by EJ Young

Created on: July 23, 2010   Last Updated: November 09, 2010

Lady Gaga concert tickets, music, accessories-nearly all things Gaga, are hot items. Unlike reality show contestants or pop divas with the connections of fame and money, this trendy and talented performer was not an instant success. She climbed through the ranks the old fashioned way with hard work and creative talent.

“I did this the way you are supposed to. I played every club in New York City and I bombed in every club . . . I found myself as an artist,” the diva said on her official website. The general public might see Lady Gaga as an extremist but her fans know she is a true artist who was nurtured by her family.

Born in 1986 with the name Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, Lady Gaga grew up in Manhattan as part of a middle class family. Her father was a telecom entrepreneur  and her mother also worked in the technical field. Miss Germanotta's talent was obvious at an early age. When she was only four years old she played piano by ear.  She and sister Natalie attended private religious schools where Stefani’s talent became apparent to professionals in the field of music. As an eighth grader she landed competitive lead roles in school musicals. At age 13 she penned and played her own piano ballad.  During her Sweet 16 party her parents handed out music CDs to guests of the birthday girl singing love ballads.

Stefani Germanotta was recognized as prodigy material when the elite New York University Tisch School of the Arts gave her early admission, a rarity at the exclusive academy.  After experiencing what the school had to offer, she dropped out during her second year.  She felt she could gain more on her own by teaching herself about music, style and performance through her own experiences.  Her father agreed to pay rent on a New York apartment for one year if she would agree to return to school is she didn’t make it in the music industry.  Later, during an experimental stage with music and drugs, it was respect for her father that helped her give up drugs and focus on her career.

Gifted with musical talent as a writer and performer, Gaga’s  journey on her rise to fame included open mike nights and bookings as a go go dancer in a strip club and gigs as a bikini clad pianist. While she fronted her own rock band and did a burlesque show with Wendy Starland, she wrote songs for Britney Spears, the Pussy Cat Dolls and the Black Eyed Peas. During that

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