Lady Gaga Posts a Loving Tribute to the Late Tony Bennett: “My Real True Friend”

By Alex Vena
Published July 31, 2023, 10:14 a.m. ET

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One Last Time: An Evening With Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga

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Ten days after the tragic passing of Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga took to Instagram to share her condolences in an emotional tribute.

“I will miss my forever friend,” she wrote in a July 31 post. “I will miss singing with him, recording with him, talking with him, being on stage together.”

The two first met in 2011 and produced their first jazz and pop album together, Cheek to Cheek, in 2014. The album garnered them a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Album and began their powerful partnership. This led to a second album together, Love for Sale (2021), which featured covers of 12 different Cole Porter songs. Gaga and Bennett also filmed a concert special, One Last Time: An Evening With Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, in November 2021.

In her post, Gaga noted that with Bennett, she “got to live [her] life in a time warp.”

“Tony & I had this magical power,” she explained. “We transported ourselves to another era, modernized the music together, & gave it all new life as a singing duo.”

While she credited Bennett for teaching her about “music” and “showbiz life,” she also emphasized that he “showed [her] how to keep [her] spirits high and [her] head screwed on straight.”

She wrote, “‘Straight ahead,’ he’d say. He was an optimist, he believed in quality work AND quality life.”

“Plus, there was the gratitude…,” she continued, highlighting how he was “always grateful,” as he “served in WWII, marched with Martin Luther King Jr., and sang jazz with the greatest singers and players in the world.”

Despite their decades-wide age gap, Gaga said she believed that their generational differences “didn’t matter.” She wrote, “In fact, it gave us each something neither of us had with most people. We were from two different stages in life entirely–inspired.”

Bennett was diagnosed with Alzheimers in 2016. Gaga shared that “losing Tony to Alzheimers has been painful but it was also really beautiful.”

“An era of memory loss is such a sacred time in a persons life,” she penned. “There’s such a feeling of vulnerability and a desire to preserve dignity.”

She urged everyone to not “discount your elders” and “don’t leave them behind when things change,” as you may “learn something special,” or “maybe even magical” from them.

“And pay attention to silence—some of my musical partner and I’s most meaningful exchanges were with no melody at all,” she wrote.

She concluded her tribute with a heartfelt, “I love you Tony. Love, Lady.”

The love was certainly mutual, as Bennett had posted a picture of him and Gaga to celebrate National Best Friends Day on June 8, just over a month before his passing.

Gaga always expressed her gratitude for Bennett; she previously told USA Today in 2021 that her second collaborative album with Bennett was “a gift.”

“It’s a gift that I will hold in my heart ’til my last breath,” she said. “My time with Tony has changed me forever.”