1986–present
Lady Gaga Now: Musician Responds to Bomb Threat Against Concert
On May 3, Lady Gaga performed the biggest concert of her career—a free show at Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach—only to later learn it was the target of an alleged bomb threat. Dubbed Mayhem on the Beach, the concert attracted an estimated 2.1 million people, breaking the record for the highest attended concert by a female artist once held by Madonna.
Hours before the performance, Brazilian police arrested two suspects in connection with a plot to detonate a bomb at the pop star’s show. According to Brazilian authorities, the suspects were part of a larger extremist group aiming to recruit teenagers to attack the LGBTQ community. Gaga, herself, is bisexual and has a large LGBTQ fan base.
A spokesperson for the 39-year-old later revealed that she only learned about the alleged bomb plot through “media reports” the next morning. “Prior to and during the show, there were no known safety concerns, nor any communication from the police or authorities to Lady Gaga regarding any potential risks,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Despite the threat, the singer chose to focus on the positives in an Instagram post on May 4. “Nothing could prepare me for the feeling I had during last night’s show—the absolute pride and joy I felt singing for the people of Brazil,” Gaga wrote. “The sight of the crowd during my opening songs took my breath away. Your heart shines so bright, your culture is so vibrant and special, I hope you know how grateful I am to have shared this historical moment with you.”
Gaga’s official Mayhem Ball Tour begins in July.
Who Is Lady Gaga?
International pop star Lady Gaga is a Grammy-winning musician known for the songs “Born This Way,” “Just Dance,” “Shallow,” and “Die With a Smile.” She is also a respected actor with notable roles in the TV show American Horror Story and in the 2018 movie A Star Is Born, which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. The New York City native, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, skyrocketed to success following her 2008 debut album, The Fame, and has collected 14 Grammy Awards and an Oscar for her music. Twice named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People, the certified double-threat released her newest album, Mayhem, in March 2025.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta
BORN: March 28, 1986
BIRTHPLACE: New York, New York
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Aries
Early Life
Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, was born on March 28, 1986, in New York City to Cynthia and Joseph Germanotta. She has a younger sister named Natali.
Stefani learned to play the piano by age 4. When she was 11 years old, she was accepted to the Juilliard School in Manhattan but instead attended a private Catholic school elsewhere in New York City. She continued studying music and performing, wrote her first piano ballad at age 13, and held her first performance in a New York nightclub as a 14-year-old.
A few years later, Stefani was granted early admission to New York University’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts—she was one of only 20 students in the world to receive the honor of early acceptance that year. While there, she studied music and worked on her songwriting skills. She later withdrew from school to find creative inspiration. To make ends meet, she took three jobs, including a stint as a go-go dancer, while she honed her performance art.
Music Career
In 2005, Germanotta was briefly signed by Def Jam Records but was dropped just months later. The experience propelled the teenage singer to perform on her own in clubs and venues on New York City’s Lower East Side. There, she collaborated with several rock bands and began her experimentation with fashion.
At age 20, Germanotta began working as an intern at Interscope Records, where she wrote songs for artists like Britney Spears, New Kids on the Block, and The Pussycat Dolls. A year later, in 2007, R&B musician Akon signed her to Kon Live, a label under the Interscope umbrella, after seeing her perform at her burlesque show “Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue.” It was then that she adopted her stage name, Lady Gaga, which was inspired by the Queen song “Radio Ga-Ga.”
In August 2008, Gaga released her debut studio album, The Fame. The record received positive reviews and was successful in the United States. With the help of her own creative team, dubbed Haus of Gaga, the performer also began to make a name for herself internationally. It wasn’t long before she began earning accolades for her music.
In 2010, Gaga won her first two Grammy Awards for The Fame and her single “Poker Face.” Following the release of her 2009 EP The Fame Monster, considered a second volume of her debut album, she earned three more Grammys: one for the EP and two for the track “Bad Romance” and its corresponding music video. In total, the singer has earned 14 Grammys in her 17 years as a pop star. She has been nominated for Album of the Year and Song of the Year four times each but has yet to win either of these coveted Grammy honors.
