by Davina Lennon

Created on: July 28, 2010   Last Updated: July 06, 2011

Love her or hate her, Lady Gaga is a talented singer, songwriter and performer, who exploits her eccentricity to stand out as an individual among the customary hype of the music industry.

Stefani Joanne Germanotta was born 28th March 1986 in Yonkers, New York, USA. Her parents Joseph, an Internet entrepreneur and Cynthia, a telecommunications assistant, were wealthy Italian Catholics.  They were immensely supportive of their daughter, who learned to play piano by ear by the time she was four years of age. Before she had turned thirteen, she had written her first piano ballad. And at fourteen she was playing open-mike nights at New York clubs such as the Bitter End.

Her incredible talent shone through and at the age of seventeen she became one of only twenty young people in the world to gain early admission to the Tisch School of Arts at New York University. She took the decision to leave the school at the age of nineteen to make her own way in the music industry shunning any support offered to her by her parents.

She made a name for herself on the Lower East Side club scene with a number of bands as SGBand and Makin Pulsifer. By this time, Stefani had chosen the stage name ‘Lady Gaga’, taken from Queen’s song ‘Radio Gaga’. She would perform wild, theatrical routines often stripping down to bikini tops and handmade hot pants, just to create maximum shock value.

Lady Gaga’s breakthrough came when she was signed to Interscope Records in 2008. It was at Interscope that she was contracted to write songs for some of the high-profile acts around at the time, Britney Spears being one. During this time, her underlying talent was recognized by record producer, rap artist and singer-songwriter, Akon. He duly signed her to his record label, Kon Live Distribution.

She began touring as support to girl band ‘Pussycat Dolls’, and in true ‘Gaga’ fashion her performances were outrageously executed in nothing more than lingerie.

Lady Gaga’s first hit single was the hugely addictive ‘Just Dance’, taken from the album ‘The Fame’. She followed this success with notable hits as ‘Poker Face’, ‘Bad Romance’ and ‘Telephone’.

Lady Gaga has sold around eight million albums since 2008 and thirty five million singles. She achieved three number ones in Britain and the US as well as two in Australia. She also took out the award for Best International Album for ‘The Fame’ as well as International Breakthrough act at the Brit Awards.

With her incredible voice, her radical performances and bold fashion statements, Lady Gaga has made a significant difference between being a legitimate artist, as opposed to a one-off wannabe.

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