Lady Gaga

Suddenly she was there! In 2008, the radio suddenly made unusual sounds: "Po-Po-Po-Po-Pokerface" was heard now on every corner and from every car. It was the second single release after "Just Dance" from the debut album "The Fame" of a hitherto unknown, 22 - year – old, Italian – American woman who introduced herself as "Lady Gaga".
On March 28, 1986, a girl was born in New York City to an Internet entrepreneur and an assistant in a telecommunications company. Father Joseph and mother Cynthia called her daughter Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta and sent her to a Catholic girls' school. As a child, she began to play the piano, as a teenager she composed her own songs. At the age of 17, she began studying music at New York University's "Tisch School oft he Arts" and continued to write her own essays, writing essays and analytical works on art, religion, politics, and social issues. At 18, she moved home and earned her money as a go-go girl, as her parents did not financially support her. In the fourth semester of her studies, she left college to focus on her career. At the tender age of 19, she already got her first recording contract, which was dissolved after just three months ... Def Jam Recordings will probably still be annoyed…
In 2007, Stefani, who now calls herself Lady Gaga, teamed up with artist Lady Starlight, who created her stage outfits and performed with her as a duo. Under the name "Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue" they played in August 2007 at the American three-day "Lollapalooza" music festival in the Grant Park of Chicago.
In 2008, Lady Gaga moved to Los Angeles to complete her first album. Their debut album "The Fame" was released in August and became a worldwide success with fabulous 15 million records sold. The singles "Poker Face" and "Paparazzi" as well as the complete album cleared one prize after the other.
In 2009 Lady Gaga went on her first tour of her own: "The Fame Ball Tour". She continued to write songs and released the mini-album "The Fame Monster" in November with eight new songs. The single "Bad Romance" was downloaded over 4 million times and reached first place in 18 countries. Also popular were the singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face", which made Lady Gaga the first singer, the three singles in the USA could sell over 4 million times digitally.
Soon after, the next tour followed. The "Monster Ball Tour" lasted from late 2009 to early 2011 and included around 200 concerts! The next album was called "Born This Way" and once again Lady Gaga's prizes, honors and awards were thrown after her. One song from this album was "Hair", which she performed in the radio show of Howard Stern, among others. Only she, her voice, and her gifted fingers on the keys of the grand piano gave Howard Stern and all listeners a meter of goose bumps.
If she just sits at the piano and sings, she is almost better than when she rages across the stage in her freaky outfits. After she had finished the song, moderator Howard Stern remembered just in time, that you have to tell something on the radio. "Beautyfull! Gaga, you are terrific! "He hurried to say and that's exactly what it is. There's nothing more to tell you…
2011 was the year in which Lady Gaga set a record: she managed to be in the top 20 with four singles at the same time. As a solo artist, only Ruby Murray had done that in front of her in 1955.
After many other prizes for many more works as a singer, she was also admired as an actress from October 2015 to January 2016. In the series "American Horror Story" she played one of the leading roles as "Elizabeth Johnson" and was seen in all 12 episodes of Season 5. And here too she was awarded a Golden Globe for her performance.
The next big event, which especially Americans are looking forward to every year, was the Super Bowl 50 in February 2016. There Lady Gaga was allowed to sing the American national anthem. Later that same month, she was seen again at the 58th Grammy Awards, where she performed with a tribute to the recently deceased David Bowie.
She was back at the Super Bowl 2017. This time she created the half-time show in front of 150 million enthusiastic spectators.
In October 2018, a remake of "A Star Is Born" by and with Bradley Cooper was released. Here she was allowed to take the lead role and also wrote songs for the soundtrack. Already in September the first single was released. The song "Shallow", which she sang together with Bradley Cooper in the movie, is heard on every radio today. He was nominated for several Grammys in 2019 and even received the Academy Award for the best movie song. Even in the film itself, she convinces not only as a vocal-powerful singer, but also as a credible actress. The story of the film itself has been filmed since 1937 for the fourth time, but only the stage scene with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, in which they perform the song "Shallow" for the first time, it is worth watching the film over and over again.
If you still have not had enough and would like to see Lady Gaga live again, you can drive to Las Vegas in the near future. There she can be acclaimed in two shows: at "Enigma" she performs pop hits and at "Jazz & Piano" she plays acoustic versions of her pieces as well as jazz titles. For both shows dates have been published until May 2020.

Text: Nadja von der Hocht

Foto: Nicole Alexander [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons