The late Tony Bennett remained optimistic and happy until the end of his life, but there was one regret that weighed heavily on him—his failure to save the troubled British singer Amy Winehouse from her fatal overdose in July 2011.
An insider revealed that the late musician carried the burden, believing that things would have been different and Winehouse would not have died tragically if he had stepped in to address her drug issues.
Tony Bennet and Amy Winehouse collaborated on his album ‘Duets II’
Bennett and Winehouse once met in person at the Royal Albert Hall during one of Bennett’s performances in 2010. The experience left a lasting impression on Bennett this led them to collaborate on the song “Body and Soul” in 2011.
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In an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2012, Bennett reminisced on the meeting between him and Winehouse. “I was playing Royal Albert Hall for two nights, and she came back with her dad, and her boyfriend,” he confessed to the news outlet. “She said, ‘You know, two years ago, I won a Grammy, and I wasn’t excited about winning the Grammy, but that Tony Bennett was announcing.’ She was a big fan of mine, and I was really surprised because she [was] so young.”
Tony Bennett wished he told Winehouse his addiction story
In the 2015 documentary Amy, Bennett revealed that he could have shared his own experiences with drugs and the invaluable advice that helped him stay sober to inspire Winehouse to break free from her addictions, too.
Bennett revealed that a specific remark from Woody Allen’s manager, Jack Rollins, about the controversial comic Lenny Bruce, who tragically died young due to a drug overdose, had a profound impact on him and played a pivotal role in his journey toward recovery. “Rollins said one sentence that changed my life,” the singer explained. “‘He said, ‘Lenny sinned against his talent.'”