Lady Gaga is a singer and theatrical dance-pop performer. Her debut single ‘Just Dance’ topped the international charts in 2008, establishing her as the next big superstar.
Born Stefani Germanotta on March 28, 1986, she began playing the piano at a young age and started writing original songs as a teenager. She attended Convent of the Sacred Heart - a private all-girl Catholic school in Manhattan, before proceeding to study music at New York University`s Tisch School of the Arts at age 17.
In 2007, she began to make a name for in the downtown Manhattan club scene with a performance art show billed as ‘Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue’. It’s then the music industry insiders began to take note. While Lady Gaga was initially signed to ‘Def Jam’ in 2007, nothing came out of that association, and ultimately it was pop-rap superstar ‘Akon’ who took her under his wing, signing her to his vanity label ‘Kon Live’ in association with ‘Interscope Records’.
After that Lady Gaga initiated plans to launch her debut single ‘Just Dance’, which was released on radio in April 2008. Her full-length album debut, ‘The Fame’, followed in August, featuring fellow ‘Akon’. The song was a great hit in US as well as internationally.
It entered the Top Ten charts. Gaga’s next release ‘The Fame Monster’, a collection of eight songs that dealt with the darker side of fame expressed through the ‘monster’ metaphor, was again a big hit.
Gaga’s music has been influenced by glam rock artists such as ‘David Bowie’ and ‘Queen’, as well as pop music artists such as ‘Madonna’, ‘Britney Spears’ and ‘Michael Jackson’. The Queen song ‘Radio Ga Ga’ inspired her stage name, ‘Lady Gaga’. In an interview with ‘Rolling Stone’, she stated that her third studio album is complete and would probably release next year in March or April.