Lady Gaga shares the joys and suffering of making the new album with Tony Bennett while fighting Alzheimer’s

Lady Gaga first met Tony Bennett a decade ago, going behind the scenes during a gala show in New York. The two became “fast friends” and unlikely partners to sing, recording and traveling live together. Their 2014 duet album “Cheek to Cheek” debuted at number one on the Billboard charts, capturing the hearts of several generations. Gaga has often spoken fondly of Bennett in interviews, and for the past two years, the duo have been working together on a new album.

But a recently unveiled development puts this effort in a completely different light: Bennett’s wife and son have publicly announced that the legendary 94-year-old jazz singer was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016.

In the latest issue of AARP magazine, writer John Colapinto describes his recent meeting with Bennett in his New York apartment with his wife and primary caregiver, Susan. The image he paints in the article is familiar to those who have experienced the cognitive decline of a loved one – alternating expressionless reactions and moments of lucidity without any rhyme or apparent motive. Susan says that fortunately she can still remember family members, but she is not always sure what she is doing or what is happening. “Ordinary objects as familiar as a fork or a set of house keys can be completely mysterious to him,” Colapinto wrote.

Susan told AARP that they are lucky that her husband has a lot of support and is able to lead a relatively normal life as his memory deteriorates. She wasn’t sure if he would live up to the task of recording an album, but they decided to give it a try. Music is a surprisingly powerful tool for people with Alzheimer’s – even patients with severe and advanced dementia may have memories triggered by music – so Bennett’s neurologist encouraged him to continue making music as long as he likes it.

So that’s what he did with this new album with Lady Gaga, which is to be released this spring. However, he will not be able to promote himself through interviews or tournaments, as he normally would. Even during the recording sessions, evidence of his illness struck hard when he was not singing, as Colapinto shared:

“In the raw documentaries of the sessions, he rarely speaks and when he does, his words stop; sometimes he seems lost and amazed. Gaga, clearly aware of his condition, keeps his words short and simple (as recommended by experts “Sounds so good, Tony,” she tells him at one point. “Thank you,” is her one-word response. She says she thinks “all the time.” about their 2015 tour. Tony looks at her wordlessly. – Wasn’t it fun every night? she urges him. – Yes, he says, unsure. The pain and sadness in front of Gaga are clear in such moments – but never more so than in an extraordinarily moving sequence in which Tony (a man he calls “an incredible mentor and a friend and a father figure”) sings a solo passage of a love song. Gaga watched from behind the microphone, her smile bursting into a quiver, her eyes full, before she put her hands over her face and sighed. “

Watching a loved one’s mind move away is exhausting to the point of feeling cruel. There is no other way to say it. The friends and family of the approximately 5 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s can attest to how difficult it is, especially when cognitive decline leads to forgetting even the most intimate relationships.

The difficulty of Alzheimer’s disease makes it difficult to destigmatize the disease. People should know that it is not an immediate death sentence and that people can live a quality life with the support of loved ones long after they have been diagnosed. We must not hide people with dementia – but we must understand how to interact with them, as well as what to expect and not to expect.

And sometimes people with Alzheimer’s can surprise us. Susan said that despite the obvious cognitive decline, Bennett was still able to play his music flawlessly, until his last public performance in March 2020, when the pandemic stopped concerts. She said she might seem very confused about where she was and what was going on behind the scenes before a performance, but as soon as she heard “Ladies and Gentlemen – Tony Bennett!” he strode out on stage, smiled at the audience, and sang his heart as he always did. In every show of the last four years, Susan would worry that she would forget a verse or be confused on stage. “I was a nervous wreck,” she said. “However, he always delivered!”

The entire AARP article is worth reading, as it presents Bennett’s illustrious career, his life before and after his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, and how his family handled the changes in him. It also includes some valuable information about dementia for people who are going through similar changes with their loved ones.

While the world waits for the launch of the Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga collaboration, Bennett’s family and friends are waiting for the inevitable. Susan has indicated that she will know that the end is near when Bennett stops singing completely. “Singing is everything to him. Everything. It saved his life many times,” she told Colapinto, before showing the power of music again.

“I miss a lot because he’s not old Tony anymore,” she said. – But when he sings, he’s old Tony.