Biography of Lady Gaga

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (Lady Gaga)

Birth name: Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta

Date of Birth: March 28, 1986 (age 25)

Place of Birth: New York City, New York, U.S.

Official Website: www.ladygaga.com

Occupations : Singer-songwriter, performance artist,

record producer, dancer, businesswoman, activist]

Instruments Vocals, piano, synthesizer, keytar

Genres: Pop, dance

Labels : Def Jam, Cherrytree, Streamline, Kon Live,

Interscope

Lady Gaga, was born in New York City,U.S. She was the eldest among the children of an Internet marketer Joseph Germanotta and Cynthia Bissett. At a very young age, Lady Gaga showed intense passion to music. In fact, she learned to play the piano at age four, started composing at age 13 and began performing at age 14.

She also joined musical plays during her high school years where she performed the roles of Adelaide in Guys and Dolls and Phillia in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. She entered College of Arts when she was 17 at New York University and studied music. From there, she improved her songwriting skills by composing essays and analytical papers. The American pop artist decided to drop out from school to focus on her musical career.

Gaga began to make a name for herself by dancing in Low East Side burlesque clubs and singing in dive bars. From there she got a contract with Island Def Jam Recordings, which was quickly dropped by the label after only three months. Gaga eventually landed on a deal with Interscope, where she began writing her debut album. In an exclusive interview with Elle, the pop singer-songwriter said that she writes about anything such as sex, pornography, art, fame, obsession, drugs and alcohol.

Her debut electro-pop single Just Dance immediately burned up the charts after its release in 2008. It even peaked at number one spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 list. The following single Poker Face was an even greater success, reaching number one in almost all major music markets in the world. It also won Best Dance Recording at the 52nd Grammy Awards. Gaga’s popularity has indeed ruled the music scene, as well as the world of fashion.

In May 2009, she became the cover girl for Rolling Stone, which featured a semi-nude Gaga wearing only strategically placed plastic bubbles. Gaga’s Grammy nominations and chart-topping hits flooded over time like an epidemic that infects everyone who hears it on radio. Her second studio album and third major release Born This Way is described as a marriage of electronic music with different music genre. Days after releasing her highly-anticipated hit of the same title, Gaga immediately added three more Grammys for her collection.

Besides her music career, Gaga also has a passion in charitable deeds and humanitarian works. As a matter of fact, she has given major contribution in the fight against HIV and AIDS worldwide. On March 11, 2011, right after the news about the 9.0 magnitude earthquake in Japan spread like wildfire all over the world, Gaga tweeted a message with a link to Japan Prayer Bracelets, which she designed herself. One hundred percent of the money generated will go to Japan relief efforts. As of March 29, the bracelets have already raised approximately $1.5 million.

1986-2004: Early life and education

As the eldest child to Italian American parents Joseph and Cynthia Germanotta. At age 11, Gaga was set to join Juilliard School in Manhattan, but instead attended Convent of the Sacred Heart, a private Catholic school. Playing piano by ear from the age of 4, Gaga went on to write her first piano ballad at 13 and began performing at open mike nights by age 14. At age 17, she gained early admission to the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. There, she studied music and improved her songwriting skills by composing essays and analytical papers focusing on topics such as art, religion and socio-political order. Gaga later withdrew from the school to focus on her musical career.

2005-07: Career beginnings

Gaga performing at a restaurant during the early days of her career

Gaga signed with Def Jam Records when she was 19, after record executive L. A. Reid heard her singing down the hallway from his office. However, she claims Reid never met with her, and after three months, she was dropped from the label. She moved out of her parents' house and started performing downtown in the Lower East Side club scene, with bands Mackin Pulsifer and SGBand. Around the same time, she started taking drugs and performing at burlesque shows; Gaga said her father "just didn't understand" it, and that he could not look at her for several months. Music producer Rob Fusari, who helped Gaga write some of her earlier songs, compared her vocal style to that of Freddie Mercury. He nicknamed her Gaga, after the Queen song "Radio Ga Ga." She began to use it as her stage name and was known thereafter as Lady Gaga.

Throughout 2007, Gaga collaborated with performance artist Lady Starlight, who helped her create her onstage fashions. The pair began playing gigs at downtown club venues like the Mercury Lounge, The Bitter End, and the Rockwood Music Hall, with their live performance art piece known as "Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue." Billed as "The Ultimate Pop Burlesque Rockshow," their act was a low-fi tribute to 1970's variety acts. In August 2007, Gaga and Starlight were invited to play at the American music festival Lollapalooza. The show was critically acclaimed, and their performance received highly positive reviews. Having initially focused on avant-garde, and electronic dance music, Gaga found her musical niche when she began to incorporate pop melodies and the vintage glam rock of David Bowie and Queen into the mix.

