A few years ago, legendary singer Tony Bennett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Understandably, it was announced earlier this year that the 95-year-old singer was retiring from touring. He got some final performances in, though, with Lady Gaga at Radio City Music Hall, in promotion of their new album Love For Sale. Those concerts are the subject of a new 60 Minutes profile, and in it, Gaga speaks about how emotional it was when Bennett called her by name.
She told Anderson Cooper, “For the first couple of weeks that I saw Tony since COVID, he called me ‘Sweetheart.’ But I wasn’t sure he knew who I was.”
On stage at Radio City, Bennett said Gaga’s name, which Gaga said was “the first time that Tony said my name in a long time.” She continued, “I had to keep it together, because we had a sold out show, and I have a job to do. But I’ll tell you, when I walked out on that stage, and he said, ‘It’s Lady Gaga,’ my friend saw me. And it was very special.”
She also spoke about how her relationship with Bennett has changed, saying, “If I were to say, ‘Tony, would you like to sing ‘Love for Sale,” he’ll say, ‘Yeah.’ And if I say, ‘Tony, would you like to sing ‘Love for Sale’ or ‘It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing,” he might not have as easy of a response. When that music comes on, it’s… something happens to him. He knows exactly what he’s doing. And what’s important for me, actually, just to make sure that I don’t get in the way of that.”
Watch the full segment here.