Lady Gaga Remembers Tony Bennett: “I Will Miss My Friend Forever”

Pitchfork

Lady Gaga has remembered the late Tony Bennett in a tribute touching on their friendship and collaborative relationship, as well as the singer’s final years living with Alzheimer’s. “I will miss my friend forever,” she writes on Instagram. “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 and I had this magical power. We transported ourselves to another era, modernized the music together, and gave it all new life as a singing duo. But it wasn’t an act. Our relationship was very real.”

Bennett died this month at the age of 96, though Gaga writes that she had been “grieving the loss of Tony for a long time”:

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. 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. I’ll never forget Tony Bennett.

Gaga and Bennett first collaborated on the 2014 duets album Cheek to Cheek, which they followed seven years later with the Cole Porter covers album Love for Sale. Footage of the sessions captured a tearful Gaga struggling to communicate with Bennett, who was showing signs of Alzheimer’s. In 2021, the week of Bennett’s 95th birthday, the duo celebrated the album with a pair of shows at Radio City Music Hall.

Gaga has also announced an extension to her Vegas stint, from August 31 to October 5. Find the dates here.

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