Who the hell is Lady Gaga?

Promo photo for "The Fame"

Lady Gaga circa 2006

Well, we know she is a fabulous, sexually explicit singer/songwriter/performer, but where the hell did she come from? Born March 28th 1986 (just 6 days after me), Gaga, or Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (her birth name) in Yonkers, New York. Her talent was evident early on, by the age of 4 she had already learned to play piano by ear, and at age 11 she was sent to Juilliard School, and instead attended Covenant of the Scared Heart Catholic School. By 13, she had even written her first piano ballad. At 17, she gained early admission to the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She began to perform at burlesque shows in downtown New York City, something her parents took issue with. Gaga received her stage name when a producer compared her style to that of Queen front man Freddie Mercury, and took the name Gaga from a Queen single titled "Radio GaGa". At 19, she signed with Def Jam Records, but eventually moved to Interscope in 2008 and began writing songs for groups such as The Pussycat Dolls. It was eventually through her affiliation with rapper Akon that Gaga began work on her own material. By 2008 Gaga relocated to Los Angeles to work on her debut album The Fame. Gaga had this to say about the album, "Pop culture is art. It doesn’t make you cool to hate pop culture, so I embraced it and you hear it all over The Fame. But, it’s a sharable fame. I want to invite you all to the party. I want people to feel a part of this lifestyle." Her first single "Just Dance" released April 8th 2008 was internationally recognized, and reached number 1 in seven countries including the United States. My favorite single off the album, "Paparazzi", is as infectiously catchy as the rest of the album. Her electo-glam pop style is impossible to ignore. One thing is for sure, Gaga is her to stay.