When Lady Gaga first appeared on our radar, she was regarded as a flamboyant young woman with show-stopping ensembles that would shame even seasoned performers or drag queens. With her bow tie hair, fire-shooting brassiere, and theatrical music performances, Hollywood knew that her name will forever be chanted by crowds for decades to come.
Lady Gaga's rise to world-superstardom has been all-conquering. Growing up in a strict Catholic household in the Upper Westside of Manhattan, New York, the musician was inspired by a wave of avant-garde artists from the '60s and '70s. In school, Gaga was the laughingstock of photofit, posh Upper Eastside students. "I'm eccentric and talkative and audacious and theatrical, and I used to get picked on. I got thrown in a trash can on a street corner once by some boys who were hanging out with girls in my class. [I felt] worthless. Embarrassed. Mortified. I was 14. Three boys put me in it. The girls were laughing when they did it," she shared in an interview.
The series of non-stop bullying did not stop Gaga from setting her goals and immersing herself in the field of arts. At 11, she started taking vocal lessons from Don Lawrence, Christina Aguilera's music coach and attended classical piano and acting classes.
Gaga had moved to the Lower East Side when she was just nineteen to dance in dive bar burlesque shows. "I was on stage with a thong, lighting hairsprays on fire, and go-go dancing to Black Sabbath," she disclosed.
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In 2008, the budding New York star was introduced to Interscope Records as a songwriter. Here, she composed hits for famous artists such as New Kids on the Block, Pussycat Dolls, Fergie, and Britney Spears.
In the studio, while singing a referenced vocal for a song she had written earlier, Gaga caught the attention of R&B star Akon. The latter immediately signed the performer to his label and within the year, Gaga released her first critically acclaimed album The Fame.
The tracks in this album included her hit records Just Dance, Love Game, Paparazzi, and Poker Face. The Fame went on to sell more than four million units and the rest, they say, is history.
For this write-up, Tatler lists some of the most captivating career highlights of the music and fashion icon we know and love today.
