Music: 10 things you didn't know about Lady Gaga
1. Lady GaGa's real name is 'Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta'
2. She was born March 28th, 1986 (aged 24) to Italian-American parents and raised in Manhattan, New York City
3. GaGa first learned to play the piano at the age of four, penned her first ballad at thirteen and began performing at open mike nights at the age of fourteen
4. She left her second year music studies at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts to pursue a musical career
5. GaGa became a local fixture on
the New York club scene in 2005-2007, by performing in many gay bars and
burlesque shows
6. Music Producer Rob Fusari, who helped her write some of her earlier
songs, compared her vocal style to
that of Freddie Mercury and
helped create the pet-name 'GaGa'
after the Queen song 'Radio
GaGa'. Fusari used to sing it to her everyday on entering the studio to
work. In fact he actually texted her 'Radio GaGa' one day declaring it
should be her stage name, but somehow the text auto-spelled 'Radio' to
'Lady' by mistake - she loved it though, and told him never to call her
Stefani again!
7. She is inspired by glam rock musicians David Bowie and Freddie Mercury and also by pop legends Madonna and Michael Jackson
8. As a result of a music publishing deal with Sony/ATV, Lady Gaga went on to write songs for Britney Spears, New Kids on the Block, Fergie and the Pussycat Dolls
9. Her second hit 'Telephone' featuring Beyonce from The Fame Monster album, was actually originally written for Britney Spears. In fact Spears even recorded a version which was later scrapped
10. Lady GaGa is a natural brunette but after the New York Post described her earlier look of big black hair, heavy black eye make-up and tight revealing clothes as a 'refugee from Jersey Shore' (plus she was often mistaken for Amy Winehouse), she dyed her hair bleached blonde !!