Lady Gaga

Singer

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta → real name

- profession name: Lady Gaga
American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions
and versatility in the entertainment industry. Gaga began performing as a teenager,
singing at open mic nights and acting in school plays. She studied at Collaborative
Arts Project 21, through the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, before
dropping out to pursue a career in music. After Def Jam Recordings canceled her
contract, she worked as a songwriter for Sony/ATV Music Publishing, where she
signed a joint deal with Interscope Records and KonLive Distribution, in 2007. Gaga
had her breakthrough the following year with her debut studio album, The Fame, and
its chart-topping singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face". The album was later
reissued to include the extended play The Fame Monster (2009), which yielded the
successful singles "Bad Romance", "Telephone", and "Alejandro"
In 2005, Gaga recorded two songs with hip-hop artist Melle Mel for an audio book
accompanying Cricket Casey's children's novel The Portal in the Park.[23] She also
formed a band called the SGBand with some friends from NYU.[11][24] They played
gigs around New York and became a fixture of the downtown Lower East Side club
scene.[11] After the 2006 Songwriters Hall of Fame New Songwriters Showcase at the
Cutting Room in June, talent scout Wendy Starland recommended her to music
producer Rob Fusari.[25] Fusari collaborated with Gaga, who traveled daily to New
Jersey, helping to develop her songs and compose new material.[26] The producer
said they began dating in May 2006, and claimed to have been the first person to call
her "Lady Gaga", which was derived from Queen's song "Radio Ga Ga".[27] Their
relationship lasted until January 2007.
Fusari and Gaga established a company called "Team Lovechild, LLC" to promote
her career.[27] They recorded and produced electropop tracks, sending them to music
industry executives. Joshua Sarubin, the head of Artists and repertoire (A&R) at Def
Jam Recordings, responded positively and, after approval from Sarubin's boss
Antonio "L.A." Reid, Gaga was signed to Def Jam in September 2006.[29] She was
dropped from the label three months later[30] and returned to her family home for
Christmas. Gaga began performing at neo-burlesque shows, which according to her
represented freedom.[31] During this time, she met performance artist Lady Starlight,
who helped mold her onstage persona.[32] The pair began performing at downtown
club venues like the Mercury Lounge, the Bitter End, and the Rockwood Music Hall.
Their live performance art piece, known as "Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue" and
billed as "The Ultimate Pop Burlesque Rockshow", was a tribute to 1970s variety
acts.[33][34] They performed at the 2007 Lollapalooza music festival.[33]
Having initially focused on avant-garde electronic dance music, Gaga began to
incorporate pop melodies and the glam rock style of David Bowie and Queen into her
songs. While Gaga and Starlight were performing, Fusari continued to develop the
songs he had created with her, sending them to the producer and record executive
Vincent Herbert.[35] In November 2007, Herbert signed Gaga to his label Streamline
Records, an imprint of Interscope Records, established that month.[36] Gaga later
credited Herbert as the man who discovered her.[37] Having served as an apprentice
songwriter during an internship at Famous Music Publishing, Gaga struck a music
publishing deal with Sony/ATV. As a result, she was hired to write songs for Britney
Spears, New Kids on the Block, Fergie, and the Pussycat Dolls.[38] At Interscope,
musician Akon was impressed with her singing abilities when she sang a reference
vocal for one of his tracks in studio.[39] Akon convinced Jimmy Iovine, chairman and
CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M Records (a brother company for Def Jam), to form a
joint deal by having Gaga also sign with his own label KonLive, making her his
"franchise player".[30][40]
In late 2007, Gaga met with songwriter and producer RedOne.[41] She collaborated
with him in the recording studio for a week on her debut album, signing with
Cherrytree Records, an Interscope imprint established by producer and songwriter
Martin Kierszenbaum; she also wrote four songs with Kierszenbaum.[38] Despite
securing a record deal, she said that some radio stations found her music too "racy",
"dance-oriented", and "underground" for the mainstream market, to which she
replied: "My name is Lady Gaga, I've been on the music scene for years, and I'm
telling you, this is what's next."[7]
