While many of Lady Gaga's little monsters are celebrating the pop music icon's 33rd birthday today all over the world, Mother Monster is currently taking her birthday festivities beach side in Cabo, Mexico with her closest friends and family. After winning an Academy Award, another Grammy, and a successful Las Vegas residency, Gaga deserves every second to soak up the highlights from her 33rd trek around the sun!
But before she was Lady Gaga, she was just Stefani Germanotta from New York City and born on this day in 1986. Gaga grew up on the Upper West Side of New York City and immediately began her trainings to become a superstar by the age of four when Gaga's mother signed her up for piano lessons to become "a cultured young woman."
"I was really, really good at piano, so my first instincts were to work so hard at practicing piano," Gaga revealed in a 2011 interview with MTV. "I might not have been a natural dancer, but I am a natural musician. That is the thing that I believe I am the greatest at."
By the time Gaga graduated high school, she began to attend NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Even though she dropped out by second semester of her sophomore year, Gaga perfected her songwriting skills by writing essays on art, religion, social issues and politics during her beginnings at NYU.
The Big Break
By 2007, Gaga caught the attention of rapper Akon and legendary music producer Jimmy Iovine. With this introduction, she was officially signed to Interscope Records and later released her debut album The Fame that delivered No. 1 hits like "Just Dance," "Poker Face," "LoveGame," and "Paparazzi," among a slew of eclectic deep cuts.
After opening for The Pussycat Dolls on their 2009 Doll Domination European Tour, Gaga wrote an additional eight songs that would become an extended reissue of The Fame titled The Fame Monster. This became one of Gaga's most iconic concept album at the time with controversial visual imagery chart-topping singles "Alejandro," "Bad Romance," and "Telephone" feat. Beyoncé.
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In 2011, Gaga released her third consecutive No. 1 album, Born This Way, which included the infamous title track that even earned the Guinness World Record for the fastest selling-single on iTunes! Yaaaass Gaga!
In addition to the album's lead title single, Born This Way also included No. 1 singles "Judas," "The Edge of Glory," "You and I," and "Marry The Night."
Even though Gaga is unstoppable in delivering bonafide hits, she also takes time to create music that may not be the Gaga-esque pop styles we all know and love. As a lover of music first, Gaga accomplished working with jazz legend Tony Bennett on a jazz collaboration album Cheek to Cheek during her Artpop era in 2013.
Beyond the Music
Just as Gaga has captured our hearts with her eclectic music styles, she also follows her extra-curricular passions of acting and film. Gaga scored her first A-list TV role as the Countess in American Horror Story: Hotel, which brought her first Golden Globe nomination and win.
Even with her own Netflix documentary, Gaga managed to continue to make history headlining the Super Bowl LI Halftime Show and later star in the Academy Award-nominated phenomenon A Star Is Born, which welcomed her first Academy Award nomination and win for the film's famous single "Shallow."
Now with her Las Vegas Residency "Enigma" in full swing there is no telling what Gaga has up her sleeve to accomplish next. Whether she is performing on stage, in a music video, or in front of the silver screen, Gaga continues to shatter records and push barriers beyond her career.
