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Lady Gaga shoots Monster Ball Documentary in NYC

Megan MacKay — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 08:17:36 +0000

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Gaga’s much anticipated HBO special began shooting today according to Radar Online.

Paparazzi caught the pop sensation in between takes sporting torn fishnets, a huge hair poof, and spiked fingerless gloves.

Gaga tweeted excitedly about the event, exclaiming “What a dream come true! Filming my HBO special of the Monsterball today.”

She also spilled some new info about the video for her new hit, “Born This Way,” which has apparently finished post-production and could be release any time now. “Announcement soon! X” the chanteuse added coyly.

Looks like it’s gonna be a busy year for Gaga! Are you excited about her upcoming announcement?

Lady Gaga goes Guinness

Lauren Treihaft — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:57:25 +0000

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The world can’t get enough of Lady Gaga. She is a modern day princess with a lecherous flare. She has surpassed the glamour and sexual ambiguity that David Bowie was famous for in the 80s. Just when you think Gaga can’t possibly get any bigger, she has now received Guinness World Record Status, and it’s not for her increasingly complex wardrobe. As claimed by gossipcenter.com, Gaga has broken Oasis’ world record for the most weeks on the UK album charts.

Gaga’s album, The Fame, has taken a permanent residence in the top 75 spots since its August 2008 debut. That is 154 weeks!

Additionally,Gaga is now the Most Searched-For Female on the Internet. If you search Gaga in Google it will come up with about 330,000,000 hits. The infamous Sarah Palin was the former Most-Searched-For Female but it seems that the world has become bored with her skewed politics and berserk family. Cheers to Gaga, you’ve proven that your popularity is insurmountable.

Lady Gaga Sues Ex-Producer Rob Fusari

Sara Harowitz — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:55:38 +0000

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Lady Gaga may be “k-kinda busy” on tour supporting The Fame Monster, but she still made time to file a lawsuit against her ex-producer Rob Fusari, claiming she was tricked into signing a deal with the now ex-boyfriend and ex-collaborator, reports Rolling Stone.

Fusari filed a $30 million lawsuit against Gaga, claiming that he is owed royalties and merchandising fees after he allegedly created the name “Lady Gaga” and co-wrote four tracks that appeared on The Fame, including the smash-hit “Paparazzi.” Fusari blamed the pop princess for breaching their 2006 contract.

In her counter lawsuit, as reported in the New York Daily News, Gaga said that the contract she and Fusari signed was illegal because it was “structured in such a way as to mask its true purpose – to provide to the defendants unlawful compensation for their services as unlicensed employment agents.” Gaga’s counter-suit, which aims to overthrow Fusari’s lawsuit as well a claiofm damages from him, also accuses her ex-producer of taking advantage of an “inexperienced performing artist” by getting her to sign an agreement that was “predatory and financially abusive.”

In response to Gaga’s claim that Fusari operated as an unlicensed agent, the producer’s lawyer said that “Rob was no more of an ‘agent’ for her than she is a Roman Catholic nun.”

Lady Gaga Slapped with $30 Million Lawsuit

Angelina Irinici — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 02:54:27 +0000

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As if Lady Gaga doesn’t have enough going on – she now has to worry about being slapped with a massive $30 million lawsuit by producer and ex-boyfriend Rob Fusari, reports rollingstone.com. Fusari co-wrote Gaga’s hit song “Paparazzi,” claims he discovered the rising star in 2006 and created the legendary name “Lady Gaga”.

Fusari seeks a 20 per cent cut from Gaga’s companies Team Love and Mermaid Music. New York Daily News reports that he signed a contract with the 23-year-old star that promised him part of her merchandising and revenue. The producer, who previously was on songs like “Wild Wild West” with Will Smith and Destiny’s Child “Bootylicious,” also claims that he wasn’t given the correct amount of royalty fees.

“It’s an age-old story in the music business,” said Fusari’s lawyer Robert Meloni. “You become famous and you turn on the person who discovered you.”

