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The special bond between Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett will live forever! The singer took to social media to pen a heartfelt message to her friend a week after his passing. Gaga remembered their harmonious collaborations and deep friendship that captured the hearts of fans worldwide for years.
As the world bid farewell to Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga took her time to grasp her loss and express her profound grief and love. In this poignant message, Lady, as Bennett used to call her, vividly portrays their extraordinary journey together.
“I will miss my friend forever. I will miss singing with him, recording with him, talking with him, being on stage together. 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,” she began.
“But it wasnt 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,” she recalled. “He was an optimist, he believed in quality work AND quality life. 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.”
According to Lady Gaga, their age difference didn’t matter in their friendship. “I’ve been grieving the loss of Tony for a long time. We had a very long and powerful goodbye,” she wrote. “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 persons life. There’s such a feeling of vulnerability and a desire to preserve dignity. 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. I’ll never forget this experience,” she added.
“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. 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.
I love you Tony. Love, Lady.”
An indelible mark on the canvas of music history
Tony Bennett died on July 21st. Anthony Dominick Benedetto, the iconic American musician better known as Tony Bennett, passed away at 96.
According to Bennet’s publicist Sylvia Weiner, the singer died in his hometown of New York City two weeks before his birthday. Although additional details about the causes of death have not been disclosed, it is known that the singer had been battling Alzheimer’s since 2016.
In 1952, Bennett released his album “Because of You,” a major hit that began his impressive seven-decade career. He has received numerous accolades for his work, including two Emmys and 20 Grammy Awards, and has sold over 50 million records globally. He is the oldest singer to top the charts with a number-one album in the United States.