But how did the Grammy-nominated singer go from brunette Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta to preconception defying, flashy dressing, platinum blonde superstar Lady Gaga?
Germanotta was born in Yonkers, New York, where she attended a private Catholic girls school, wrote her first piano ballad at age 13, and then won early entrance into New York's prestigious Tisch school for the performing arts.
But Germanotta needed to strike out on her own to become Lady Gaga. She ditched school and threw herself into New York's Lower East Side music scene as a naive, convent-educated teenager.
"I went against all I was brought up to be; I moved out of home, wouldn't take any help from my parents [her internet entrepreneur dad and his business partner wife], and supported myself with waitressing jobs and stripping," she said. "I discovered a real personal freedom through it."
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