The Tony Bennett-Lady Gaga duet “Marry Me” might be the closest a pop music act has come to Taylor Swift’s “Mean,” but their relationship goes back much further.
HBO just released “Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga: The Billie Holiday Tribute,” in which Bennett acknowledges he first saw the Stefani Germanotta at some sort of nightclub in London: “I was the youngest at the front, she was the oldest at the back.”
The two soon became fast friends. The two opened up the 2016 Grammys with their duet of “The Lady Is a Tramp,” then worked together on Bennett’s jazz album “Cheek to Cheek.”
When Bennett is diagnosed with Alzheimers in this show, he’s assisted by his daughter, and the Gaga shows her love and care.
“I’m very sad about my father’s failing health, but Tony and I share a special bond from his early years when he was a very good piano player in NYC,” Gaga said in a statement posted to Instagram. “I am now sending so much love and light to Tony, my family and my dear friend Diane.”
The show went on with the hope that Bennett and Gaga would work together again in the future. The pair have spoken about recording together in a Vanity Fair profile from 2012.
Bennett has had four children with his first wife, former Miss Washington, D.C. Francesca Benedetti. He has three children with his second wife, businessman Erica Simonas.
Bennett, 92, recently released his duets album, “Duets II,” with nine new collaborators including Barbra Streisand, Beyoncé, John Legend and Elton John.