previous            A–Z            next        Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta Pseudonyms:        Jo Caderone        Lady Gaga        Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (1986), better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, businesswoman, fashion designer, philanthropist, and actress. Influenced by David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Queen, Gaga is recognized for her flamboyant, diverse, and outré contributions to the music industry through her fashion, performances, and music videos.        'The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again' by Andy Warhol has been noted for shaping Gaga's approach to celebrity. Warhol advised that enigmatic blankness generates an allure that could serve as the basis of fame. Some identify the mystery surrounding the ‘Gaga’ identity as a similar strategy.        Lady Gaga previously was the front woman of the SGBand, during one of their gigs in June 2006 musician Wendy Starland appeared as a talent scout for music producer Rob Fusari. Starland informed Fusari – who was searching for a female singer to front a new band – of Gaga's ability and contacted her. With SGBand disbanded, Gaga travelled daily to New Jersey to work on songs she had written and to compose new material with the music producer. While in collaboration, Fusari compared some of her vocal harmonies to those of Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen. Fusari claims to have created the ‘Lady Gaga’ moniker after the Queen song ‘Radio Ga Ga.’ Gaga was in the process of trying to come up with a stage name when she received a text message from Fusari that read ‘Lady Gaga.’ He explained: ‘Every day, when Stef came to the studio, instead of saying hello, I would start singing 'Radio Ga Ga.’ That was her entrance song’ and that the text message was the result of a predictive text glitch that changed ‘radio’ to ‘lady.’ She texted back, ‘That's it,’ and declared, ‘Don't ever call me Stefani again.’ Germanotta explains that the Queen song ‘Radio Ga Ga’ inspired her stage name: ‘I adored Freddie Mercury and Queen had a hit called 'Radio Gaga'. That's why I love the name [...] Freddie was unique—one of the biggest personalities in the whole of pop music,’ she commented.        Gaga also has a male alter ego, Jo Caderone, she appeared as him at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards.        She has consecutively appeared on the Billboard magazine's Artists of the Year (scoring the definitive title in 2010). See also David Bowie and Michael Jackson. Source: ‘Lady Gaga’, Wikipedia, retrieved 13 May 2014 previous            A–Z            next