Known for her theatrics and unique fashion, Gaga has put on more than a few stellar performances in her career. In addition to touring, she performed the national anthem at Super Bowl 50 in 2016. The following year, she returned to headline the Super Bowl LI halftime show. Her powerhouse performance began on the roof of NRG Stadium in Houston as she sang parts of “God Bless America” and “This Land is Your Land” before diving to the stage with the help of suspension wires. Gaga’s halftime show featured a medley of her hits, including “Edge of Glory,” “Bad Romance,” “Poker Face,” “Born This Way,” “Telephone,” “Just Dance,” as well as “Million Reasons.”
In February 2016, a red-wigged Gaga performed a David Bowie tribute medley with guitarist Nile Rodgers at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, one month after Bowie’s death. The same month, she sang “Til It Happens to You” at the 88th Annual Academy Awards. Gaga co-wrote and performed the song, which was up for the Best Original Song Oscar, for the 2015 documentary The Hunting Ground about rape on college campuses. Assault survivors were brought to the stage toward the end of the performance, which earned a standing ovation. The song ultimately lost out on the award, but Gaga has since received two additional nominations in the category and won the trophy with A Star Is Born’s “Shallow” in February 2019.
By that point, Gaga was already several shows into her Las Vegas residency, which began in December 2018, at MGM Resorts’ Park Theater. The acclaimed singer-songwriter actually performed two separate shows over 39 dates: Lady Gaga Enigma, a collection of her most popular songs, and Lady Gaga Jazz & Piano, which features stripped-down versions of her greatest hits as well as selections from the Great American Songbook. Although Gaga is best known as a pop star, she is also a celebrated jazz singer and released two jazz albums with the late crooner Tony Bennett. She revived her Jazz & Piano residency from June to July 2024 at the Dolby Live Theater inside Park MGM.
Just weeks after her short residency, Gaga opened the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics in July, singing Zizi Jeanmaire’s “Mon Truc En Plume” while surrounded by women holding pink feathered pom poms. “I hope you love this performance as much as I do,” Gaga wrote in an Instagram post. “And to everyone in France, thank you so much for welcoming me to your country to sing in honor of you—it’s a gift I’ll never forget!” Days later, it was revealed her performance was prerecorded due to safety concerns regarding the weather. The opening ceremony took place amid rain.
Her popularity continuing to prove strong, Gaga set a new record for the most monthly Spotify listeners among female artists in February 2025. She only trails Bruno Mars and The Weeknd. Three months later, the “Joanne” singer notched another feat by besting Madonna’s record of largest concert audience for a female musician. An estimated 2.1 million people attended Gaga’s free show at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro in early May.
Hit Songs
Since the release of her first single, “Just Dance,” in 2008, Lady Gaga has produced hit after hit. The pop star has had an impressive 46 songs make it onto the Billboard Hot 100, including six No. 1 hits and 18 songs in the top 10. The Grammy-nominated “Just Dance” spent three weeks at No. 1 in January 2009, while the No. 1 hit “Poker Face” delivered Gaga her first Grammy win in 2010 for Best Dance Recording. “Born This Way” debuted atop the Hot 100 in February 2011 and stayed there for six weeks. Rounding out her chart-toppers are three duets: “Shallow” with actor Bradley Cooper for the 2018 movie A Star Is Born, 2020’s “Rain on Me” with Ariana Grande, and 2024’s “Die With A Smile” with Bruno Mars. The songs earned Gaga four more Grammys.
Some of Gaga’s other hit songs include “Bad Romance,” “Telephone (feat. Beyoncé),” “You and I,” “Million Reasons,” “Paparazzi,” “Joanne,” and most recently, “Abracadabra.” Although she has never won, Gaga has competed multiple times for the top Grammy Awards of Song and Record of the Year. Her four contenders for Song of the Year were “Poker Face”; “Shallow”; “Always Remember Us This Way,” another hit from A Star Is Born; and “Die With A Smile.” “Shallow” was also in the running for Record of the Year as was “Poker Face” and Gaga’s 2021 duet with Tony Bennett on the Cole Porter song “I Get a Kick Out of You.”
Albums
Lady Gaga’s first studio album, The Fame, was released to much success in August 2008. Within a year, it sold the equivalent of 1 million copies and is now a multiplatinum-certified record. In November of the following year, the pop star dropped her EP, The Fame Monster, which was considered a second part to her debut album. Both records won Grammys and were nominated in the prestigious Album of the Year category.