By 2008, Gaga had relocated to Los Angeles to work extensively with her record
label to complete her debut album, The Fame, and to set up her own creative team
called the Haus of Gaga, modeled on Andy Warhol's The Factory.[42][43] The Fame
was released on August 19, 2008,[44] and reached number one in Austria, Canada,
Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and the UK, as well as the top five in Australia and
the US.[45][46] Its first two singles, "Just Dance" and "Poker Face",[47] reached number
one in the United States,[48] Australia,[49] Canada[50] and the UK.[51] The latter was also
the world's best-selling single of 2009, with 9.8 million copies sold that year, and
spent a record 83 weeks on Billboard magazine's Digital Songs chart.[52][53] Three
other singles, "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)", "LoveGame" and "Paparazzi", were
released from the album;[54] the lattermost reached number one in Germany.[55]
Remixed versions of the singles from The Fame, except "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can
Say)", were included on Hitmixes in August 2009.[56] At the 52nd Annual Grammy
Awards, The Fame and "Poker Face" won Best Dance/Electronica Album and Best
Dance Recording, respectively.[57]Following her opening act on the Pussycat Dolls'
2009 Doll Domination Tour in Europe and Oceania, Gaga headlined her worldwide
The Fame Ball Tour, which ran from March to September 2009.[59] While traveling the
globe, she wrote eight songs for The Fame Monster, a reissue of The Fame.[60]
Those new songs were also released as a standalone EP on November 18, 2009.[61]
Its first single, "Bad Romance", was released one month earlier[62] and went number
one in Canada[50] and the UK,[51] and number two in the US,[48] Australia[63] and New
Zealand.[64] "Telephone", with Beyoncé, followed as the second single from the EP
and became Gaga's fourth UK number one.[65][66] Its third single was "Alejandro",[67]
which reached number one in Finland[68] and attracted controversy when its music
video was deemed blasphemous by the Catholic League.[69] Both tracks reached the
top five in the US.[48] The video for "Bad Romance" became the most watched on
YouTube in April 2010, and that October, Gaga became the first person with more
than one billion combined views.[70][71] At the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, she
won eight awards from 13 nominations, including Video of the Year for "Bad
Romance".[72] She was the most nominated artist for a single year, and the first
woman to receive two nominations for Video of the Year at the same ceremony. [73]
The Fame Monster won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album, and "Bad
Romance" won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Short Form Music
Video at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.[74]
In 2009, Gaga spent a record 150 weeks on the UK Singles Chart and became the
most downloaded female act in a year in the US, with 11.1 million downloads sold,
earning an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.[75][76] Worldwide, The Fame
and The Fame Monster together have sold more than 15 million copies, and the
latter was 2010's second best-selling album.[77][78][79] Its success allowed Gaga to start
her second worldwide concert tour, The Monster Ball Tour, and release The Remix,
her final record with Cherrytree Records[80] and among the best-selling remix albums
of all time.[81][82] The Monster Ball Tour ran from November 2009 to May 2011 and
grossed $227.4 million, making it the highest-grossing concert tour for a debut
headlining artist.[58][83] Concerts performed at Madison Square Garden in New York
City were filmed for an HBO television special, Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball
Tour: At Madison Square Garden.[84] Gaga also performed songs from her albums at
the 2009 Royal Variety Performance, the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, and the
2010 Brit Awards.[85] Before Michael Jackson's death, Gaga was set to take part in
his canceled This Is It concert series at the O2 Arena in the UK.[86]
During this era, Gaga ventured into business, collaborating with consumer
electronics company Monster Cable Products to create in-ear, jewel-encrusted
headphones called Heartbeats by Lady Gaga.[87] She also partnered with Polaroid in
January 2010 as their creative director and announced a suite of photo-capture
products called Grey Label.[88][89] Her collaboration with her past record producer and
ex-boyfriend Rob Fusari led to a lawsuit against her production team, Mermaid Music
LLC.[a] At this time, Gaga was tested borderline positive for lupus but claimed not to
be affected by the symptoms and hoped to maintain a healthy lifestyle.[92][93]