Hearing Lady Gaga beam over ‘remarkable human’ Tony Bennett will move you to tears: ‘He’s magic’
Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga perform live at Radio City Music Hall. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for LN)
Lady Gaga beamed about the “remarkable human being” that is Tony Bennett after the pair picked up six Grammy Award nominations.
A constellation of queer talent was nominated for the 64th annual Grammy Awards Tuesday (23 November), with Gaga and Bennett’s Love for Sale getting a nod for album of the year as well as “I Get a Kick Out of You” for record of the year.
Bennet, a living musical monument at 95, is up for an impressive five awards making him the oldest artist ever nominated by the Recording Academy, the Grammy’s governing body, in a “general field” category.
He is the second oldest nominee overall in the award ceremony’s history.
Bennett and Gaga are also nominated for pop duo/group performance, traditional pop vocal album, music video and best-engineered album non-classical.
The Chromatica hitmaker had nothing but praise for the legendary crooner on Tuesday night as she stopped by The Late Show.
Speaking to Stephen Colbert, she said of jazz legend: “He is a remarkable human being.
“He served our country, he also marched with Dr Martin Luther King Jr, he used to sneak Duke Ellington into the back of hotels to play jazz music all night long.
TONIGHT! The incomparable @LadyGaga speaks from the heart about her special relationship with @itstonybennett. Tune in tonight for a performance by Tony and the woman he calls "Lady" ❤️ #LSSC pic.twitter.com/FePsBezCz7
— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) November 24, 2021
“His commitment to civil rights – and to humanity – is something that he has taught me from a very young age to take with me all that I do. I love him very deeply.”
“When jazz begins,” Gaga added, “this man lights up in a way that is such magic.”
Lady Gaga feels it is her ‘destiny’ to speak up for LGBT+ rights
Lady Gaga echoed her praise in an Instagram post commemorating the pair’s nominations, saying the news left her “crying and utterly speechless”.
“This means so much to me,” she wrote in the caption, “@ItsTonyBennett, the Bennetts, my family, jazz music and the great Cole Porter who wrote all these timeless classics.”
“I’ll never forget that today he could track every word I was saying and understood the world was celebrating him and celebrating jazz – a genre that embodies the joy, abundance and imagination of Black music throughout history,” she added.
Gaga also touched on Bennett’s ongoing battle with Alzheimer’s. He revealed that he has been living with the disease since 2016 in an article for AARP magazine.
“Believe in love and partnership, even with 60 years between us and Alzheimer’s, there is nothing like the magic of music,” Gaga said.
While she told Colbert that music has the power to heal people during times of hardship. “Music is magic,” she said. “Music is a miracle.”
Elsewhere in her chat with Colbert, Gaga reflected on how she has long been a torchbearer for LGBT+ rights. Having a voice, she told Colbert, is having a “weapon”.
“That’s the kindest weapon that we have if we choose to wield it kindly,” she said, explaining how she had to quickly grapple with having a platform from an early age.
“Speaking about LGBTQ+ rights is a part of my destiny and it’s a part of what I believe makes it possible for me to have this work matter.” – @ladygaga #LSSC pic.twitter.com/6xzUwqMCx4— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) November 24, 2021
“For me, speaking about LGBTQ+ rights is part of my destiny and it’s part of what I believe makes it possible for me to have this work matter.
“To me, realness and relationships and the reality of the world – if you don’t look at it dead in the eye then all of this is an illusion and it makes the art matter less.”
