A true Icon of American music..Loved by young and old...R.I.P. Tony

I regret not seeing him in concert. His later album collaborations were some of his/their best work.

My HS GF had an uncle that was in the band. In 1995-96 I got to see Tony in London and hang out backstage. He was old in the 90s and the woman he was with was an absolute smoke show. Backstage was the most boring backstage I ever saw. Bunch of old dudes drinking and smoking cigars.

I was lucky enough to see him twice. In 2016 he did a walk-on duet of New York State of Mind with Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden during one of Billy's monthly concerts there (then Billy had the entire audience sing Happy Birthday to Tony, who was turning 90 the following week).

But the legendary performance was at the Houston Rodeo in 2000 in the Astrodome with 40,000+ in attendance. He still made it feel like an intimate supper club, even from a revolving stage in the middle of the arena 50 yards from the nearest fan.

The most surreal scene, though, was watching them set up. If you've ever been to the Houston Rodeo, you know that after the rodeo part it takes several minutes to haul the stage out and set it up, so they would fill the time with the chuck wagon races. Tony's band was on stage while they were setting it up. Through binoculars I watched these suave New York musicians in their $2000 Italian suits stare incredulously as the horse-drawn wagons went thundering around them like a cross between the Sooner Schooner and the chariot race in Ben-Hur. Nein's GF's uncle may have been one of them.

What did he die from?

Tempus Edax Rerum said:

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What did he die from?

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Old age would be my guess. He was old 30 years ago. 8/3/1926

Anthony Dominick Benedetto..............