Trivia

Gaga's manager, without consulting her, denied permission to "Weird Al" Yankovic, when he asked for permission to parody her song "Born This Way". Gaga only discovered this when one of her close friends showed her the YouTube video of the parody Yankovic had just uploaded to his account, called "Perform This Way", after having gone viral via Twitter. Her manager forced Yankovic to go through (at his own expense) the process of writing, recording, mixing and mastering the song, all while Yankovic was on tour in Australia, prior to denying permission to him. Yankovic felt that if he had to jump through all those hoops, it should still be heard, if not on his album, then online. When Gaga finished watching the video, she personally called Yankovic, and emphatically overruled her manager. Gaga stated that she was never told he had even reached out to her, and would have given him permission on the spot. She also said she was a huge fan of his, she loved what she had heard in the video he had uploaded and felt it was "very empowering" and "a rite of passage" to be parodied by Yankovic, and to release the song on his album as he originally planned. This came just in time, since pulling the parody would have meant delaying Yankovic's album by several weeks or months. Both Gaga and Yankovic agreed to donate proceeds and royalties from the parody to the Human Rights Campaign.

She learned how to play the piano at the age of four, wrote her first piano ballad at 13, and began performing at open mic nights by the age of 14.

At seventeen, she was one of twenty people in the world to have gained early admission to the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Her stage name, Lady Gaga, is a reference to the song "Radio Ga-Ga" by Queen.

Bleached her hair blonde in light of the fact that she was being mistaken for Amy Winehouse by interviewers while trying to make it big.

Is a practitioner of Capoeira, Boxing, Jeet Kune Do, Shaolin Kung-Fu, Krav Maga & Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Lady Gaga was considered for the role of "Selina Kyle" in The Dark Knight Rises (2012).

Quit drinking and smoking marijuana, having become addicted following a hip injury in 2013.

Suffers from hair loss due to years of dyeing her hair.

Launched, with her mother Cynthia Germanotta, "Born This Way Foundation", a non-profit organization to help people, worldwide, develop a new standard of care towards one another [November 13, 2011].

Served as godmother to Zachary and Elijah, sons of Elton John and David Furnish.

Diagnosed with fibromyalgia.[Sept 2017].

Got her middle name, Joanne, after her aunt. Her aunt Joanne died of lupus at age 19.

Her song "Boys, Boys, Boys" was inspired by Mötley Crüe's hit "Girls, Girls, Girls".

On February 20, 2009, she donated tickets and a meet and greet, for any show on her Fame Ball tour, in the US or Canada, to raise money for Odyssey Charter School and elementary schools in Los Angeles affected by budget cuts.

Her second album "Born This Way" (2011) is the seventh album to sell 1 million copies in 1 week. Gaga is the 5th woman to sell 1 million album copies in a week, after Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, Norah Jones and Taylor Swift.

She has been influenced by Madonna, David Bowie, Judy Garland, Grace Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Freddie Mercury, Björk, Liza Minnelli, Yoko Ono, Britney Spears and Michael Jackson.

Her song "Telephone" was originally written for Britney Spears's sixth album Circus. However, after it failed to make the album's final track listing, Gaga recorded the song as a collaboration with 'Beyonce Knowles' for her second album, The Fame Monster.

Underwent successful hip surgery on February 20, 2013.

Her father is of Italian descent, and is the son of Giuseppe Anthony Germanotta and Angelina (Calderone). Gaga's maternal grandfather, Paul Douglas Bissett, had French, English, German, and Scottish ancestry, and her maternal grandmother, Veronica Rose (Ferrie), was of Italian descent. Her mother's family is from West Virginia.

Go-go danced in bars until her musical career took off.

Was engaged to Taylor Kinney [February 14, 2015 (Valentine's Day) - July 18, 2016].

(May 10, 2010) Made the cover of Time magazine's double issue - The 100 Most Influential People in the World - alongside Bill Clinton and Didier Drogba. In the magazine's "Artists" category (which she headed), the singer's tribute was written by Cyndi Lauper.

Her album "Born This Way" (2011) sold over 1 million copies in the first week. Amazon sold 440,000 copies of the album in its first two days at a price of 99 cents (at a loss of over $3 million). This contributed to the album's 662,000 digital sales, the highest one-week digital total of all time.

