Stefani Germanotta was born in New York City on March 28, 1986, the eldest child of Joseph Germanotta, an Italian American internet entrepreneur, and Cynthia Bissett. She learned to play piano from the age of four, went on to write her first piano ballad at 13 and began performing at open mike nights by age 14. At the age of 11, Germanotta attended Convent of the Sacred Heart, a private Roman Catholic school on Manhattan's Upper East Side, but has stressed that she does not come from a wealthy background, saying 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." An avid thespian in high school musicals, Germanotta portrayed lead roles as Adelaide in 'Guys and Dolls' and Philia in 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'. She described her academic life in high school as" very dedicated, very studious, very disciplined "but also" a bit insecure "as she told in an interview," I used to get made fun of for being either too provocative or too eccentric, so I started to tone it down. I didn't fit in, and I felt like a freak."Acquaintances dispute that she did not fit in school." She had a core group of friends; she was a good student. She liked boys a lot, but singing was No. 1,"recalled a former high school classmate. Referring to her" expressive, free spirit ", Gaga told 'Elle' magazine" I'm left-handed!"

At age 17, Germanotta gained early admission to the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts on August 23, 2003 and lived in a NYU dorm on 11th Street. There she studied music and improved her songwriting skills by composing essays and analytical papers focusing on topics such as art, religion, social issues and politics. Germanotta 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 withdrew from the school to focus on her musical career. Her father agreed to pay her rent for a year, on the condition that she re-enroll for Tisch if she was unsuccessful." I left my entire family, got the cheapest apartment I could find, and ate shit until somebody would listen,"she said. Shortly after, her former management company introduced her to songwriter and producer Red One, whom they also managed. The first song she produced with Red One was" Boys Boys Boys ", She also started the Stefani Germanotta Band with some friends from NYU. They recorded an EP of their ballads at a studio underneath a liquor store in New Jersey, becoming a local fixture at the downtown Lower East Side club scene. Music producer Rob Fusari, who helped her write some of her earlier songs, compared some of her vocal harmonies to that of Freddie Mercury. He explained,

{{blockquote|Every day, when Stef came to the studio, instead of saying hello, I would start singing 'Radio Ga Ga'. That was her entrance song. Lady Gaga was actually a glitch; I typed 'Radio Ga Ga' in a text and it did an autocorrect so somehow 'Radio' got changed to 'Lady'. She texted me back, "That's it." After that day, she was Lady Gaga. She's like," Don't ever call me Stefani again."The pair began playing gigs at downtown club venues like the Mercury Lounge, The Bitter End, and the Rockwood Music Hall, with their live performance art piece known as" Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue."Billed as" The Ultimate Pop Burlesque Rockshow ", their act was a low-fi tribute to 1970s variety acts. In August 2007, Gaga and Starlight were invited to play at the American Lollapalooza music festival. The show was critically acclaimed, and their performance received positive reviews.

Fusari sent the songs he produced with Gaga to his friend, producer and record executive Vincent Herbert. Herbert was quick to sign her to his label Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records, upon its establishment in 2007. She credited Herbert as the man who discovered her, adding "I really feel like we made pop history, and we're gonna keep going". While Gaga was writing at Interscope, singer-songwriter Akon recognized her vocal abilities when she sang a reference vocal for one of his tracks in studio. He then convinced Interscope-Geffen-A&M Chairman and CEO Jimmy Iovine to form a joint deal by having her also sign with his own label Kon Live Distribution Gaga continued her collaboration with Red One in the studio for a week on her debut album, The album peaked at number one in Austria, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Ireland, and the top-five in Australia and the United States. Worldwide, 'The Fame' has sold over twelve million copies. Its lead single "Just Dance", topped the charts in six countries--Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States--and later received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Dance Recording. The following single, "Poker Face", was an even greater success, reaching number-one in almost all major music markets in the world, including the United Kingdom and the United States. It won the award for Best Dance Recording at the 52nd Grammy Awards, over nominations for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. 'The Fame' was nominated for Album of the Year; it won the Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album. Although her first concert tour happened as an opening act for fellow Interscope pop group, the reformed New Kids on the Block, she ultimately headlined her own concert tour, The Fame Ball Tour, which began on March 2009.

