Christian Guiltenane - Lady Gaga: The Unauthorized Biography

Christian Guiltenane is the Acting Editor of OK! magazine. A showbiz reporter of many years standing, he has regularly contributed to national newspapers and magazines, and is the author of a number of books on popular culture, including biographies. He is a lifelong devotee of pop music, and has interviewed many industry greats, including Madonna and his self-confessed idol, Kylie Minogue. He lives in London with his partner, and remains hopelessly but happily lost in pop music.

First published in Great Britain 2013 by
Michael OMara Books Limited
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Tremadoc Road
London SW4 7NQ

Copyright Michael OMara Books Limited 2013

All rights reserved. You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1-78243-046-9 in trade paperback print format
ISBN: 978-1-78243-051-3 in EPub format
ISBN: 978-1-78243-052-0 in Mobipocket format

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Authors acknowledgements

Thanks to everyone who has helped me write this book; to my long-suffering partner Marcos, who as a devoted Gaga fan has helped me invaluably with my research; to my mum Bridget and her husband John who have been there when I needed them; and to everyone who has inspired me along the way. Most of all thanks to Lady Gaga who, without her colourful life, meat dresses and fabulous songs, would have made for a far less interesting story.

C HRISTIAN G ERARD G UILTENANE

Prologue

Born This Way Ball, Twickenham, London, September 2012

Its a breezy Sunday evening in September 2012. Daylight has dimmed since 50,000 eager fans stampeded through the stadium gates, and the rain that had threatened to put a damper on the evenings events has long since moved on.

All around me, Monsters of all shapes and sizes lurk in packs, giddily discussing what they are hoping to see. I hear Gagas outdone herself, a slightly camp and over-excited twenty-something squeals at his gaggle of male pals, all dressed in uniform of tight white Lady Gaga tees and skinny jeans, with a dash of glitter sprinkled around their eyes. Its supposed to be much better than the last tour, which I reckon aint true cos that tour was immense.

As his mates begin to debate the merits of the coming show, with one daring to suggest that it has already been controversially described online as boring and artsy-fartsy, I spot a motley crew of fans queuing for the toilets. While the majority are pretty ordinary-looking, dressed as most people are on a Sunday, some have gone to extraordinary lengths and, impressively, have fashioned outfits fit for a lady a Lady Gaga, that is.

Take, for example, the woman in her thirties sporting the angular prosthetic protrusions on her face, la cover for the Born This Way album. Shes standing matter-of-factly with her daughter (who looks no older than twelve), dolled up in a low-budget version of Gagas origami dress, complete with blonde fringed wig. Or the gaggle of friends further along the line, completely hidden behind PVC and lace masks, swigging their drinks through small mouth holes. They seem to be chatting away like a bunch of old women gossiping over a garden fence.

But while these little (and not so little) Monsters all hail from different walks of life, something changes when the show finally gets under way. No sooner do the opening strains of Highway Unicorn from Born This Way (incidentally, not one of the albums finest moments) ring out across the stadium, than all the packs unite in their adoration of Queen Gaga. The cheers and hollers they let out are deafening, as if they are voicing the most primal of screams. The sound levels are such that you can barely hear the thundering music pouring out of the massive speakers. But if I thought that was the peak, its nothing compared to the volume of sound when Gaga herself emerges onstage. I am then left with permanent tinnitus.

London, March 2013

In spite of the ringing still sounding in my ears, theres no argument in my head that Lady Gaga is a pop sensation. Full stop. Whether you love her, like her or just plain hate her, there is no denying that the twenty-six-year-old New York star has managed to cast a spell across the globe with her own unique brand of Gaga pop.

Her stats are unarguably impressive. Shes sold tens of millions of albums and singles across the world, scooped more prestigious awards than you could shake a disco stick at and has broken download records worldwide. And yet she is a star who can divide the masses, a perfect example of a performer whom people either love or hate.

To those who have been swept up by the wonder of Gaga, she is a new millennial pop superstar, of a type that hasnt been seen since the heady days of the 1970s (if you can overlook the likes of Bjrk, Grace Jones, etc.), producing some of the best and most important pop music around.

To others those who dont get her she is merely a revisionist, reinventing, quite blatantly at times, whats gone before for a modern audience who may have missed out the first time.

Whichever side of the fence you are on and if youve bought this book then youre most likely pro-Gaga she has managed to make the world sit up and take notice. Not necessarily with her music, however.

Although some argue that a majority of her songs are top-notch pop (there really is nothing better than bopping to the dramatic beats of Bad Romance or the ridiculous hi-NRG of Judas), many doubt whether they have actually pushed the music boundaries in any meaningful sense.

In actual fact, its most likely her avant-garde style thats really set Gaga apart from other female pop artists. Wearing outfits that most of us would consider preposterous, she has become more notorious for what shes seen wearing than for what comes out of her mouth. She says her everyday life is performance art, that when she is seen out and about as Gaga it is merely theatre. But is it just a promotional gimmick to give her the edge over the current crop of female singers? It hasnt gone unnoticed that since Gagas sensational emergence in 2008, performers like Leona Lewis, Kylie, Katy Perry, and even Madonna, have upped their game in the fashion stakes. Whether her meat dresses and condom frocks are in fact art, or merely garments deliberately designed to cause a reaction, they have become synonymous with the artist that is Gaga.

Its difficult to think of a world before Lady Gaga, but hard as it is to believe, there was such a world, and a darker place it was. Its been just four years since she burst on to our charts with Just Dance and her subsequent album The Fame, yet within what felt like a heartbeat, she became so big so rapidly, eclipsing the likes of Madonna and Michael Jackson in a fraction of the time that it took them to rise to the top, that she is now setting the pop agenda. She is more than just a pop star. She has become a global sensation, having topped the charts in almost every country in the world, and caused a sensation wherever shes touched down, a feat that very few living artists can boast.