Lady Gaga paid tribute to the late jazz icon Tony Bennett Sunday night, posting to Instagram that he was a “real, true friend.”
“Our age difference didn’t matter — in fact, it gave us each something neither of us had with most people,” Gaga wrote of her longstanding creative collaboration and friendship with Bennett. “We were from two different stages in life entirely –inspired.”
Bennett died July 21 after years battling Alzheimer’s disease.
“I’ve been grieving the loss of Tony for a long time. We had a very long and powerful goodbye,” Gaga wrote.
Working together after releasing the Grammy-winning single “The Lady Is a Tramp” as part of Bennett’s 2011 album “Duets II,” he and Gaga memorably released two studio albums of jazz standards in 2014 (“Cheek to Cheek”) and 2021 (“Love for Sale”).
“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,” Gaga said Sunday. “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.”
The pair also released the television special “One Last Time: An Evening with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga” in 2021 to commemorate Bennett’s 95th birthday. That special marked his final public performances.
Of that experience performing their final shows at Radio City Music Hall, 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. I’ll never forget this experience.”
Ending her post, Gaga wrote that if there was one thing to learn from her experience, she’d tell the world to not “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 said. “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.”
On Monday morning, Gaga announced at 12-date Las Vegas residency, “Lady Gaga Jazz & Piano,” to run at the Park MGM Aug. 31–Oct. 5.
