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Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), better
known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American pop
singer-songwriter. She began performing in the rock music scene of
New York City's Lower East Side in 2003 and enrolled at New York
University's Tisch School of the Arts. She soon signed with
Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records. During her
early time at Interscope, she worked as a songwriter for fellow label
artists and captured the attention of Akon, who recognized her vocal
abilities, and signed her to his own label, Kon Live Distribution.
Gaga came to prominence following the release of her debut studio
album The Fame (2008), which was a commercial success and
achieved international popularity with the singles "Just Dance" and
"Poker Face". The album reached number one on the record charts of
six countries, accomplished positions within the top-ten worldwide,
and topped the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart while
simultaneously peaking at number two on the Billboard 200 chart in
the United States. Achieving similar worldwide success, the follow-up
EP The Fame Monster (2009) produced a further two global charttopping singles "Bad Romance" and "Telephone" and allowed her to
embark on a second global headlining concert tour, The Monster Ball
Tour, just months after having finished her first, The Fame Ball Tour.
Her second studio album, Born This Way, is scheduled for release in 2011.
Inspired by glam rock artists like David Bowie and Queen, as well as pop singers such as Madonna and Michael Jackson,
Gaga is well-recognized for her outré sense of style as a recording artist, in fashion, in performance and in her music
videos. Her contributions to the music industry have garnered her numerous achievements including two Grammy
Awards, amongst twelve nominations; two Guinness World Records; and the estimated sale of fifteen million albums and
fifty-one million singles worldwide. Billboard named her as the Artist of the Year in 2010 and ranked her as the 73rd Artist
of the 2000s decade. Gaga has been included in Time magazine's annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in
the world as well as Forbes' list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential celebrities in the world. Forbes also placed her at
number seven on their annual list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women.
History
1986–2004: Early Life
Lady Gaga was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, to an Italian American family, in New York City on March 28,
1986, the eldest child of Joseph Germanotta, an internet entrepreneur, and Cynthia (née 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. Gaga was raised a Roman Catholic. At the age of 11, Gaga attended Convent of the Sacred Heart, a private all-girls
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, Gaga 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
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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, Gaga gained early admission to the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts 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. Gaga wrote an 80-page thesis on pop artists Spencer
Tunick and Damien Hirst; research that prepared her for her future career focus in "music, art, sex and celebrity." Gaga
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.
2005–2007: Career Beginnings
Gaga had initially signed with Def Jam Recordings at the age of 19, although she was dropped by the label after only
three months. Shortly after, her former management company introduced her to songwriter and producer RedOne, who
they also managed. The first song she produced with RedOne was "Boys Boys Boys", a mash-up inspired by Mötley
Crüe's "Girls, Girls, Girls" and AC/DC's "T.N.T." 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. 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. She began experimenting with drugs soon after, while performing at neoburlesque shows. "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." Her father did not understand the reason behind her drug intake and could not look at
her for several months. Music producer Rob Fusari, who helped her write some of her earlier songs, compared some of
her vocal harmonies to that of Freddie Mercury. 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." 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. She’s like, "Don't ever call me Stefani again."
The New York Post, however, has reported that this story is incorrect, and that the name resulted from a marketing
meeting. Throughout 2007, Gaga collaborated with performance artist Lady Starlight, who helped create her on-stage
fashions. 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 Rock show", 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. 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.
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. 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. As a
result, she was hired to write songs for Britney Spears and label mates New Kids on the Block, Fergie, and the Pussycat
Dolls. 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 and later called her his
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"franchise player." Gaga continued her collaboration with RedOne in the recording studio for a week on her debut album
and also joined the roster of Cherry tree 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)".
2008–2010: The Fame and The Fame Monster
By 2008, Gaga had relocated to Los Angeles, working closely with her record label to finalize her debut album The Fame.
She combined different genres on the album, "from Def Leppard drums and hand claps to metal drums on urban tracks."
