LADY GAGA: 20 FUN FACTS

1) Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, recognized worldwide as Lady Gaga was born in the city of New York on 28 March 1986. She was born to Joseph Germanotta who was an internet entrepreneur and Cynthia. Lady Gaga has younger sibling Natali, who is pursuing degree in fashion designing.

2) Lady Gaga was brought up in the affluent neighborhood in Manhattan, however, she claims that her parents did not belong to wealthy class and it was due to constant hard work of her parents that she and her family enjoys such a living standard. In an interview, she told that her father worked hard as an internet entrepreneur and her mother worked at telecommunication service providers.

3) She was raised as Roman Catholic and attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart at the age of eleven. It was a private school specifically for girls, situated in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Despite the fact that Lady Gaga was a very well disciplined and studious student in her High School, she faced problems adjusting with her fellow students, who ostracized her due to her bizarre nature.

4) From early on she showed immense interest in music and started playing piano when she was only four years old. By the age of thirteen, she wrote her very first piano ballad. As she turned fourteen, she began performing at open mike nights. She took part in her high school production and played key roles in many plays including the role of Philia in a play called ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum’.

5) Few people know that Lady Gaga has also appeared in the television drama series titled “The Sopranos”. In the drama series, she played a role of a naughtily playful student; her role was not a significant one. She also auditioned for New York shows; however, she was not successful in landing any role in it. Finally, after auditioning for many roles, she managed to secure a role in MTV’s Boiling Points, of an unsuspecting dinner customer.

6) After the completion of High School, Lady Gaga joined the prestigious New York University. Later, her mother recommended her to apply for the Collaborative Arts Project, and she was among those twenty students who got early admission in this university. She moved to the New York University residence at the age of seventeen.

7) Lady Gaga wrote many analytical papers on different subjects such as art, social issues, religion and politics. One of her papers was a research-based essay on Damien Hirst and Spencer Tunick, who are renowned pop stars. She also wrote many essays to improve her song writing skills.

8) Lady Gaga decided to focus on her musical career when she was nineteen years old, in order to pursue music she dropped out of her university in second semester. Her father got her an apartment on Rivington Street but he placed a condition for Lady Gaga that she will join her university again if she fails in her musical career.

9) She lived in bad conditions in the beginning of her musical career due to lack of financial resources. She sang for an audio book titled “The Portal in the Park”, by Cricket Casey. In the same year, she started a band of her own with collaboration with some of her fellow friends at New York University.

10) Her band was named the Stefani Germanotta Band. In this band, Calvin Pia was the guitarist, Eli Silverman was the bassist, Alex Beckham was the drummer and Frank Fredericks was its booking manager. Her band played songs of various genres and some of its songs were Led Zeppelin’s D’ver Mak’er, Lower East Side’s the Mercury Lounge and Greenwich Village’s The Bitter End.

11) Stefani Germanotta band was able to grab the attention of a small number of fan following and the band started playing around New York at gigs. Rob Fusari who was at the time was looking for a talented female voice contacted Lady Gaga. She changed her name to Lady Gaga to enhance her public presence.

12) She initially recorded electro-pop songs. Joshua Sarubin who at that time was head of Def Jam Recordings signed Lady Gaga for her debut album, which he intended to finish in nine months. Finally, Lady Gaga got a chance to display her provocative singing style in September 2006. Unfortunately, this album failed to grab attention.

13) Lady Gaga became depressed after the failure of her debut album and this failure led her to experiment with not only different drugs but also dressing up obnoxiously. She thought of her behavior as a symbol of her freedom. She also went through an unsuccessful relationship with a drummer who played with one of the heavy metal band.

14) In the year 2008, Lady Gaga decided to give her music career a second chance and begin working on her debut album titled “The Frame”. This album was released on August 19, 2008; soon she began promoting it throughout Europe. Her song “Just Dance” became an instant hit soon after its release and was ranked as one of the best singles sold worldwide. She also received the prestigious Grammy Award nomination for this track.

15) Due to her performance at Lollapalooza Music Festival held in August 2007, Lady Gaga received good reviews and acknowledgement. Her music comprised of multiple genres including pop, glam rock etc. She made a deal with Sony/ATV and started writing songs for well-known celebrities including Fergie, Britney Spears and the Pussycat Dolls.

16) Her track “Poker Face” was a stepping-stone in her career, which made total sales of 9.8 million worldwide. This song was also nominated as song of the year, record of the year and best dance recording in the 52nd Grammy Awards. Her debut album “The Fame” won the award for Best Dance Album of the year.

17) “The Fame” was the most successful album and remained on the top of the charts for 106 back-to-back weeks. It was popular around the world and sold a massive 12 million copies. In 2009, it achieved various awards and honors such as the Billboard Magazine’s Rising Star Award and award for her song “paparazzi”.

18) She also performed on the Doll domination tour featuring Pussycat Dolls. In the mid of 2009, she toured across the world and performed live in concerts. It was during this tour she conceived the idea for her second album “The Fame Monster”. Her track “Bad Romance” became an instant hit and received a Grammy Award for Best Music Video.

19) Her song “Telephone” in which she collaborated with a pop diva Beyoncé also received a Grammy Award for best pop collaboration with the vocals. Despite her growing popularity, Catholic League heavily criticized Lady Gaga for her video “Alejandro”, which they accused of containing blasphemous content.

20) Lady Gaga has been the first artist ever whose tracks became viral on the famous video-sharing website YouTube and received more than billion views.