The cover of the annual "Hot 100" issue of 'Rolling Stone' in May 2009 featured a semi-nude Gaga wearing only strategically placed plastic bubbles. She was nominated for a total of nine awards at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, winning the award for "Best New Artist", while her single "Paparazzi" won two awards for "Best Art Direction" and "Best Special Effects." In October, Gaga received 'Billboard' magazine's Rising Star of 2009 award. She attended the Human Rights Campaign's" National Dinner "the same month, before marching in the National Equality March in Washington, D.C. Gaga released 'The Fame Monster', a collection of eight songs that dealt with the darker side of fame as experienced by her over the course of 2008-2009, while travelling around the world and are expressed through a monster metaphor. Her second concert tour, The Monster Ball Tour, was announced in support of 'The Fame Monster' and began in November 2009." Bad Romance "was released as the first single from the album and topped the charts in eighteen countries, while reaching the top-two in the United States, Australia and New Zealand." Speechless ", a song from 'The Fame Monster', was performed at The 2009 Royal Variety Performance where Gaga met and sang for Queen Elizabeth II.

Gaga was chosen as of one the "10 Most Fascinating People of 2009" by Barbara Walters during Walters' annual ABC News special. When interviewed by the journalist, the singer went to dismiss the claim that she is intersex as an urban legend, responding to a question on this issue by stating: "At first it was very strange and everyone sorta said, 'That's really quite a story!' But in a sense, I portray myself in a very androgynous way, and I love androgyny." In January 2010, she was named chief creative officer for a line of imaging products for Polaroid, stating that she will create fashion, technology and photography products. The second single from 'The Fame Monster'," Telephone ", which features R&B singer Beyoncé, became her fourth UK number-one single. In March, Rob Fusari sued Gaga's production company Mermaid Music LLC, claiming that he was entitled to a 20% share of its earnings. Gaga's lawyer Charles Ortner described the agreement with Fusari as" unlawful " and declined to comment. In April, it was reported that her music videos gained over one billion viral views, becoming one of the first artists to reach this milestone. Later that month, Gaga was named one of 'Time' magazine's 100 most influential people of the year. In May, in an interview with 'The Times', Gaga hinted at having Systemic lupus erythematosus, commonly referred to as lupus, which is a connective tissue disease. In an interview with Larry King, Gaga confirmed that she does not have lupus but the results were borderline positive.

By March 2010, in an interview with MTV United Kingdom, Gaga stated that she had begun work on her new studio album and already finished writing the core theme of it. Three months later, in an interview with 'Rolling Stone', she stated that her third studio album was finished but will not be released until 2011. She said: " It came so quickly. I've been working on it for months, and I feel very strongly that it's finished right now. Some artists take years. I don't. I write music every day." She also stated that she's planning to announce the new album's title at midnight on New Year's Eve by tattooing it to her body.{{listen

Gaga has been influenced by glam rock artists such as David Bowie and Queen, as well as pop music artists such as Madonna, Britney Spears and Michael Jackson. The Queen song "Radio Ga Ga" inspired her stage name, "Lady Gaga". In response to the comparisons between herself and Madonna, Gaga stated: " I don't want to sound presumptuous, but I've made it my goal to revolutionise pop music. The last revolution was launched by Madonna 25 years ago."

Gaga's vocals have drawn frequent comparison to those of Madonna and Gwen Stefani, while the structure of her music is said to echo classic 1980s pop and 1990s Europop. While reviewing her debut album 'The Fame', 'The Sunday Times' asserted "in combining music, fashion, art and technology, Lady Ga Ga evokes Madonna, Gwen Stefani circa 'Hollaback Girl', Kylie Minogue 2001 or Grace Jones right now." Similarly, 'The Boston Globe' critic Sarah Rodman commented that she draws" obvious inspirations from Madonna to Gwen Stefani... in her girlish but sturdy pipes and bubbly beats."Though her lyrics are said to lack intellectual stimulation," she does manage to get you moving and grooving at an almost effortless pace."Music critic Simon Reynolds wrote that" Everything about Gaga came from electroclash, except the music, which wasn't particularly 1980s, just ruthlessly catchy noughties pop glazed with Auto-Tune and undergirded with R&B-ish beats.

