Lady Gaga pays tribute to “real true friend” Tony Bennett
American pop singer Lady Gaga has paid tribute to her longtime collaborator Tony Bennett after the legendary jazz singer passed away at the age of 96.
“I will miss my friend forever. I will miss singing with him, recording with him, talking with him, being on stage together,” Gaga wrote on her social media. “With Tony, I got to live my life in a time warp. Tony & I had this magical power. We transported ourselves to another era, modernized the music together, & gave it all new life as a singing duo. But it wasn’t an act. Our relationship was very real.”
“Sure he taught me about music, about showbiz life, but he also showed me how to keep my spirits high and my head screwed on straight. ‘Straight ahead,’ he’d say. He was an optimist, he believed in quality work AND quality life,” she added. “Plus, there was the gratitude…Tony was always grateful. He served in WWII, marched with Martin Luther King Jr., and sang jazz with the greatest singers and players in the world.”
Gaga and Bennett first worked together while recording Bennett’s 2011 album Duets II. The pair went on to record two collaborative albums: 2014’s Cheek to Cheek and 2021’s Love for Sale. Gaga was one of the final artists to perform with Bennett before he retired due to his Alzheimer’s disease affecting his memory.
“I’ve been grieving the loss of Tony for a long time. We had a very long and powerful goodbye,” Gaga said. “Though there were 5 decades between us, he was my friend. My real true friend. Our age difference didn’t matter– in fact, it gave us each something neither of us had with most people. We were from two different stages in life entirely–inspired.”
“Losing Tony to Alzheimer’s has been painful but it was also really beautiful. An era of memory loss is such a sacred time in a person’s life. There’s such a feeling of vulnerability and a desire to preserve dignity,” Gaga wrote. “All I wanted was for Tony to remember how much I loved him and how grateful I was to have him in my life.”
“But, as that faded slowly I knew deep down he was sharing with me the most vulnerable moment in his life that he could–being willing to sing with me when his nature was changing so deeply,” she said. “I’ll never forget this experience. I’ll never forget Tony Bennett.”
“If I could say anything to the world about this I would say don’t discount your elders, don’t leave them behind when things change. Don’t flinch when you feel sad, just keep going straight ahead, sadness is part of it,” she concluded. “Take care of your elders and I promise you will learn something special. Maybe even magical. And pay attention to silence—some of my musical partner and I’s most meaningful exchanges were with no melody at all.”
Read Gaga’s full tribute down below.
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