The Fame received positive reviews from contemporary critics; according to the music review aggregation of Metacritic, it
garnered an average score of 71/100. The album peaked at number one in United Kingdom, Canada, Austria, Germany,
Switzerland and Ireland, and the top-five in Australia, the United States and fifteen other countries. Worldwide, The Fame
has sold over fourteen 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 worldwide concert tour, The Fame Ball Tour, which was critically appreciated and began in
March 2009; culminating in September of that year. 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. In the issue, she said that while she was
beginning her career in the New York club scene, she was romantically involved with a heavy metal drummer. She
described their relationship and break-up, saying of it, "I was his Sandy, and he was my Danny [of Grease], and I just
broke." He later became an inspiration behind some of the songs on The Fame. 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 for the equal protection of LGBT people in all matters governed by US civil law in Washington,
D.C.
Written over the course of 2008–09, The Fame Monster, a collection of eight songs, was released in November 2009.
Each song, dealing with the darker side of fame from personal experience while she travelled the world, is expressed
through a monster metaphor. Its first single "Bad Romance" topped the charts in eighteen countries, while reaching the
top-two in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. In the US, Gaga became the first artist in digital history to have
three singles (along with "Just Dance" and "Poker Face") to pass the four million mark in digital sales. The song received
a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance while its accompanying music video was nominated for
Best Short Form Music Video. The album's second single "Telephone", which features singer Beyoncé, was nominated for
the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and became Gaga's fourth UK number-one single while its
accompanying music video, although controversial, was met mostly positive reception from contemporary critics: praising
her for "the musicality and showmanship of Michael Jackson and the powerful sexuality and provocative instincts of
Madonna." Her following single "Alejandro" paired Gaga with fashion photographer Steven Klein for a music video
similarly as controversial – critics complimented its idea and dark nature, but the Catholic League attacked Gaga for her
use of blasphemy. Despite the controversy surrounding her music videos, they made Gaga the first artist to gain over one
billion viral views on video-sharing website YouTube.[66] Musically, The Fame Monster has also received abundant
success. Equating to the amount of Grammy nominations her debut received, The Fame Monster garnered a total of six –
among them Best Pop Vocal Album and her second-consecutive nomination for Album of the Year. The success of the
album allowed Gaga to embark on her second headlining worldwide concert tour, The Monster Ball Tour, just weeks after
the release of The Fame Monster and months after having finished her first.[68] Upon finishing in May 2011, the critically
acclaimed and commercially accomplished concert tour will have ran for over one and a half years. Additionally, Gaga has
performed other songs from the album at international events like the 2009 Royal Variety Performance where she sang
"Speechless", a power ballad, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II; the 52nd Grammy Awards where her opening
performance consisted of the song "Poker Face" and a piano duet of "Speechless" in a medley of "Your Song" with Elton
John; and the 2010 BRIT Awards where a performance of an acoustic rendition of "Telephone" followed by "Dance in the
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Dark" dedicated to the late fashion designer and close friend, Alexander McQueen, supplemented her hat-trick win at the
awards ceremony.
Barbara Walters chose Gaga as one the "10 Most Fascinating People of 2009" for her annual ABC News special. When
interviewed by the journalist, Gaga dismissed the claim that she is intersex as an urban legend. Responding to a question
on this issue, she stated, "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." Excited about bringing back Polaroid and "combining it
with the digital era", Gaga was named Chief Creative Officer for a line of imaging products for the international optic
company in January 2010 with the intent of creating fashion, technology and photography products. Her production team,
Mermaid Music LLC, was sued in March by Rob Fusari; 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, however,
five months later, the New York Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit. In April, Gaga was named one of Time magazine's
100 most influential people of the year. While giving an interview to The Times, Gaga hinted at having Systemic lupus
erythematosus, commonly referred to as lupus, which is a connective tissue disease. She later confirmed with Larry King
that she does not have lupus but "the results were borderline positive".