Since then, Gaga has released six more studio albums and two collaborative records with Tony Bennett. In 2024, she released Harlequin, a companion album to the Joker movie sequel she starred in. Her latest album, Mayhem, dropped March 7, 2025.
Beyond her own music, Gaga has also contributed to several movie soundtracks, most prominently for A Star Is Born (2018). The album heavily features Gaga and her co-star Bradley Cooper. Their duet “Shallow,” one of 12 songs the pop star co-wrote for the soundtrack, became a commercial and critical smash. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100, won two Grammy Awards, and earned the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Original Song. Other hit tracks were “Always Remember Us This Way” and the Grammy-winning tune “I’ll Never Love Again.” In 2020, the album won the Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media.
Gaga’s additional soundtrack work can be found in support of the 2015 documentary The Hunting Ground, the 2022 blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick, and 2024’s Joker: Folie à Deux. She earned Grammy and Academy Award nominations for her contributions to The Hunting Ground and Top Gun 2.
Movies and TV Shows
With her music career firmly established, Lady Gaga began breaking into the acting scene in the early 2010s. She made a brief cameo appearance as an alien in Men in Black 3 before her true debut in the 2013 action-comedy Machete Kills. She portrayed La Camaleón, an assassin tasked with taking down the title character, Machete, played by Danny Trejo. The following year, she played Bertha in the action-crime film Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.
American Horror Story
Beginning in fall 2015, Gaga showed her talent as an actor once again in American Horror Story: Hotel. She starred as the bloodsucking Countess and earned a Golden Globe for her performance in the anthology series’ fifth season. “I wanted to be an actress before I wanted to be a singer, but music worked out first,” a visibly stunned and emotional Gaga said during her acceptance speech.
Gaga returned to the show for its sixth season in 2016. She played an immortal witch in American Horror Story: Roanoke.
Gaga: Five Foot Two Documentary
In 2017, the singer released a documentary Gaga: Five Foot Two, on Netflix. The project chronicled the production of her studio album Joanne as well as prep for her Super Bowl halftime performance. The film was named Best Music Documentary at the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards.
A Star Is Born
Gaga found herself back on the big screen as she and Bradley Cooper starred in the 2018 remake of A Star Is Born. Her iconic character Ally was a role previously inhabited by Janet Gaynor, Judy Garland, and Barbra Streisand. The film gained wide critical acclaim and grossed an impressive $436 million worldwide in ticket sales. Gaga earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and nabbed Golden Globe, Grammy, and Oscar wins for her duet with Cooper in the movie’s song “Shallow.”
The chemistry between Gaga and Cooper both on- and off-screen was undeniable, sparking speculation that the two were secretly dating. The certified double-threat squashed the rumors on Jimmy Kimmel Live in February 2019. “People saw love, and guess what? That’s what we wanted you to see,” she said. “When you’re singing love songs, that’s what you want people to feel... I’m an artist, and I guess we did a good job and fooled ya.”
House of Gucci
In 2021, Gaga starred in the biographical crime drama House of Gucci. She portrayed Patrizia Reggiani, who hired a hitman to kill her husband, Italian businessman Maurizio Gucci.
The actor received high praise for her performance and the Best Actress trophy at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards. In her acceptance speech, Gaga said the award recognized the “strong Italian women” who raised her. “It was through them that I was able to create the heart and soul of this character, the one that she deserved,” she said. The actor also earned a 2022 Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama.
Joker: Folie à Deux
Gaga co-starred in 2024’s Joker: Folie à Deux, a musical psychological thriller that served as the follow-up to the 2019 blockbuster Joker. Joaquin Phoenix returned as the titular character, and Gaga played the DC Comics character Harleen “Lee” Quinzel, commonly known as Harley Quinn. The star power wasn’t enough to propel the movie to success. The sequel received a slate of negative reviews then bombed at the box office before quickly leaving theaters. According to Variety, it lost an estimated $150 million to $200 million during its theatrical run.
Wednesday
For her next acting role, Gaga will appear in the second season of Wednesday. Her role in the hit Netflix show, starring Jenna Ortega as the titular Wednesday Addams, is expected to be relatively minor. “I don’t want to give away anything about being part of the show,” Gaga told Entertainment Weekly. “I want to keep it extra secret — but, I love Jenna, and I really had an amazing time!”
