Lady Gaga has broken her silence on Tony Bennett's death with a heartbreaking tribute.
The House of Gucci star took to social media to honour her close friend Tony, born Anthony Dominick Benedetto, who lost his life on July 21st following a seven year battle with Alzheimers.
Despite being diagnosed in 2016 with the neurodegenerative disease, Gaga and Bennett continued to record music together from 2018 up until early 2020 for their album ‘
Love For Sale’.
Speaking on their musical endeavours, Gaga wrote: “I will miss singing with him, recording with him, talking with him, being on stage together.”
“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.” she told her fans.
Gaga reflected on their decade-long friendship and expressed gratitude to Bennett for teaching her about music, life in showbiz, and how to handle the pressures of it while remaining positive.
“He was an optimist, he believed in quality work AND quality life,” she continued.
Their album, which was the 68th and final album of Bennett’s career, was released in September, 2021, and saw the duo record 12 tracks, primarily ones which were old Broadway hits reinvented for the album.
At the time of his passing, Bennett was 96 years of age, and Gaga took the opportunity to relive and reflect some of his big moments over the course of his life, “He served in WWII, marched with Martin Luther King Jr., and sang jazz with the greatest singers and players in the world.”
Commenting on the five decade age gap between the pair, Gaga urged fans not to “discount” their elders and take care of them as she promised they would “learn something special” or even “magical” from them.
“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,” she shared in an emotional post with an image of the two hugging.
She went on to describe the pain of losing Tony to Alzheimer’s as painful but also “really beautiful”.
Shining a light on the disease, which usually starts slowly and progressively worsens, Gaga touched on the importance of memory and dignity and expressed gratitude to the late jazz singer, “An era of memory loss is such a sacred time in a person's life,” she wrote, “...I knew deep down he was sharing with me the most vulnerable moment in his life that he could”.
The ‘A Star is Born’ actress said the time singing with Bennett for the ‘Love for Sale’ is one she’ll never forget,” before signing off the tribute, “I love you Tony. Love, Lady.”
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