2011–Present: Born This Way
Gaga's second studio album and third major release Born This Way, whose title was announced during her acceptance
speech for Video of the Year at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, will be released on May 23, 2011. Its arrival will follow
the release of its lead single on February 11, 2011. The previous date for the single release of February 13, 2011, was
tweeted by Gaga at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day, 2011. Described as "a marriage of electronic music with
major metal or rock 'n' roll, pop, anthemic style melodies with really sledge-hammering dance beats", Born This Way will
be Gaga's third release in three years. She stated, "It came so quickly. I've been working on [the album] 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." With two tracks
already confirmed by Gaga – one she has been performing during The Monster Ball Tour,[88] she has referred to the
album as "the greatest" of the decade about "what keeps us up at night and what makes us afraid." Likening Born This
Way to "bad kids going to church" that are "having fun on a high level",[90] Gaga characterized her new music as
"something so much deeper than a wig or lipstick or a fucking meat dress" and upon hearing it, Akon remarked that she
will take music to the "next level."
Lending her vocals elsewhere, Gaga also paired with Elton John to record an original duet for the forthcoming animated
feature film Gnomeo and Juliet. The song, titled "Hello, Hello", is scheduled for release in February 2011, without Gaga's
vocals. The duet version will only be featured in the film.
Musical style and influences
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".
She commented: "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." 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 revolutionize pop music.
The last revolution was launched by Madonna 25 years ago." Actress and singer Grace Jones was also cited as an
inspiration, along with Blondie singer Debbie Harry.
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 GaGa 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
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music, which wasn't particularly 1980s, just ruthlessly catchy naughties pop glazed with Auto-Tune and undergirded with
R&B-ish beats.
Gaga has identified fashion as a major influence. She considers Donatella Versace her muse. Gaga has her own creative
production team called the Haus of Gaga, which she handles personally. The team creates many of her clothes, stage
props, and hairdos. Her love of fashion came from her mother, who she stated was "always very well kept and beautiful."
"When I'm writing music, I'm thinking about the clothes I want to wear on stage. It's all about everything altogether—
performance art, pop performance art, fashion. For me, it's everything coming together and being a real story that will
bring back the super-fan. I want to bring that back. I want the imagery to be so strong that fans will want to eat and taste
and lick every part of us." The Global Language Monitor named "Lady Gaga" as the Top Fashion Buzzword with her
trademark "no pants" coming in at No. 3. 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."
Public Image
Gaga, well-recognized for her unconventionality, during a "blood soaked" performance on The Monster Ball Tour
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, with critics pointing
out her unique place in pop music, the need for new movements in popular culture, the attention Gaga brings to important
social issues, and the inherently subjective nature of her art. 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
wore 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?" She later returned
to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards wearing a dress which was supplemented by boots, a purse and a hat—each
fabricated from the flesh of a dead animal. The dress, named Time magazine's Fashion Statement of 2010 and more
widely known as the "meat dress", was made by Argentinian designer Franc Fernandez and received divided opinions—
evoking the attention of worldwide media but invoking the fury of animal rights organization PETA. Gaga, however, later
denied any intention of causing disrespect to any person or organization and wished for the dress to be interpreted as a
statement of human rights with focus upon those in the LGBT community.
Contrary to her 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." Gaga is a natural brunette; she bleached her hair blonde
because she was often mistaken for Amy Winehouse. She often refers to her fans as her "little monsters" and in
dedication; she had that inscription tattooed on "the arm that holds [her] microphone." She has another six known tattoos,
among them a peace symbol, which was inspired by John Lennon whom she stated was her hero, and a curling German
script on her left arm which quotes the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, her favorite philosopher, commenting that his "philosophy
of solitude" spoke to her. Towards the end of 2008, comparisons were made between the fashions of Gaga and fellow
recording artist Christina Aguilera that noted similarities in their styling, hair, and make-up. Aguilera stated that she was
"completely unaware of [Gaga]" and "didn't know if it [was] a man or a woman." Gaga released a statement in which she
welcomed the comparisons due to the attention providing useful publicity, saying, "She's such a huge star and if anything I
should send her flowers, because a lot of people in America didn't know who I was until that whole thing happened. It
really put me on the map in a way." 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
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video for "Bad Romance". There have also been similar comparisons made between Gaga's style and that of fashion icon
Dale Bozzio from the band Missing Persons. Some have considered their respective images to be strikingly parallel
although fans of Missing Persons note that Bozzio had pioneered the look more than thirty years earlier.
