Tony’s Kindness Brought Out a New Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett have 60 years separating them, but they’ve become fast friends and have gone on several successful tours together and just released a new album. In a touching interview in Friday’s WSJ, Marc Myers interviewed Lady about how Tony Bennett has affected her life, her attitude and her music. He comes out sounding like  prince–a gallant echo of a gentler, nicer time. Here’s how Lady described one of their first meetings.

“I was starting to think there was no elegance left in the industry, no charm. I thought there was no gravity, no authenticity. And then I worked with Tony. When I walked in to the studio, everyone stood up for me and he was always dressed so beautifully and told me I looked lovely. I’ve never been treated that way. It was Tony’s kindness that made all that jaded, aggravated and cynical part of me that had grown over the years dissipate. Now there’s just beautiful.

“The pop industry is like a tabloid now. There’s just no integrity and it’s extremely controlled and manufactured. There’s a lot of farce and not a lot of authenticity. So for me, singing the Songbook was freedom. Tony doesn’t think I’m crazy. He thinks I’m old school. He really understands me He helped me make it through one of the hardest times in my life so far. There are a lot of sharks in the pop music industry. I was kind of damaged and faced all these challenges behind the scenes with people betraying me and things like that. I’m so much more satisfied with music now.

Lady Gaga said she plans to release a jazz album every year, forever. Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga’s new album is called Cheek to Cheek.