Photo:Kevin Mazur/Getty
Kevin Mazur/Getty
Lady Gagawill always have a permanent reminder of the lateTony Bennett.
In 2014, the pop star, 37, had the legendary “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” singer — who died at age 96 on Friday — sketch her one of her tattoos.
“I asked Tony to draw me a trumpet, and he sketched me Miles Davis’ trumpet," Gaga told PEOPLE that year. “Then I had it tattooed with his last name, Benedetto, underneath. Just so I would always remember this time together.”
Gaga and Bennett — who is remembered in this week’s PEOPLE cover story, on newsstands Friday — first bonded in 2011 at a charity gala where she sang the standard “Orange Colored Sky.”
“Tony heard me sing it, and he asked to meet me,” Gaga said in 2014. “He said, ‘Do you want to do a jazz album together?’ I said, ‘Of course I do!’ We were fast friends.”
John Lamparski/WireImage
Their 2014 jazz album,Cheek to Cheek, debuted at No. 1, making Bennett, at 88, the oldest artist to top the charts. Even after Bennett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016, he went on to release a second jazz album with Gaga, titledLove for Sale,in 2021.
InAugust of that year, Bennett played his final two sold-out shows with Gaga at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. “My time with Tony,” Gaga said at the time, “has changed me forever.”
Since his death, Bennett’s family and friends have been speaking out in honor of the icon. His son and manager,D’Andrea “Danny” Bennett, told PEOPLE that his father “imbued the essence of the American dream.”
PEOPLE’s cover story featuring Tony Bennett.
Danny (Bennett’s son with Patricia Beech) also shared a joint statement with Bennett’s widowSusan Benedettoin which they thanked “all the fans, friends and colleagues of Tony’s who celebrated his life and humanity and shared their love of him and his musical legacy.”
“From his first performances as a singing waiter in Queens to his last performances in 2021 at Radio City Music Hall, Tony delighted in performing the songs he loved and making people happy,” they said. “And as sad as today has been for all of us we can find joy in Tony’s legacy forever.”
“Tony, naturally, loved visiting his ancestral homeland, and we spent many summers in Italy over the years, and it was always a special time for us to be together, just the two of us,” she said. “Tony would paint all day, and then we would eat pasta, which was his favorite meal … everyone knows Tony had heart, but he also was a wonderful soul.”
“Benedetto, his family name, which I made my own when we married, means ‘the blessed one,'” she continued. " I was most certainly blessed to have Tony in my life.”
Tony Bennett and Susan Benedetto.Kevin Mazur/Getty
In a statement to PEOPLE, Robert De Niro remembered Bennett as “much more than a great singer.”
source: people.com