Gaga's treatment of her fans as "Little Monsters" has inspired criticism, due to the highly commercial nature of her music
and image. To some, this dichotomy contravenes the concept of outsider culture. Writing for The Guardian, Kitty Empire
opined that the dichotomy "...allows the viewer to have a 'transgressive' experience without being required to think. At [her
performance's] core, though, is the idea that Gaga is at one with the freaks and outcasts. The Monster Ball is where we
can all be free. This is arrant nonsense, as the scads of people buying Gaga's cunningly commercial music are not limited
to the niche worlds of drag queens and hip night creatures from which she draws her inspiration. But Gaga seems
sincere." Camille Paglia wrote a cover story "Lady Gaga and the death of sex" on September 12, 2010, in The Sunday
Times in which she asserts that Gaga "is more an identity thief than an erotic taboo breaker, a mainstream manufactured
product who claims to be singing for the freaks, the rebellious and the dispossessed when she is none of those."
Gaga's influence on modern culture and society has provoked the University of South Carolina into offering a full-time
course titled "Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame" in the objective of unraveling "the sociologically relevant dimensions
of the fame of Lady Gaga with respect to her music, videos, fashion, and other artistic endeavors".
Philanthropy
Besides her career in music, Gaga has enhanced her repertoire as a philanthropist who has contributed to various
charities and humanitarianism works.
Although declining an invitation to record a benefit song, Gaga held a concert of The Monster Ball Tour following the 2010
Haiti earthquake and dedicated it to the country’s reconstruction relief fund. This concert, held at the Radio City Music
Hall, New York, on January 24, 2010, donated any received revenue to the relief fund while, in addition, all profits from
sales of products on Gaga’s official online store on that same day were donated. Gaga announced that an estimated total
of $500,000 was collected for the fund.
Gaga also contributes in the fight against HIV and AIDS with the focus upon educating young women about the risks of
the disease. In collaboration with Cyndi Lauper, Gaga joined forces with MAC Cosmetics to launch a line of lipstick under
their supplementary cosmetic line, Viva Glam. Titled Viva Glam Gaga and Viva Glam Cyndi for each contributor
respectively, all net proceeds of the lipstick line were donated to the cosmetic company’s campaign to prevent HIV and
AIDS worldwide. In a press release, Gaga declared, "I don't want Viva Glam to be just a lipstick you buy to help a cause. I
want it to be a reminder when you go out at night to put a condom in your purse right next to your lipstick."
As a Gay Icon
Gaga delivers a speech at the National Equality March, October 11, 2009
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 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 NewNowNext 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.
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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'." When she appeared as a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in May 2009, she praised
DeGeneres for being "an inspiration for women and for the gay community". 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," similar to her 2009 MTV Video Music Awards acceptance speech for
Best New Artist a month earlier. At the rally, she performed a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" declaring that "I'm not
going to [play] one of my songs tonight because tonight is not about me, it's about you." She changed the original lyrics of
the song to reflect the death of Matthew Shepard, a college student murdered because of his sexuality.
Gaga attended the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards accompanied by four service members of the United States Armed
Forces: Mike Almy; David Hall; Katie Miller and Stacy Vasquez. All of whom, under the US military's "Don't ask, don't tell"
(DADT) policy, had been prohibited from serving openly because of their sexuality. In addition, Gaga wore a dress
fabricated from the flesh of a dead animal to the awards ceremony. Gaga wished that the dress, more widely known as
the "meat dress", was interpreted as a statement of human rights with focus upon those in the LGBT community adding
that "If we don't stand up for what we believe in and if we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as
much rights as the meat on our own bones." She later released three YouTube videos urging her fans to contact their
Senators in an effort to overturn the policy. On September 20, 2010, she spoke at the Service members Legal Defense
Network's "4the14K" Rally in Deering Oaks Park in Portland, Maine. The name of the rally signified the number – an
estimated 14,000 – of service members discharged under the DADT policy at the time. During her remarks, she urged
members of the US Senate (and in particular, moderate Republican Senators from Maine, Olympia Snowe and Susan
Collins) to vote in favor of legislation that would repeal the DADT policy. Following this event, editors of The Advocate
commented that she had become "the real fierce advocate" for gays and lesbians. ~ by Wikpedia