Originally published at: Legendary singer Tony Bennett has Alzheimer's | Boing Boing
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Neuroscience even today cannot explain how a man whose speaking voice has become so hesitant — whose memory of events, people and places has largely vanished — can, at the sound of a musical cue, lift his voice in song with such beauty and expression, except to say that music and singing emerge, as Levitin has pointed out, from areas of the brain quite distinct from those associated with speech and language. And so it went, for the next hour, a miraculous concert that was, quite literally, a gift for an observer and a stroll down memory lane.
Alzheimer’s is an absolute horror of a disease, so it’s satisfying to see it defeated at least temporarily by the music.
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this article is so devastating. we were lucky enough to have seen him once, back in the 90s, and i had always hoped to see him again. what a showman he was – so polished, but never appearing like he was phoning it in or pandering. we were literally at the back of the room, but it felt like he was singing to us and only us, and he was happy to do it. I hope his remaining time is a happy one, and i wish they would discover a cure for Alzheimer’s tomorrow.
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