During this time, she began writing for artists signed to Akon's Konvict label, as well as Fergie, the Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears, and New Kids on the Block. After hearing her sing a reference vocal for one of his tracks, Akon formed the opinion that she was also a good singer. He ultimately convinced Interscope Records chairman Jimmy Iovine to sign her to a joint deal with his own label, Kon Live Distribution, and would later call Gaga his "franchise player." Through her affiliation with Akon, Gaga started to work on her own new material for her debut album with producer RedOne. Already having a solid selection of electro-glam, David Bowie-esque, and Queen-inspired songs, Gaga wanted to mix her retro dance beats with urban melodies, a pop chorus and still retain a rock and roll edge. The first song they produced together was "Boys Boys Boys", a mash-up of M?tley Cr?e's "Girls, Girls, Girls" and AC/DC's "T.N.T."

Fashion and style

Fashion and style

Gaga's unusual fashion is shown with this plastic bubble dress, worn while on tour.

The New York Post said her early look was like "a refugee from Jersey Shore" with "big black hair, heavy eye makeup and tight, revealing clothes."[25] Gaga has naturally brown hair; she bleached her hair blonde so she wouldn't look like Amy Winehouse.[8]She often calls her fans "little monsters". She has several tattoos; words tattooed on her left arm is "the arm that holds [her] mic[rophone]."

Gaga gives a speech at the National Equality March, October 11, 2009

Gaga says much of her early success is thanks to her gay fans and is often called a "rising gay icon." Early in her career she had trouble being played on the radio, and stated, "The turning point for me was the gay community. I've got so many gay fans and they're so loyal to me and they really lifted me up. They'll always stand by me and I'll always stand by them. It's not an easy thing to create a fanbase." In the inside of her album The Fame, she said, "I love you so much. You were the first heartbeat in this project, and your support and brilliance means the world to me. I will always fight for the gay community hand in hand with this incredible team."One of her first performances on television was in May 2008 at the NewNowNext Awards, an awards show on the LGBT television network Logo, where she sang her song "Just Dance".In June, she sang the song again at the San Francisco Pride event.After The Fame came out, she said the hit song "Poker Face" was about beingbisexual. When she was a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in May 2009, she complimented DeGeneres for being "an inspiration for women and for the gay community".She later said that the October 11, 2009, National Equality March rally on thenational mall was "the single most important event of her career." As she left, she said "Bless God and bless the gays," similar to her 2009 MTV Video Music Awards speech a month earlier.At the rally, she sang a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" saying "I'm not going to [play] one of my songs tonight because tonight is not about me, it's about you." She changed the lyrics of the song to talk about the death of Matthew Shepard, a college student murdered because of his homosexuality.In September 2010, she spoke at a rally in favor of removing the Don't ask, don't tell policy, which stopped LGBT people from working openly in themilitary of the United States.The gay magazine The Advocate said that she had become an important helper for gays and lesbians where President Barack Obama wasn't.

Musical style and influences

Lady Gaga "Just Dance"

A 30-second sample of Gaga's "Just Dance" featuring the chorus sung by Gaga and Colby O'Donis in the range of B3 to C backed by a synth marching beat. The song became Gaga's first international hit single.

Lady Gaga has been primarily influenced by pop singers Michael Jackson, Cyndi Laup

er, Britney Spears, Prince, and Madonna. She is also heavily influenced by glam rock stars such as David Bowie, Klaus Nomi, and the band Queen, from

whom a song inspired her stage name. Artist Andy Warhol, poet Rainer Maria Rilke, fashion

icon/actress/singer Grace Jones, and fashion as a whole, have all been cited as inspirations as well. Gaga's vocals have drawn frequent c

