‘Our relationship was very real’: Lady Gaga pays tribute to singing legend and ‘true friend’ Tony Bennett

Lady Gaga has paid a touching tribute to her “real true friend” and longtime collaborator Tony Bennett more than a week after his death.

Lady Gaga has paid a touching tribute to her ‘real true friend’ and longtime collaborator, music legend Tony Bennett more than a week after his death.

Lady Gaga has paid a touching tribute to her “real true friend” and longtime collaborator, music legend Tony Bennett more than a week after his death.

Gaga took to Instagram on Monday afternoon (Australian time) to bid farewell and reminisce about her special relationship with the jazz and pop crooner, who died on July 21 at the age of 96.

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

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga collaborated on two Grammy-winning albums. Picture: Larry Busacca/Getty Images for NARAS

“With Tony, I got to live my life in a time warp. Tony & I had this magical power. We transported ourselves to another era, modernised the music together, & gave it all new life as a singing duo. But it wasn’t an act. Our relationship was very real.”

Gaga said Bennett not only taught her about music and the “showbiz life”, but also about “how to keep my spirits high and my head screwed on straight”.

In her tribute, she heralded her late friend’s optimism and gratitude, his belief in “quality” in work and life, and said their unlikely friendship “gave us something neither of us had with most people”.

“I’ve been grieving the loss of Tony for a long time. We had a very long and powerful goodbye,” Gaga wrote.

“Though there were [five] decades between us, he was my friend. My real true friend.”

She also touched on Bennett’s battle with Alzheimer's disease, which was revealed by the legend’s family in 2021, five years after his diagnosis – which came five years after the singers recorded their version of “The Lady Is a Tramp” for Bennett’s 2011 album Duets II.

Gaga wrote: “Losing Tony to Alzheimer’s has been painful but it was also really beautiful.”

She described his “era of memory loss” as a “sacred time” in a person’s life which she was grateful to share.

“There’s such a feeling of vulnerability and a desire to preserve dignity,” she 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. I’ll never forget Tony Bennett.”

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

Gaga and Bennett recorded two Grammy-winning albums together; their last, 2021’s Love for Sale, a Cole Porter tribute album, which included songs such as “Do I Love You”, “I Get a Kick Out of You”, and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”, was Bennett’s 61st and final studio album.

Love for Sale won a Grammy in 2022 for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album – it was also nominated for Album of the Year and “I Get a Kick Out Of You” was nominated for Record of the Year – making Bennett the oldest artist ever nominated in a “general field category” and the second-oldest winner in Grammy history.

Their previous collaboration was on the 2014 album Cheek to Cheek which also won a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

They shared the stage for Bennett’s final ever public performances in August 2021 for their aptly titled “One Last Time: An Evening With Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga” concert at Radio City Music Hall.

After the concerts, Gaga revealed to 60 Minutes that she got emotional when Bennett introduced her to the crowd because it was the first time he had said her name in “a long time”.

“I had to keep it together because we had a sold-out show, and I had a job to do. But I’ll tell you, when I walked out on that stage and he said, ‘It’s Lady Gaga’, my friend saw me, and it was very special,” she told the program.

Closing her heartfelt tribute to the late singer, Gaga echoed Bennett’s “straight ahead” message he taught her.

“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.”

Bennett had a career that spanned eight decades, selling millions of records and winning 20 Grammys, including a lifetime achievement award – yet he famously said in 2011 that he has “never worked a day in my life because I love what I do”.

Fellow jazz icon Frank Sinatra once said Bennett was “the greatest popular singer in the world”.

His career stood the test of time thanks to his brilliant suite of collaborations with younger stars like Amy Winehouse, Mariah Carey, and John Legend, among others.

But his work with Lady Gaga was arguably his most popular, and made him the oldest person ever to have a number one album, at the age of 88.

Originally published as ‘Our relationship was very real’: Lady Gaga pays tribute to singing legend and ‘true friend’ Tony Bennett