

Writing in AARP,  journalist John Colapinto notes that there is little doubt that Bennett’s Alzheimer’s has progressed.

“At one point, as Susan and I stood chatting, he looked up suddenly from the book in his lap and, flashing that familiar smile, asked me in his soft, sueded whisper, ‘How’s the weather outside?’” Colapinto wrote. “Had I not known that he and Susan had just returned from walking their dog in the park, I might not have suspected that anything was amiss.

“Gaga looks on, from behind her mic, her smile breaking into a quiver, her eyes brimming, before she puts her hands over her face and sobs.”

Bennett, who scored his first hit with “Because of You” in 1951, has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. As of 2021, he has won a total of 19 Grammy Awards.

His other famous hits include “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” and “Rags to Riches”.