Fiancé Michael Polansky
Lady Gaga met tech CEO Michael Polansky at a mutual friend’s birthday party in December 2019. Her mother, Cynthia, had previously crossed paths with him at a charity event she later told Gaga all about. In an interview with Vogue in September 2024, the singer revealed she went to the party to see him and “kept asking for him, and he finally came over to me, and we talked for three hours.” The pair soon started dating and made their relationship Instagram official in February 2020. Gaga and Polansky moved in together during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which time they grew closer.
In July 2024, ending months of speculation, the entertainer extraordinaire shared she and Polansky were engaged during a filmed conversation with French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal at the Paris Olympics. Later on, Gaga said Polansky proposed to her on April 1, 2024, after the couple went rock climbing. She explained on The Graham Norton Show in September that she initially “thought he was joking” because he popped the question on April Fool’s Day. While Gaga has yet to reveal wedding plans, she told Jimmy Kimmel in October that she and Polansky “talk a lot about just going to a courthouse just the two of us and ordering Chinese food.”
Before Polansky, the singer had two other engagements. On Valentine’s Day 2015, Gaga became engaged to Chicago Fire actor Taylor Kinney. After five years together, in July 2016, it was reported that the couple had parted ways. A year later, in the summer of 2017, Gaga got engaged to her agent, Christian Carino. After the singer attended the Grammys without Carino in February 2019, a representative confirmed the engagement was off.
Bold Fashion
In addition to her music, Gaga is known for her bold and iconic fashion sense. In 2008, the singer made waves with her long bangs and Haus of Gaga origami dresses before catching the world’s attention at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards with her six campy costume changes, including a red lacy number and matching fabric crown that completely covered her head.
Perhaps her most infamous look, however, is the meat dress she wore to the 2010 VMAs, which was made entirely of raw beef. In an interview on The Ellen Degeneres Show, Gaga explained she wore the meat dress in protest of the United States military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that prohibited openly LGBTQ people from serving in the armed forces. The law was repealed in September 2011.
Although Gaga’s style has changed over the years, her looks and ever-changing hair color continue to turn heads, with looks often chosen to promote each album cycle. In 2016, she showed up to the Met Gala in a sparkly, metallic corset and no pants. Two years later, at the British premiere of A Star Is Born, Gaga stunned in a white gown fit for a Victorian queen, complete with a ruffle collar. Most recently, she wore a bright red dress with large puffy shoulders and Harley Quinn–inspired makeup on her press tour for Joker: Folie á Deux.
Net Worth
As of May 2025, Gaga has an estimated net worth of $300 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Quotes
- I am a walking piece of art every day, with my dreams and my ambitions forward at all times in an effort to inspire my fans to lead their life in that way.
- The statement is that I’m not one icon. I’m every icon. I’m an icon that is made out of all the colors on the palette at every time. I have no restrictions.
- There can be a hundred people in the room, and 99 don’t believe in you, but all you need is one.
- I do think that I felt a lot of pressure, over the years, to prove myself as a musician. And that sometimes stopped me from having fun.
- It actually took me two decades to become the boss in a way. Being a woman in music, I was almost always the only woman in the room all the time. I had to really, really work hard to maintain my sense of stability and my purpose. I always stuck to my guns when it came to my music and my artistry, but it was a real challenge and I made it through that mayhem.
Interscope The Fame Vinyl
Interscope MAYHEM CD
Official Lady Gaga Born This Way Cover T-Shirt
Fact Check: We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn’t look right, contact us!
The Biography.com staff is a team of people-obsessed and news-hungry editors with decades of collective experience. We have worked as daily newspaper reporters, major national magazine editors, and as editors-in-chief of regional media publications. Among our ranks are book authors and award-winning journalists. Our staff also works with freelance writers, researchers, and other contributors to produce the smart, compelling profiles and articles you see on our site. To meet the team, visit our About Us page: https://www.biography.com/about/a43602329/about-us
Catherine Caruso joined the Biography.com staff in August 2024, having previously worked as a freelance journalist for several years. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, where she studied English literature. When she’s not working on a new story, you can find her reading, hitting the gym, or watching too much TV.