omparison to Madonna and Gwen Stefani, while the structure of her music is said to be reminiscent of classic 1980s pop and 1990s Europop. In reviewing her debut album The Fame, The Sunday Times asserted "in combining music, fashion, art and technology, Lady evokes Madonna, Gwen Stefani circa Hollaback Girl, Kylie 2001 or Grace Jones right now." Similarly, The Boston Globe critic Sarah Rodman commented that Gaga draws "obvious inspirations from Madonna to Gwen Stefani... in girlish but sturdy pipes and bubbly beats." Madonna herself had once commented toRolling Stone that she sees "self in Lady Gaga." The entertainer explained, "hen I saw her, she didn?t have a lot of money for her production. She?s got holes in her fishnets, and there?s mistakes everywhere it was kind of a mess, but I can see that she has that it Factor. It?s nice to see that at a raw stage." Baby A. Gil of The Philippine Star asserted that Gaga's voice is "just right for the mix of dance and rock that she does." As an artist, Alexis Petridis of The Boston Globe commented that although Gaga lacks originality, "pop music doesn't have to be blindingly original or clever to work: it needs tunes, and Lady is fantastically good at tunes." Though Gaga's lyrics are said to lack intellectual stimulation, " does manage to get you moving and grooving at an almost effortless pace."

Gaga wearing a plastic bubble dress while performing a concert on The Fame Ball Tour.

Gaga has stated that she is "very into fashion" and that it is "everything" to her. Her love of fashion came from her mother, who she stated was "always very well kept and beautiful." She claims that: "When I'm writing music, I'm thinking about the clothes I want to wear on stage. It's all about everything altogether?performance art, pop performance art, fashion. For me, it's everything coming together and being a real story that will bring back the super-fan. I want to bring that back. I want the imagery to be so strong that fans will want to eat and taste and lick every part of us." She has her own creative production team called the Haus of Gaga, which she handles personally. The team creates many of her clothes, stage props, and hairdos. Gaga has six known tattoos, among them a peace symbol which was inspired by the late English musician John Lennon who The Guardian remarked as Gaga's "hero," and a curling German script on her left arm which quotes the poet Rainer Maria Rilke with the lines "In the deepest hour of the night, confess to yourself that you would die if you were forbidden to write. And look deep into your heart where it spreads its roots, the answer, and ask yourself, must I write?" Gaga described Rilke as her "favorite philosopher," commenting that his "philosophy of solitude" spoke to her. In response to Gaga saying that she considers Donatella Versace her muse, Melissa Magsaysay of Los Angeles Times commented, " aversion to wearing a top and bottom at the same time swigging champagne and being fanned by oily men in Speedos very Donatella-esque." Toward the end of 2008, comparisons were made between the fashions of Gaga and recording artist Christina Aguilera, noting similarities in their styling, hair, and make-up. Aguilera later claimed she was "completely unaware of " and "didn't know if it a man or a woman." Afterward, Gaga released a statement in which she welcomed the comparisons due to the attention providing useful publicity. Gaga said, "She's such a huge star and if anything I should send her flowers, because a lot of people in America didn't know who I was until that whole thing happened. It really put me on the map in a way." Gaga is a natural brunette, but her hair is bleached blonde because she was often mistaken for fellow musician Amy Winehouse.

Gaga attributes much of her early success as a mainstream artist to her gay fans and is considered to be a rising gay icon. She claimed difficulty in the early stages of her career in getting her songs to receive radio airplay and stated, "The turning point for me was the gay community. I've got so many gay fans and they're so loyal to me and they really lifted me up. They'll always stand by me and I'll always stand by them. It's not an easy thing to create a fanbase." Gaga thanked FlyLife, a Manhattan-based LGBT marketing company with whom her label Interscope works, in the liner notes of her debut studio album, The Fame, saying, "I love you so much. You were the first heartbeat in this project, and your support and brilliance means the world to me. I will always fight for the gay community hand in hand with this incredible team." After The Fame came out, she revealed that the song "Poker Face" was about her bisexuality. In an interview with Rolling Stone, she spoke about how her boyfriends tended to react to her bisexuality, saying "The fact that I?m into women, they?re all intimidated by it. It makes them uncomfortable. They?re like, 'I don?t need to have a threesome. I?m happy with just you'." One of Gaga's first televised performance was in May 2008 at the NewNowNext Awards, an awards show aired by the LGBT television network Logo, where she sang her song "Just Dance." In June of the same year, she performed the song again at the San Francisco Pride event. When she appeared as a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in May 2009, Gaga praised DeGeneres for being "an inspiration for women and for the gay community," and while accepting the Best New Artist trophy at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, she dedicated the award to "God and the gays." She proclaimed that the October 11, 2009, gay rights rally on the national mall was "the single most important event of my career", exiting with an exultant "Bless God and bless the gays!"