Sang "The Lady is a Tramp" with Tony Bennett on his compilation album "Duets II" (2011).

Interscope music executive Vincent Herbert hired her in January 2008 as a music writer.

Famously attended the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards (2009) with Kermit the Frog.

Went to the same school with Paris Hilton: they were classmates at Convent of the Sacred Heart.

Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt & Benjamin Rice won the 2019 Academy Award in the Best Original Song category for their work on "Shallow" from A Star Is Born (2018).

In high school, one of her nicknames was "The Germ".

Cited Tejano singer Selena's outfits (primarily her bustiers) as inspiring her choice of clothing for her concerts. According to The Daily Telegraph, Gaga was influenced by Selena's career.

Attended Sacred Heart School, a private Catholic school in New York City. Her classmates included Paris Hilton and Nicky Rothschild. Other former students include Joanna Philbin and J.J. Philbin.

Her father, Joe Germanotta, and Art Smith are co-owners of "Joanne Trattoria", a New York Italian restaurant [January 2012].

Has 14 tattoos: a peace sign on her left wrist, "Little Monsters" on her left inner bicep, a Rainer Rilke quote on her left inner bicep, the death date of her aunt Joanne on her left inner bicep, "Tokyo Love" on her left shoulder blade, a heart with "Dad" on her left shoulder blade, daises on her left shoulder blade, a treble clef on her center lower back, flowers up her left side, a unicorn with "Born This Way" on her left thigh, the word "ARTPOP" on her left forearm, an anchor on the left side of her ribcage, a cherub on the back of her head and the word "Rio" on the back of her head.

Is good friends with Deepak Chopra and has stated he is one of the most influential people in her life because of the spiritual guidance he gives her.

Studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute and the Circle In The Square Theatre School.

When she performed for Stevie Wonder at the Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life an All Star Grammy Salute (2015), she confessed that his 1976 album "Songs in the Key of Life" was the very first CD she played at age six on the family CD player.

Has a younger sister, Natali Germanotta, who once dressed as her for Halloween.

Her many hit albums have spawned multiple award-winning songs, such as 'Poker Face', 'Bad Romance', 'Born This Way' and 'Applause'.

Set to make first theatrical debut in Machete Kills. (January 2013)

Emily Blunt portrayed her on an episode of Lip Sync Battle (2015).

Has an extremely wide array of influences that include David Bowie, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Queen, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Amy Winehouse, Pink Floyd, Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Andy Warhol, Deepak Chopra, Scissor Sisters, Grace Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Blondie, Prince, Marilyn Manson, Yoko Ono, Britney Spears, Cher, Klaus Nomi, Donatella Versace, Leigh Bowery, Isabella Blow and Osho.

Her parents are Joe Germanotta (Joseph Germanotta), an Internet entrepreneur, and Cynthia Germanotta (nee Bissett), a telecommunications assistant.

In a 2011 Billboard poll, Gaga was voted as having the Best Fashion for 2011 and was also voted as the Most Overrated artist of 2011. Her song "Born This Way" was voted as the 3rd Favorite Hot 100 No. 1 (16% of all votes), behind "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele (32% of all votes) and "Hold it Against Me" by Britney Spears (31% of all votes). Gaga's album "Born This Way" was also voted as the 3rd Favorite No. 1 album for 2011 (17% of votes), behind "21" by 'Adele' (35% of votes) and "Femme Fatale" by Britney Spears (33% of votes).

Was a classmate with Paris Hilton at Convent of the Sacred Heart.

Named the new face of "Polaroid". (January 2010)

Ended her 2-year world tour early due to injury; is now recovering and focusing on her second studio album, ARTPOP (February 2012)

[November 14, 2011] Fired her longtime creative director and choreographer, Laurieann Gibson.

Went through a phase of showing up in her videos with two great Danes. She took that idea directly from late episodes of TV show Bewitched (1964), where Queen Epsibah shows up with two great Danes on either side of her throne, at Samantha's house.

Voted #18 on Ask men's top 99 'most desirable' women of 2012 list.