2005–07: Career beginnings

Admin Posts : 533 Join date : 06.04.2011 Age : 25

Gaga had initially signed with Def Jam Recordings at the age of 19, although she was dropped by the label after only three months.[31] Shortly after, her former management company introduced her to songwriter and producer RedOne, who they also managed.[32] The first song she produced with RedOne was "Boys Boys Boys",[32] a mash-up inspired by Mötley Crüe's "Girls, Girls, Girls" and AC/DC's "T.N.T."[33] She moved into an apartment on the Lower East Side and recorded a couple of songs with hip-hop singer Grandmaster Melle Mel for an audio book accompanying the children's book The Portal in the Park by Cricket Casey.[34] She also started the Stefani Germanotta Band with some friends from NYU. They recorded an extended play 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.[23] She began experimenting with drugs soon after, while performing at neo-burlesque shows.[20] "I was onstage in a thong, with a fringe hanging over my ass thinking that had covered it, lighting hairsprays on fire, go-go dancing to Black Sabbath and singing songs about oral sex. The kids would scream and cheer and then we’d all go grab a beer. It represented freedom to me. I went to a Catholic school but it was on the New York underground that I found myself."[29] Her father did not understand the reason behind her drug intake and could not look at her for several months.[20][33] Music producer Rob Fusari, who helped her write some of her earlier songs, compared some of her vocal harmonies to that of Freddie Mercury.[35] Fusari helped create the moniker Gaga, 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."[36] 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. [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.[33] She’s like, "Don't ever call me Stefani again."[36]The New York Post, however, has reported that this story is incorrect, and that the name resulted from a marketing meeting.[26] The same Post report speculated she may be lying about her real age, and that myths existed about the singer. The article states Fusari recalled she was originally "overweight" and undesirable.[26]
Throughout 2007, Gaga collaborated with performance artist Lady Starlight, who helped create her on-stage fashions.[37] 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."[38][39] Billed as "The Ultimate Pop Burlesque Rockshow", their act was a low-fi tribute to 1970s variety acts.[40][41] In August 2007, Gaga and Starlight were invited to play at the American Lollapalooza music festival.[42] The show was critically acclaimed, and their performance received positive reviews.[17][38] Having initially focused on avant-garde electronic dance music, Gaga found her musical niche when she began to incorporate pop melodies and the glam rock of David Bowie and Queen into her music.[43]
Fusari sent the songs he produced with Gaga to his friend, producer and record executive Vincent Herbert.[44] Herbert was quick to sign her to his label Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records, upon its establishment in 2007.[45] She credited Herbert as the man who discovered her, adding "I really feel like we made pop history, and we're gonna keep going."[44] Having already served as an apprentice songwriter under an internship at Famous Music Publishing, which was later acquired by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Gaga subsequently struck a music publishing deal with Sony/ATV.[46] As a result, she was hired to write songs for Britney Spears and labelmates New Kids on the Block, Fergie, and the Pussycat Dolls.[46] 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.[47] 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[31] and later called her his "franchise player."[48] Gaga continued her collaboration with RedOne in the recording studio for a week on her debut album[46] and also joined the roster of Cherrytree Records, an Interscope imprint established by producer and songwriter Martin Kierszenbaum, after co-writing four songs with Kierszenbaum including the single "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)".[46]

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