Tony Bennett has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease

Legendary jazz singer Tony Bennett has announced that he has been living with Alzheimer's disease since 2016. The 94-year-old singer revealed the news in an article published by the AARP Magazine today (February 1).

"Life is a gift – even with Alzheimer’s. Thank you to Susan and my family for their support, and AARP The Magazine for telling my story,” he wrote on Twitter. Bennett has won 19 Grammy Awards, and his career has spanned over 75 years.

Bennett remains at home with his wife Susan in their New York apartment, but the disease is said to be slowly progressing.

“Bennett, first diagnosed in 2016, has so far been spared the disorientation that can prompt patients to wander from home, as well as the episodes of terror, rage or depression that can accompany Alzheimer’s frightening detachment from reality; and, indeed, he might never develop these symptoms,” wrote AARP‘s John Colapinto.

Despite the disease progressing, the singer has continued work on the follow-up to 2014’s Cheek to Cheek, his collaborative album of jazz standards recorded with Lady Gaga.

Reportedly, the duo recorded the album “in widely spaced sessions, between 2018 and early 2020” and the record is finally being prepared for release in the spring of 2021.