Lady Gaga: Short Biography

Lady Gaga, also known as Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, is an American recording artist. She began performing in clubs in the New York City area while also working at the Interscope Records as a songwriter for fellow label artist, including Akon who, after hearing Gaga sing, convinced Interscope Records chairman Jimmy Iovine to sign her to a joint deal with the label and Akon’s Kon Live Distribution label.

Gaga was born in Yonkers, New York as the eldest child to Italian American parents Joseph, an Internet entrepreneur, and Cynthia Germanotta, a telecommunications assistant. By the time she was eleven, Gaga was set to join Juilliard School in Manhattan, but instead attended Convent of the Sacred Heart, a private Catholic school. Having learned piano at the age of four, Gaga went on to write her first piano ballad at thirteen and began performing at open mic nights by the age of fourteen. At the age of seventeen, she gained early admission to the New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. There, she studied music and improved her songwriting skills by composing essays and analytical papers focusing on topics such as art, religion, and socio-political order. Gaga later withdrew from the school.

She began working with a collective called the Haus of Gaga in 2008, and released her debut album “The Fame” on August 19, 2008. The album reached number one in the United Kingdom, Canada, Austria, Germany and Ireland and reached the top-ten in numerous countries worldwide. Its first two singles, "Just Dance" and "Poker Face" became international number-one hits, topping the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States as well as the charts of other countries. The album later earned a total of six Grammy Award nominations and won awards for Best Electronic/Dance Album and Best Dance Recording. In early 2009 she embarked on her first headlining tour, The Fame Ball Tour. By the fourth quarter of the year, she had released her second studio album The Fame Monster, with the global chart-topping lead single "Bad Romance", as well as having embarked on her second headlining tour of the year, The Monster Ball Tour.

Lady Gaga is inspired by glam rock artists such as David Bowie and Queen, as well as pop musicians such as Madonna and Michael Jackson.

As of May 2010, Gaga has sold over 15 million albums and over 40 million singles worldwide.

In May 2010, Time magazine included Gaga in its annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. In June 2010, Forbes listed Lady Gaga fourth on its list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential celebrities in the world; she is also ranked as the second most powerful musician in the world.