Gaga is known for her versatility in music. She got her stage name from the song "Radio Ga Ga" by the band Queen. She won a Golden Globe Award for her acting role in the television series "American Horror Story: Hotel" in 2016. Gaga played the female lead, Ally, in the 2018 movie "A Star Is Born", where she stars alongside Bradley Cooper.
Lady Gaga was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta at Lenox Hill Hospital Northwell Health in Upper East Side, New York City, on March 28, 1986. She is the oldest child of Joseph Germanotta, an internet businessman, and Cynthia (née Bissett). She has a younger sister named Natali, who is a fashion student. Lady Gaga is of Italian (her paternal grandfather was from Naso, in the province of Messina and he came up to the United States on 1908) and French Canadian ancestry. She learned to play piano at the age of four. She wrote her first piano song at 13. She started performing live by age 14. At the age of 11, Gaga went to the Convent of the Sacred Heart. This is a private Roman Catholic school on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Her family wasn't rich. She has said that her parents "both came from lower-class families, so we've worked for everything my mother worked eight to eight out of the house, in telecommunications, and so did my father." In high school, Gaga played lead roles in "Guys and Dolls" and in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum". Gaga said her high school life was "very dedicated, very studious, very disciplined". She also said that it was "insecure". She said in an interview that, "I didn’t fit in, and I felt like a freak."
Gaga was 17 when she went to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She lived in a NYU dorm on 11th Street. She studied music. She helped to write essays on art, religion, social issues and politics. Gaga felt that she was more creative than some of her classmates. "Once you learn how to think about art, you can teach yourself," she said. By the second semester of her sophomore year, she left school to focus on her musical career. Her father agreed to pay her rent for a year, if she agreed to go back to Tisch if she failed. "I left my entire family, got the cheapest apartment I could find, and ate shit until somebody would listen," she said. Gaga has said she has had bulimia and anorexia since she was 15.
In 2005, Gaga began a band called the Stefani Germanotta Band. The band played in local dive bars during 2005-2007 where they performed her debut EP, "Red and Blue". Gaga revisited these locations during her Dive Bar Tour during 2016.
Gaga started her creative team, the Haus of Gaga, in 2008. On August 19, 2008, her first album "The Fame" was released. Her debut album spawned the hit singles "Just Dance" (featuring Colby O'Donis), "Poker Face", "LoveGame", and "Paparazzi". The first two singles became number-one hits for Gaga in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and several other countries. Gaga's follow-up EP, "The Fame Monster", was released on November 18, 2009 and contained the singles "Bad Romance", "Telephone" (featuring R&B singer Beyoncé), and "Alejandro". They became hits worldwide, with all seven of these songs peaking within the top ten of the US "Billboard" Hot 100, and the first six singles managed to reach number one on "Billboard"'s Mainstream Top 40/Pop Songs chart.
Gaga released her second studio album, "Born This Way", on May 23, 2011. Before that, Gaga released the song of the same name on February 11, 2011. The song entered the charts at number 1 in America, becoming her third number-one single there. "Born This Way" became Gaga's first number-one album in the United States, selling over one million copies there in its first week. Following the song "Born This Way", the singles "Judas", "The Edge of Glory", and "Yoü and I" reached the top ten in the US. The album's final single, "Marry the Night", became a top-thirty hit there.
In 2012, Gaga bought 55 items from an auction for Michael Jackson's possessions. She also released her first fragrance, Fame. The liquid of the perfume is black but sprays clear, which is "like the soul of fame."
On November 6, 2013, her third studio album, "Artpop," was released and became Gaga's second American number-one album. The song "Applause" was released as "<nowiki>Artpop'</nowiki>"s lead single and reached number 4 in the US and Canada, while peaking within the top ten around the world. The second single, "Do What U Want", featuring R&B singer R. Kelly, was released as the album's second single, peaking at number 13 in America, number 9 in the UK, and number 3 in Canada. A remixed version of the song featuring American singer Christina Aguilera was released on New Year's Day, 2014. Gaga released the third single, "GUY.", in March 2014. It peaked at number 76 on the "Billboard" Hot 100.
In September 2014, Gaga released a collaborative album with jazz artist Tony Bennett titled "Cheek to Cheek". Two singles have been released, "Anything Goes" and "I Can't Give You Anything but Love".
In 2015, Gaga was supposed to be the artist to perform the first concert in space; however, this never came into fruition. She performed a tribute to British singer-actress Julie Andrews at the 2015 Academy Awards. Gaga became engaged to her boyfriend of nearly four years, actor Taylor Kinney, over the weekend of Valentine's Day, 2015. However, the couple broke up in July 2016.
Throughout that year, Gaga toured with Tony Bennett to promote "Cheek to Cheek". Gaga also starred in the FX series, "American Horror Story: Hotel".
At the end of 2015, Gaga released the single "Til It Happens to You", co-written with songwriter Diane Warren (who has written songs for Céline Dion, Cher, and Aerosmith, among others) for the documentary "The Hunting Ground", which documents sexual abuse on college campuses. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media, along with an Academy Award for Best Original Song. She performed the song at the 2016 Academy Awards with 50 sexual assault survivors.
For her role in "American Horror Story", Gaga won a Golden Globe Award.
Gaga performed the National Anthem of the United States at Super Bowl 50 on February 7, 2016.
Gaga released her fifth studio album, "Joanne", on October 21, 2016. The style of the album is very different compared to her previous music. It entered at number one on the "Billboard" 200, and it became Gaga's fourth number-one album of the 2010's decade (2010-19). She worked with producer RedOne again on "Joanne", along with artists like Mark Ronson, Beck, and country songwriter Hillary Lindsey. The album includes the singles "Perfect Illusion" and "Million Reasons". The first single reached the top twenty around the world. The second reached as high as #52 in the US when it first charted.
Gaga performed in the Super Bowl LI (51) Halftime Show on February 5, 2017, in Houston, Texas. This became the most-watched halftime show in history across all platforms (the second-most watched on television, behind Katy Perry's 2015 halftime show). After Gaga's performance, "Million Reasons" entered the "Billboard" Hot 100 again at number four, tying the record for the highest re-entry on the Hot 100. It became her 14th top-ten hit and her 10th top-five in the US. It was later certified Platinum by the RIAA.
After Beyoncé announced that she could not perform the Coachella Festival due to her expecting twins, it was revealed that Gaga would perform instead. She performed her old hits along with a new song, "The Cure", that was released the next day. It reached number one on the iTunes charts of 62 countries on the day it was released.