LADY GAGA
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta[1] (born March 28, 1986),[9] who performs under the stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She began her career as a songwriter for some of pop music's biggest stars, including Fergie, Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears and New Kids on the Block, as well as American singer and producer Akon. After Akon recognized that Gaga also had vocal talent, he signed her to a joint deal with his own label, Kon Live Distribution, and then she started to work on her own new material for her debut album.
Gaga released The Fame in 2008, which she explained was "about how anyone can feel famous". To date, the album has spawned the international number one hit singles "Just Dance" (nominated for Best Dance Recording at the 51st Grammy Awards) and "Poker Face". Gaga has been influenced by glam rockers such as David Bowie and Queen as well as '80s pop singers such as Madonna and Michael Jackson.
Early life
Lady Gaga was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta in Yonkers, New York, to Joseph Germanotta, an internet entrepreneur and his wife Cynthia, a telecommunications assistant.[10][11] both of whom are Italian Americans.[12][13] She has one younger sister.[14] As a child, she attended the private Catholic school Convent of the Sacred Heart.[15] Having learned piano by ear at the age of four, Gaga went on to write her first piano ballad at 13 and began performing at open mic nights by the age of 14.[7] At the age of seventeen she gained early admission to the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied music.[7] She honed her writing skills by composing essays and analytical papers focusing on topics such as art, religion and socio-political order.[16] However, she withdrew from New York University.[5] At age 20, she began working for Interscope Records as a songwriter, penning songs for pop acts such as the Pussycat Dolls. After she moved out of her parents' house,[17] Gaga started performing downtown, in the Lower East Side club scene with bands Mackin Pulsifer and SGBand. Wanting to differentiate herself from the rock and roll typical of the scene, she chose to focus instead on pop music.[18] Speaking to her father's reaction to her drug use and performance in burlesque shows, "He couldn't look at me for a few months...I was in leather thongs, so it was hard for him—he just didn't understand."[15]
Gaga got her stage name when the music producer Rob Fusari compared her vocal style to that of Freddie Mercury, and took the name Gaga from the Queen song, "Radio Ga-Ga". It was Fusari who helped her to write some of her early hits, including "Disco Heaven", "Dirty Ice Cream", and "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich".[18]
Fashion
Gaga states that she is "very in to fashion" and that it is "everything".
"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."
With Times Online, she stated that her love of fashion came from her mother, who was "always very well kept and beautiful". Gaga has also said she channels Versace in everything she does and considers Donatella Versace as her muse in many ways. "She's iconic and powerful, yet people throw darts at her. She's definitely provocative." Melissa Magsaysay of Los Angeles Times reported that Gaga could be Donatella's doppelgänger. Magsaysay stated "her aversion to wearing a top and bottom at the same time ... swigging champagne and being fanned by oily men in Speedos [is] very Donatella-esque". Gaga has her own creative production team called "Haus of Gaga" which she handles personally which create some of her fashion, props on stage and hair.
Towards the end of 2008, comparisons were made between the fashion sense of Gaga and American singer-songwriter Christina Aguilera, noting similarities in their styling, hair and make-up. Aguilera later claimed she was "completely unaware of this person" and even "didn't know if it [Gaga] is a man or a woman". Afterward Gaga released a statement where she welcomed the comparisons because the media attention had provided useful publicity. "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." However, she later added that she doesn’t just want to be remembered for the "Christina Aguilera scandal" and that "nobody can copy me, because I can’t be copied."
