Lady Gaga, born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta on March 28, 1986, in New York City, is a multifaceted American artist renowned for her contributions to music, film, and activism. She gained prominence with her debut album, The Fame (2008), featuring hits like “Just Dance” and “Poker Face.” Over the years, she has evolved artistically, exploring various genres and themes, solidifying her status as a global pop icon.
In 2011, Gaga released Born This Way, an album that explored electronic rock and techno-pop and sold more than one million copies in its first week. The title track became the fastest-selling song on the iTunes Store, with over one million downloads in less than a week. Following her electronic dance music-influenced third album, Artpop (2013), she pursued jazz on the album Cheek to Cheek (2014) with Tony Bennett and delved into soft rock on the album Joanne (2016).
Gaga also ventured into acting, gaining praise for her leading roles in the miniseries American Horror Story: Hotel (2015–2016) and the films A Star Is Born (2018) and House of Gucci (2021). Her contributions to the A Star Is Born soundtrack, which spawned the chart-topping single “Shallow,” made her the first woman to win an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Grammy Award in one year. Gaga returned to dance-pop with her album Chromatica (2020), which yielded the number-one single “Rain on Me.” She reunited with Bennett for their second and final collaborative album, Love for Sale (2021), and revisited her early pop sound on the album Mayhem (2025), which contains the chart-topping single “Die with a Smile.”
