Lady Gaga, born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, grew up in New York City in an Italian American family. She was introduced to music very early on, and after attending the all-girls school Convent of the Sacred Heart in Manhattan, she studied at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University for two years before dropping out to take a different path for her career.

She took on the persona of Lady Gaga — inspired by Queen’s “Radio Ga Ga” song, and in 2007, she and performance artist Lady Starlight formed the Ultimate Pop Burlesque Rockshow revue. Gaga wrote songs for pop artists like Fergie, the Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears and more. She was signed by singer Akon and Interscope Records. She released her first album, The Fame, which featured hits like “Poker Face,” “Just Dance,” “Paparazzi, “ “LoveGame” and more in 2008. “Just Dance” was her first single, and The Fame gained Gaga five Grammy nominations. She won two awards for Best Dance Recording for “Poker Face” and Best Electronic/Dance Album for “The Fame.” She opened the 2010 Grammys ceremony duetting with Sir Elton John, and she won three Brit Awards in 2010 for Best International Female, Best Album and Breakthrough Act.

Gaga’s second album, originally a bonus disc, “The Fame Monster” was released in November 2009. “Bad Romance” was the first big hit of The Fame Monster, and “Telephone (feat. Beyoncé)” followed with “Alejandro.” By 2010, Gaga had been named one of Time magazine’s most influential people. She was also named Billboard magazine’s Artist of the Year. She arrived at the 2011 Grammy Awards in a giant egg, where she won Grammys for Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Pop Vocal Performance and Best Short Form Video.

Her third album, Born This Way (2011) featured a title track that became an anthem for the LGBTQ+ community. The album also contained “Judas,” which became another hit. She released Artpop in 2013 with lead single “Applause.” The following year, she released a collection of standard jazz songs, Cheek to Cheek, which she sang with Tony Bennett. The project won a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. They worked together again on Love for Sale (2021) which also won that Grammy award.

Gaga’s last two albums were Joanne (2016), which came out ahead of her Gaga: Five Foot Two documentary. She performed at the Super Bowl halftime show in 2017, and then she went on to contribute to the soundtrack for A Star Is Born (2018), the fourth remake of the film in which she starred alongside Bradley Cooper. She was nominated for an Oscar for Lead Actress in the role of Ally, and she won two Grammy Awards and an Oscar for the ballad for best original song. Before this film, she had appeared in Machete Kills (2013) and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014). She also appeared in Ryan Murphy's American Horror Story series. She played Patrizia Reggiani in Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci (2021) and Harley Quinn in Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie À Deux (2024). She released Harlequin, a companion album to her work on the Joker (2019) sequel. Her most recent album before that was 2020's Chromatica.

Lady Gaga is engaged to Michael Polansky, and she previously dated and was engaged to Taylor Kinney and Christian Carino.