Lady Gaga’s Grammys Performance Was A Love Letter To Tony Bennett

From presenting Best Picture at the Oscars to belting on the Grammys stage, it’s just another week for Lady Gaga. For tonight’s (April 3) Grammy Awards, Gaga blasted down from Chromatica to give the audience a big band experience, performing tracks from Love for Sale, the jazz album she recorded with music legend, Tony Bennett.

While Bennett wasn’t at the awards ceremony in person — he retired from the stage last year due to his worsening Alzheimer’s condition — he recorded a video introduction to Gaga’s performance, blowing the pop star a kiss.

Then, Mother Monster took to the stage, trading her usual Chromatica couture for an elegant turquoise gown, to sing with a big band. Her performance was transformed into a touching love letter to Bennett with videos of the two of them recording in the studio playing behind her.

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

Gaga brought the house down by singing two tracks, “Love for Sale” and “Do I Love You,” ending her number by sitting on the stage of the MGM Grand Garden Arena, looking into the camera, and saying “I love you, Tony. We miss you.”

Gaga and Bennett’s second collaboration, Love for Sale, earned six Grammy nominations this year, including Album of the Year, Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, and Record of the Year. Bennett has earned 18 Grammys over the course of his career, while Gaga has received 12. Their previous duets album, Cheek to Cheek, won Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the 2015 Grammy Awards.

“This album happened because it was Tony’s idea and I made him a promise that we would make it and we did. At 95 years old, he has more nominations than ever, I’m so honored to be his companion in music and his friend,” Gaga wrote on Instagram when the Grammy nominations were announced back in November. “Thank you to the public for loving us, we surely love each other, and you. Believe in love and partnership, even with 60 years between us, and Alzheimer’s, there is nothing like the magic of music. I love you Tony, and the world loves you too. How could they not?”