Lady Gaga Mourns Tony Bennett After His Death

Lady Gaga finally broke her silence about the death of Tony Bennett with a touching tribute to her 'true friend.'

Transcript

00:00We also lost music legend Tony Bennett on July 21st, and his longtime collaborator and friend

00:05Lady Gaga broke her silence on his passing with a beautiful Instagram post. The songstress shared

00:11a photo of herself hugging the jazz star with a moving caption that began,

00:15I will miss my friend forever. I will miss singing with him, recording with him,

00:19talking with him, being on stage together. With Tony, I got to live my life in a time warp.

00:24Tony and I had this magical power. We transported ourselves to another era, modernized the music

00:30together, and gave it all new life as a singing duo. But it wasn't an act. Our relationship was

00:36very real. Sure, he taught me about music, about showbiz life, but he also showed me how to keep

00:41my spirits high and my head screwed on straight. Straight ahead, he'd say. He was an optimist.

00:46He believed in quality work and quality life. Plus, there was the gratitude. Tony was always

00:51grateful. He served in World War II, marched with Martin Luther King Jr., and sang jazz with the

00:56greatest singers and players in the world. The Star is Born star admitted that she's been grieving

01:00the loss of Tony for a long time, revealing that they had a very long and powerful goodbye.

01:05Lady Gaga continued,

01:06Though there were five decades between us, he was my friend, my real true friend. Our age difference

01:11didn't matter. In fact, it gave us each something neither of us had with most people.

01:16We were from two different stages in life entirely, inspired. Losing Tony to Alzheimer's has been

01:22painful, but it was also really beautiful. An era of memory loss is such a sacred time in a person's

01:28life. There's such a feeling of vulnerability and a desire to preserve dignity. All I wanted was for

01:33Tony to remember how much I loved him and how grateful I was to have him in my life. But as that

01:38faded slowly, I knew deep down he was sharing with me the most vulnerable moment in his life that he

01:42could. Being willing to sing with me when his nature was changing so deeply. I'll never forget

01:48this experience. I'll never forget Tony Bennett. Lady Gaga also left a lesson at the end of her

01:53note to fans, telling them to not discount your elders. Explaining, don't leave them behind when

01:59things change. Don't flinch when you feel sad. Just keep going straight ahead. Sadness is part of it.

02:04Take care of your elders and I promise you will learn something special, maybe even magical.

02:09And pay attention to silence, some of my musical partner and I's most meaningful exchanges or

02:15with no melody at all. It's emotional.