Lady Gaga has paid tribute to Tony Bennett on the first anniversary of his death and said she is grateful for “the legacy of jazz music he left”.
Jazz singer Bennett, who was a long-time collaborator of the US pop star, died in July 2023 at the age of 96 after suffering Alzheimer’s.
Gaga, 38, real name Stefani Germanotta, shared a photo of her and Bennett on Instagram, writing: “It’s been one year since Tony passed away. This picture says it all.
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“I’m so grateful for my continued friendship with his wife Susan — the legacy of jazz music he left — and for the community of jazz musicians I still work with who all knew and loved Tony.
“We’re gonna keep on swingin’. Miss you. life is a beautiful thing.”
Gaga said last year that losing Bennett to Alzheimer’s had “been painful”.
“I’ve been grieving the loss of Tony for a long time. We had a very long and powerful goodbye”, she said in an Instagram post.
“Though there were five 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. We were from two different stages in life entirely–inspired.
“Losing Tony to Alzheimer’s has been painful but it was also really beautiful. An era of memory loss is such a sacred time in a person’s life. There’s such a feeling of vulnerability and a desire to preserve dignity.”
At the age of 88, Bennett broke his own record as the oldest living performer with a number one album on the US Billboard 200 chart for his 2014 duet project with Gaga titled Cheek To Cheek.
He had topped the US charts three years earlier with Duets II, featuring Gaga and other stars including Carrie Underwood and Amy Winehouse, in what was her last studio recording.
Bennett retired from performing in 2021 after revealing he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2016.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia in the UK and its symptoms are associated with an ongoing decline of brain functioning, according to the NHS website.
