Singer, Lady Gaga collaborator was 96

“I’ve never worked a day in my life,” Tony Bennett told USA TODAY in 2011, “because I love what I do.” The great singer cited that bit of Confucian wisdom often. In a career spanning more than six decades, Bennett both conveyed that joy and inspired it in others.

Bennett died Friday at age 96, just two weeks short of his birthday. Publicist Sylvia Weiner confirmed Bennett’s death to USA TODAY, saying he died in his hometown of New York. There was no specific cause, but Bennett had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016.

No vocalist celebrated the American songbook more energetically or prolifically than the man born Anthony Dominick Benedetto. Influenced by the jazz and pop icons who preceded him — none more than Sinatra, but also Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and Jimmy Durante — Bennett wielded his lush, gleaming tenor with a distinct freshness, and a sense of yearning that served him well in early hits such as “Rags to Riches” and his cover of “Stranger In Paradise” (both released in 1953) and his signature tune, “I Left My Heart In San Francisco.”

Bennett could also bring an intimate, conversational quality to songs. His readings of standards such as “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Put On a Happy Face” demonstrated his capacity for playfulness and a lovely, unforced wit. He could swing with the best of them, collaborating with Count Basie and various top jazz artists and releasing landmark albums such as “The White House Sessions — Live 1962” with Dave Brubeck and a pair of albums with pianist Bill Evans in the ’70s.

Many considered Bennett the last of the great interpretive singers, but he continually begged to differ. He was a champion of other artists, old and new. He paired up with k.d. lang and Elvis Costello on the 1994 “MTV Unplugged”album, often heralded as his comeback. On his multi-platinum “Duets” albums, he collaborated with pop stars from Barbra Streisand and Paul McCartney to John Legend and Carrie Underwood.