Believe it or not, Lady Gaga has been in the music business for two decades. Her iconic artistry began at open mics and in school plays before she blossomed into the pop star we know and love today — and she’s changed so much over the years.
Gaga (real name: Stefani Germanotta) cut her teeth as a student at New York University’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts — but she dropped out to pursue a career in music. She played clubs with fellow nightlife performer Lady Starlight in downtown New York City before she broke through with her 2007 debut album The Fame.
The record spawned two chart-topping singles that have since defined her career: “Just Dance” and “Poker Face.” Since then, she has released six albums, including Born This Way, Artpop, Joanne and Chromatica. The Fame was reissued in 2009 as The Fame Monster, which included new tracks such as the beloved single “Bad Romance.” Gaga also released a jazz vocal album, Cheek to Cheek, with legendary singer Tony Bennett in 2014.
The A-lister has also developed quite the acting career for herself as well. She starred in American Horror Story, A Star Is Born, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For and stunned in the 2021 film House of Gucci opposite Adam Driver.
Over the years, the singer has dated many men — but boyfriend Michael Polanksy, whom she began seeing in December 2019, seems to be a good match. “Gaga is telling everyone that he’s a keeper. She doesn’t want to jinx anything, but she thinks she’s found her Mr. Right,” an insider previously revealed to Life & Style. “Gaga likes that he makes her feel sexy, but also safe and secure, like he’ll protect her from anything. That’s new. He adores Gaga and keeps her balanced.”
However, they took a break after hitting a “rocky patch” in October 2022, a source exclusively told Life & Style at the time.
“[Gaga and Michael] have taken some breathing space to figure out where their relationship is going,” one insider said at the time, noting that reconciliation wasn’t “off the table” for the Oscar winner.
Gaga became an icon in the entertainment industry because she did things on her own terms. “She’s done an amazing job at sort of both taking risks and taking a lot of underground fashion and underground creative art and presenting it on a world stage,” friend and collaborator Kerin Rose Gold previously told Life & Style. “And she also does an incredible job at being this timeless, glamorous, beautiful woman. I think a lot of women have those dualities in us but we feel like we have to show one or the other and I feel she does both.”
Scroll through the gallery below to see photos of how much Lady Gaga has changed over the years!
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