The dog days of summer are here, and in all its heaviness lies the subtle reminder that the sun will soon set on our glorious, golden evenings and the heat will relinquish its grip to autumn’s die-off.

It has been a sad week for music with a string of losses, each of them carrying its own brand of gloom.

Of course, the death of 20-time Grammy-winning icon Tony Bennett was certainly a loss for music. However, after nearly a century’s worth of achievements, his passing was more of a long and bittersweet goodbye for fans spanning at least seven generations.

The jazz and pop artist, known for his signature vocal style, was one of the few remaining World War II veterans as well as a civil rights activist who participated in the 1966 Selma-to-Montgomery marches.

After his chart-topping success in the 1950s and ’60s, he bottomed out in the 1970s to addiction and debt before spending the next decade crafting a comeback that would send waves across the MTV generation.