The Evolution of Lady Gaga
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta was born on March 28, 1986 in Yonkers, New York, to Cynthia and Joseph Germanotta. Germanotta, now known as Lady Gaga (she has attributed the inspiration for her name to the Queen song "Radio Ga-Ga"), went on to become an international pop star.
Gaga learned to play the piano by the age of 4. At the age of 11, she was accepted to the Juilliard School in Manhattan, but instead attended a private Catholic school in the city. She continued studying music and performing, writing her first piano ballad at the age of 13, and she held her first performance in a New York nightclub at the age of 14.
A few years later, Gaga was granted early admission to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts—she was one of only 20 students in the world to receive the honor of early acceptance. While there, she studied music and worked on her songwriting skills. She later withdrew from school to find creative inspiration. To make ends meet, she took three jobs, including a stint as a gogo dancer, while she honed her performance-art act.
A few years later, Gaga was granted early admission to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts—she was one of only 20 students in the world to receive the honor of early acceptance. While there, she studied music and worked on her songwriting skills. She later withdrew from school to find creative inspiration. To make ends meet, she took three jobs, including a stint as a gogo dancer, while she honed her performance-art act.
In 2005, Lady Gaga was briefly signed by Def Jam Records, but was dropped just months later. Being dropped by the label propelled the singer to perform on her own in clubs and venues on New York City's Lower East Side. There, she collaborated with several rock bands, and began her experimentation with fashion.
In 2007, at the age of 20, Gaga began work at Interscope Records as a songwriter for other artists on the label, including Britney Spears, New Kids on the Block, and The Pussycat Dolls. R&B singer Akon discovered Gaga while she was performing a burlesque show that she created, called "Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue." Impressed, Akon signed the performer to his label under the Interscope umbrella, Kon Live. Through 2007 and 2008, Gaga wrote and recorded her debut album, The Fame. The record was received positive reviews and popular success in the United States. With the help of her own creative team, "Haus of Gaga," the performer also began to make a name for herself internationally. Listen to Lady Gaga's first album, The Fame, below:
On Valentine’s Day 2015, Lady Gaga became engaged to Chicago Fire actor Taylor Kinney.
Lady Gaga's debut single, "Just Dance," was released to radio in early 2008, and received both popular and commercial acclaim. The song was then nominated for a Grammy Award (for best dance recording) in 2008. The song lost to Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger," but this didn't keep Gaga from reaching No. 1 on the mainstream pop charts in January 2009. The second single off of The Fame, "Poker Face," earned Gaga even more success. The song topped singles charts in almost every category, and in almost every country. Both songs were produced by Akon's affiliate RedOne, who co-wrote most of Lady Gaga's album.
Later in 2008, Lady Gaga opened for the newly reformed New Kids on the Block. She also collaborated with the group on the song "Big Girl Now" from New Kids on the Block's album The Block. The following year, Gaga released an album of eight songs, The Fame Monster, which contains one of her greatest hits ever, Bad Romance, one of the best-selling singles in history. Listen to her 2nd album, The Fame Monster, below:
These two albums were followed by her March 23rd, 2011's release, Born This Way, which had the best first-week sales in over 5 years, with 1,108,000 copies in just 7 days in the United States and made it debut atop the Billboard 200 album charts. She announced the so called 'birth' of the album via Twitter:
Listen to Born This Way the album below:
Lady Gaga announced the title of this album when she won the award for Video Of The Year at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, singing a small teaser from the title track, which ended up causing a bit of a controversy since many people heard Madonna's "Express Yourself" in the background, which ended up to be a four-chord rhythm and had no similarity to Madge's song. Watch one of the most emotional moments of Lady Gaga on-stage while revealing Born This Way at the 2010 MTV VMA's while wearing the dress that had everyone talking about her, a dress made out of raw meat:
In 2013, Lady Gaga released her third studio album, ARTPOP. She worked with Pop-Art master Jeff Koons for the album cover, also making a real sculpture for the album's release party which was titled artRAVE and was a huge private party with Lady Gaga and her fans, where she performed many of the ones from the album live. Listen to her 4th album and latest Pop masterpiece, ARTPOP, below:
You can also flip through the ARTPOP album digital booklet:
In 2014, she released an album of jazz duets with crooner Tony Bennett entitled Cheek to Cheek, which later won a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. In an interview with Parade Magazine, Lady Gaga said of her latest collaboration, “Working with Tony has reaffirmed everything I knew but that you start to forget when your life changes and it gets really noisy. For Tony, it’s all about great music.” Listen to her second collaboration with Tony Bennett and their first duets album titled Cheek To Cheek below:
My water just broke.
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) Mayo 23, 2011
Listen to Born This Way the album below:
Lady Gaga announced the title of this album when she won the award for Video Of The Year at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, singing a small teaser from the title track, which ended up causing a bit of a controversy since many people heard Madonna's "Express Yourself" in the background, which ended up to be a four-chord rhythm and had no similarity to Madge's song. Watch one of the most emotional moments of Lady Gaga on-stage while revealing Born This Way at the 2010 MTV VMA's while wearing the dress that had everyone talking about her, a dress made out of raw meat:
In 2013, Lady Gaga released her third studio album, ARTPOP. She worked with Pop-Art master Jeff Koons for the album cover, also making a real sculpture for the album's release party which was titled artRAVE and was a huge private party with Lady Gaga and her fans, where she performed many of the ones from the album live. Listen to her 4th album and latest Pop masterpiece, ARTPOP, below:
You can also flip through the ARTPOP album digital booklet:
In 2014, she released an album of jazz duets with crooner Tony Bennett entitled Cheek to Cheek, which later won a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. In an interview with Parade Magazine, Lady Gaga said of her latest collaboration, “Working with Tony has reaffirmed everything I knew but that you start to forget when your life changes and it gets really noisy. For Tony, it’s all about great music.” Listen to her second collaboration with Tony Bennett and their first duets album titled Cheek To Cheek below:
Listen to one of Lady Gaga's interviews she did while promoting Cheek To Cheek at KIISFM's radio station with Ryan Seacrest:
Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett are currently on tour with Cheek To Cheek on the United States, check out the list of dates and places on an interactive map below:
Lady Gaga continued to showcase her versatility and strength as a vocalist at the Academy Awards telecast in Feburary 2015, paying tribute to the 50th anniversary of The Sound of Music and actress/singer Julie Andrews by performing selections from the musical:
Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett are currently on tour with Cheek To Cheek on the United States, check out the list of dates and places on an interactive map below:
Lady Gaga continued to showcase her versatility and strength as a vocalist at the Academy Awards telecast in Feburary 2015, paying tribute to the 50th anniversary of The Sound of Music and actress/singer Julie Andrews by performing selections from the musical:
On Valentine’s Day 2015, Lady Gaga became engaged to Chicago Fire actor Taylor Kinney.
Here you can see Lady Gaga's variant tour stages from The Fame Ball Tour, The Monster Ball Tour, The Born This Way Ball Tour, artRAVE: The ARTPOP Ball Tour & Cheek To Cheek Tour:
What is your favorite Lady Gaga album?
Here are some of Lady Gaga's greatest achievements, from social media followers, to record sales and tour gross:
