The #50 Female Artist of the Rock Era*, like #61 Adele, hasn't been around long.
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta was born and raised in New York City. Stefani began playing piano at age four and wrote her first ballad at age 13. She performed lead roles in high school performances, and had a small role in The Sopranos in 2001. Stefani studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and attended the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University before withdrawing to begin a music career.
She started the Stefani Germanotta Band with some friends from NYU and performed in clubs such as The Bitter End and the Mercury Lounge. Producer Rob Fusari was searching for a female singer and heard of Stefani. The band had broken up, so Stefani traveled daily to New Jersey to work with Fusari on songs she had written. It was during this time that Stefani adopted the stage name of Lady Gaga. Gaga signed a recording contract with Def Jam in 2006, but she was dropped by the label after only three months.
Upon returning home, Gaga became experimental with neo-burlesque shows and go-go dancing. She met Lady Starlight and the pair began performing at clubs billing themselves as Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue. The two were invited to play at the 2007 Lollapalooza music festival, which received positive reviews.
Meanwhile, Fusari continued to work on the songs he had created with Gaga. He sent a tape to his friend Vincent Herbert, a producer and record executive with Streamline Records. Herbert signed Gaga to a recording contract in 2007. Gaga subsequently signed a music publishing deal with Sony/ATV, and wrote songs for Britney Spears, Fergie, New Kids on the Block and the Pussycat Dolls.
While working in this capacity, her vocals caught the attention of Akon, who signed her to his label Kon Live Distribution. By 2008, Gaga had moved to Los Angeles to begin work on her debut album. The Fame was initially released with slow radio airplay. Gaga toured Europe and played in small clubs around the United States, also supporting New Kids on the Block for their reunion tour.
"Just Dance" was released as the first single and it went nowhere at first. Several months later, the song all of a sudden caught on and reached #1 in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia and Ireland. "Just Dance" was nominated for a Grammy for Best Dance Recording and won an ASCAP Award as a Most Performed Song and the BMI for Award-Winning Song.
"Poker Face" was another sleeper hit, jumping to #1 in every major music market in the world. The single captured the Grammy for Best Dance Recording and was nominated for both Song of the Year and Record of the Year. "Poker Face" was named as the World's Best Song at the World Music Awards. It helped Lady Gaga win the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist and the video was nominated for Video of the Year, Best Pop Video and Best Female Video, and won an Award-Winning Song honor from BMI.
Although the album only sold two million copies in the United States, The Fame was nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys and won for Best Electronic/Dance Album. The Fame was also nominated for Favorite Pop/Rock Album at the American Music Awards, and Lady Gaga was nominated for Artist of the Year, Favorite Breakthrough Artist and Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist. She also received the Billboard Rising Star Award, as well as being named Top Pop Songs Artist, Top New Artist, Top Digital Songs Artist, Top Dance/Electronic Artist and Top Canadian Hot 100 Artist by Billboard.
In addition to opening for the Pussycat Dolls, Gaga embarked on her own critically-acclaimed world tour. "LoveGame" was the third single, reaching #2 in Canada, #4 in Australia, #5 in the U.S. and France and #19 in the U.K.
"Paparazzi" helped reinvigorate worldwide attention, reaching #1 in Germany, #2 in Australia, #3 in Canada and Austria, #4 in the U.K. and Switzerland, #5 in New Zealand and #6 in the U.S. and France. "Paparazzi" was also cited by BMI as an Award-Winning Song and by ASCAP as a Most Performed Song. Gaga's debut went on to sell 12 million copies worldwide.
During her world tour, Gaga wrote an eight-song EP called The Fame Monster. While the EP sold one million copies in the U.S., everyone wanted a digital copy of the first single, "Bad Romance". It went over the 10-million mark in digital downloads, topped the charts in 18 countries, and reached #2 in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Gaga won Grammys for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Short Form Music Video and another BMI for Award-Winning Song. The song was nominated for a Billboard Award for Top Dance Song.
GaGa is known for her flamboyant and diverse contributions to the music industry through her fashion, performances and music videos. The "Bad Romance" video was the big winner at the MTV Video Music Awards, winning seven trophies including Video of the Year, Best Female Video, Best Pop Video and Best Dance Video.
