Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett to Record Jazz Album
A match made in music heaven, or a disaster waiting to happen? Lady Gaga and 86-year-old crooner Tony Bennett will begin recording a full-length jazz album in June.
Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga recording their earlier duet.
Inspired by earlier duet
The new project is inspired by “The Lady Is a Tramp” on Bennett’s Duets II album, the only song they’ve recorded together. What’s bringing this odd couple together for such a major collaboration? “Once you have an idea, then you go for it,” Bennett said Thursday after receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Amy Winehouse Foundation in New York.
Bennett and Gaga plan to record at a studio in Astoria, Queens.
In addition to her vocal abilities, Bennett said he is also impressed by her business sense. He remembers admiring a skyscraper-length ad for Fame, her women’s fragrance line, during a visit to Germany. “She sold one billion bottles of perfume,” he said.
Canceled tour could cost more than $30 million
Lady Gaga canceled her world tour last month because of a hip injury. She had labral tear to her right hip that required surgery. The cost of canceling her Born This Way Ball Tour could exceed $30 million. That’s just ticket refunds and doesn’t include merchandise, food, beer and parking sales. In 2012, her world tour grossed $161.4 million.
The pop star’s manager confirmed the duet. Vincent Herbert also said the 26-year-old Grammy Award winner was “doing wonderful, doing great.” She is finishing her new album “ARTPOP.”
Article by Executive Editor Mark Heckathorn
