Lady Gaga paid tribute to timeless singer and her “real true friend” Tony Bennett on Sunday, nearly a week after his death. In doing so, she vehemently urged fans to take care of their elders.
Reflecting on their personal and professional relationship, the “A Star is Born” Oscar winner recalled how Bennett shared some of his most vulnerable moments during his battle with Alzheimer’s disease with her.
“We had a very long and powerful goodbye,” the 37-year-old 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.”
The “Shallow” singer, who witnessed Bennett’s neurological decline firsthand, said that she’d “been grieving the loss of Tony for a long time.”
“I will miss my friend forever. I will miss singing with him, recording with him, talking with him, being on stage together,” she wrote on Instagram, sharing a photo of her hugging her “Cheek to Cheek” collaborator.
Thanks to their duet on the standards-only recording “Cheek to Cheek,” the “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” singer became the oldest living artist to reach No. 1 on the Billboard charts in 2014.
The recording broke the record Bennett had set three years earlier when he reached No. 1 with his “Duets II” album that featured songs with Amy Winehouse, Mariah Carey, Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill and several other contemporary singers.
He and Gaga also hit the road together and earned a pop-vocal album Grammy for “Cheek to Cheek.” Though the album was released to mixed reviews, their energetic performance during the 2015 Grammy Awards ceremony pleasantly surprised some of the skeptics. A year later, Bennett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, but his family did not make the news public until 2021.
Even so, in 2022, Bennett became the second-oldest Grammy winner with “Love for Sale,” a collection of Cole Porter standards recorded with Gaga. (He won his 19th Grammy a year later with “The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern.”)
The “House of Gucci” star went on to say she would never forget that singular experience with Bennett, or Bennett himself.
“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,” she wrote. “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,” she concluded.