Gaga has identified fashion as a major influence. Her love of fashion came from her mother, who she stated was "always very well kept and beautiful."'Entertainment Weekly' put her outfits on its end of the decade" best-of "list, saying," Whether it's a dress made of Muppets or strategically placed bubbles, Gaga's outré ensembles brought performance art into the mainstream."

Critical reception of Gaga's music, fashion sense and persona are mixed. Her status as a role model, trailblazer and fashion icon is by turns affirmed and denied. Gaga's albums have received mostly positive reviews, Her role as a self-esteem booster for her fans is also lauded, as is her role in breathing life into the fashion industry. Her performances are described as "highly entertaining and innovative"; in particular, the blood-spurting performance of "Paparazzi" at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards was described as "eye-popping" by MTV. She continued the "blood soaked" theme in The Monster Ball Tour, in which she wears a revealing leather corset and is "attacked" by a performer dressed in black who gnaws on her throat, causing "blood" to spurt down her chest, after which she lies "dying" in a pool of blood. Her performances of that scene in Manchester, England triggered protests from family groups and fans in the aftermath of a local tragedy, in which a taxi driver had murdered 12 people. "What happened in Bradford is very fresh in people's minds and given all the violence which happened in Cumbria just hours earlier, it was insensitive," said Lynn Costello of Mothers Against Violence. Chris Rock later defended her flamboyant, provocative behavior." Well, she's Lady Gaga,"he said." She's not 'Lady Behave Yourself.' Do you want great behavior from a person named Gaga? Is this what you were expecting?"

Gaga's treatment of her fans as "Little Monsters" has inspired additional criticism, due to the highly commercial nature of her music and image.

Contrary to her subsequent outré style, the 'New York Post' described her early look as like "a refugee from 'Jersey Shore'" with" big black hair, heavy eye makeup and tight, revealing clothes." She has another six known tattoos, among them a peace symbol, which was inspired by John Lennon whom she stated was her hero,

Toward the end of 2008, comparisons were made between the fashions of Lady Gaga and recording artist Christina Aguilera, noting similarities in their styling, hair, and make-up. Comparisons continued into 2010 when Aguilera released the music video of her single "Not Myself Tonight". Critics noted similarities between the song and its accompanying music video with Gaga's video for "Bad Romance".

Gaga attributes much of her early success as a mainstream artist to her gay fans and is considered to be a rising gay icon. Early in her career she had difficulty getting radio airplay, and stated, "The turning point for me was the gay community. I've got so many gay fans and they're so loyal to me and they really lifted me up. They'll always stand by me and I'll always stand by them. It's not an easy thing to create a fanbase." She thanked Fly Life, a Manhattan-based LGBT marketing company with whom her label Interscope works, in the liner notes of her debut studio album, 'The Fame', saying," I love you so much. You were the first heartbeat in this project, and your support and brilliance means the world to me. I will always fight for the gay community hand in hand with this incredible team."One of her first televised performances was in May 2008 at the New Now Next Awards, an awards show aired by the LGBT television network Logo, where she sang her song" Just Dance ". In June of the same year, she performed the song again at the San Francisco Pride event. After 'The Fame' was released, she revealed that the song" Poker Face "was about her bisexuality. In an interview with 'Rolling Stone', she spoke about how her boyfriends tended to react to her bisexuality, saying" The fact that I'm into women, they're all intimidated by it. It makes them uncomfortable. They're like, 'I don't need to have a threesome. I'm happy with just you'."She proclaimed that the October 11, 2009, National Equality March rally on the national mall was" the single most important event of her career."As she exited, she left with an exultant" Bless God and bless the gays,"