As Gaga's debut spilled over into the next year, she won the American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist and was nominated for Artist of the Year. She won Billboard Awards for Top Artist, Top Female Artist and Top Dance/Electronic Artist. The Fame won the World Music Award for World's Best Album of the Year and the Billboard Award for Top Dance/Electronic Album. Lady Gaga won three additional World Music Awards: World's Best Pop/Rock Artist, Best Selling Artist of the Year and World's Best New Artist.
Lady Gaga was nominated for 16 Billboard Music Awards, including Top Artist, Top Female Artist and Top Female Artist. She won for Top Pop Artist and Top Dance Artist. and The Fame won the award for Top Electronic/Dance Album and was nominated for Top Pop Album. Gaga released the single "Telephone", her duet with Beyonce. The song won the Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and earned Gaga her fourth U.K. #1 song.
"Telephone" reached the Top 5 in every major worldwide market including #3 in the U.S. It won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Collaboration and was nominated for Video of the Year. The Fame Monster won the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album and was nominated for Album of the Year and won the Billboard Award for Top Electronic/Dance Album.
"Alejandro" reached #2 in Australia, Germany and Austria, #3 in Ireland, #4 in Canada and it became the seventh-consecutive Top 5 song for Lady Gaga in the U.S.
"Alejandro" enabled Gaga to tie Gary Lewis & the Playboys, the Lovin' Spoonful, Air Supply, Expose, Richard Marx and Taylor Dayne for third-place all-time for The Most Consecutive Top 10 Songs Out of the Gate*. "Bad Romance", "Telephone" and "Alejandro" were all cited by BMI as Award-Winning Songs, and Lady Gaga won the BMI Songwriter of the Year Award.
Gaga went out on a second worldwide tour that grossed over $227 million, making it one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all-time. Concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City were filmed for a HBO television special entitled Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden.
Gaga collaborated with Monster Cable Products to create a pair of in-ear jewel-encrusted headphones called Heartbeats. She also was named Creative Director of Polaroid and unveiled a pair of picture-taking sunglasses, a paperback-sized mobile printing unit and an updated version of the Polaroid camera at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show.
In 2011, Gaga released her second studio album, Born This Way. The album sold over one million copies in its first week, debuting at #1 in the U.S. and going to #1 in over 20 countries.
"Telephone" won MTV Video Music Awards for Best Female Video and Best Video with a Message. For the third straight year, Gaga was nominated at the Grammys for Album of the Year. "Born This Way" became the 19th song to debut at #1 and the 1,000th #1 song in the history of the charts.
"Judas" reached the Top 10 in eight countries, including a peak of #10 in the U.S., which enabled Lady Gaga to keep her consecutive Top 10 streak alive at nine.
Gaga ranked fourth on Billboard's list of the top moneymakers of 2011, grossing over $25 million. "The Edge Of Glory" hit #2 in Australia, #3 in the U.S., Canada, Germany, New Zealand and Austria, and won an ASCAP Award for Most Performed Song.
Born This Way was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album at the Grammys. Lady Gaga released "You And I" as the next single, which earned her another Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance. The song reached #6 in the U.S. and #8 in Austria. That tied her with Mariah Carey for second all-time with 11 consecutive Top 10 songs to begin her solo career.
Throughout 2011, Gaga, teamed with artists such as Cher and Elton John for recordings, and she recorded a version of "The Lady Is A Tramp" with legend Tony Bennett.
When "Marry The Night" peaked at #29, Lady Gaga's streak was over. However, Gaga was nominated for seven World Music Awards: World's Best Pop/Rock Artist, World's Best Album, World's Best Song (for both "Marry The Night" and "The Lady Is A Tramp"), World's Entertainer of the Year, World's Best Live Act and World's Best Video ("Judas").
Gaga's Born This Way tour was a commercial success, but was protested throughout by conservative political commentators, religious groups and Muslim hardliners that forced cancellation of her Jakarta show. Gaga had to cut the tour short due to a tear of her right hip.
Lady Gaga returned this year with the album Artpop and the first single, "Applause" returned her to the U.S. Top 10 at #4. The song also peaked at #3 in France, #4 in Canada and #5 in the U.K. and Germany.
She reached #8 with Dope.
Gaga just missed with Do What U (sic) Want", a single she collaborated on with R. Kelly.
Lady Gaga has now sold over 23 million albums and 64 million singles worldwide. She has won five Grammys, seven Billboard Music Awards, five World Music Awards and 13 MTV Video Music Awards. Not bad for only three studio albums and four years of work.