According to the suit, Fusari was the first to recruit Gaga, then known as Stefani Germanotta, to join a band that he believed to be “an all-girl version of the Strokes.” At first, he wasn’t sure about the singer as he expected the girl chosen to be a bit more grunge-rocker than the young Italian Germanotta.

He then realized her ability and claims that he helped create Gaga’s songwriting to something with more of a dance feel to it. After collaborating, the two came up with three songs that appeared on Gaga’s first album “The Fame”, released in 2008: “Paparazzi,” “Brown Eyes” and “Beautiful, Dirty Rich” – plus the bonus tracks “Disco Heaven,” “Again Again” and “Retro Dance Freak.”

Fusari allegedly was the one to coin the name “Lady Gaga” the suits explains: “one day when Fusari addressed a cell phone text to Germanotta under the moniker ‘Radio Gaga’ [a song by Queen], his cell phone’s spell check converted ‘Radio’ to ‘Lady.’ Germanotta loved it and ‘Lady Gaga’ was born.”

The duo was not just musically involved, but romantically as well. Fusari’s lawsuit claims that they ended their romance in January 2007 and that Gaga was a “woman scorned” and became “verbally abusive” toward Fusari.

Lady Gaga’s rep cannot be reached for comment at this time.

Lady Gaga Gets Naked for David LaChapelle, Kanye West and Fans

Emma Renda — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:00:39 +0000

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Lady Gaga sure knows how to sell albums, even if it’s one you already purchased.

A deluxe edition of The Fame Monster hit shelves this week, featuring a spread of high-class nude photos by none other than celebrity photographer, David LaChapelle, according to The Daily Mail UK.

One of the photos features Gaga, completely nude, in the arms of Kanye West as he stares blankly into the distance while a volcano is erupting behind them. Another shows her completely nude, strapped to an electric generator with strategically placed sparks erupting from her hands and nether regions.

The photos are futuristic and avant-garde, in the style of LaChapelle who is known both for his vivid photography and videos. LaChapelle has photographed countless stars, including Rihanna, Angelina Jolie, Marilyn Manson and David Beckham, to name a few, and has produced and directed music videos by Elton John, No Doubt, Amy Winehouse and others. This is not his first run-in with Gaga – he photographed her for her Rolling Stone cover earlier this year.

The Fame Monster will feature the original 12 tracks from her debut, The Fame, as well as eight new songs, paper dolls, a fanzine, a puzzle and 3D glasses.

And, as if full frontal nudity were not enough, Lady GaGa is also including a lock of her hair in every purchase. If sales continue her chart-topping trend, the poor girl will be in wigs until 2012.

DJ Space Cowboy, Ready To Raise North American Party Levels

Jeremy Singer — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:09:43 +0000

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With the touch of a button, Nicolas Dresti delivers a shot of adrenaline to the sea of 30 thousand fans. Their screams are met with his quick rhythmic jumping and head bobbing to the beat on-stage. He’s not the main event, heck he’s not even a co-headliner, but he’s still the man orchestrating one of the hottest concerts on the planet – all from a laptop. This may be Lady Gaga’s party, but DJ Space Cowboy is the event’s power source – the battery that keeps the beat alive.

He’s now on top of the world.

On that night Dresti was the European energizer bunny, but now he’s recharging his own batteries at his hotel. It’s hard to believe that he is the key to Lady Gaga’s live performance successes. The man in the neatly-cut dark-suit and sparkling rhinestone skinny-tie seems sophisticated and quiet – the complete opposite of what a Gaga concert is notorious for.

But it’s true. Look at Dresti and his alter ego DJ Space Cowboy like you would Clark Kent and Superman – they’re both the same person, yet totally different at the same time. Put Clark Kent into a phone booth and he’ll become Superman. Well, put Dresti in front of an audio mixer and laptop, and he’ll suddenly transform into the backbone – or backbeat, if you will – as DJ Space Cowboy, Gaga’s DJ and head maestro responsible for explosive energy in any crowd.

His new album Digital Rockstar dropped earlier this week, and it’s one of the rare chances to really hear Superman-like energy harnessed into one CD.

“Raising the energy bar is one my main jobs as a DJ,” Dresti tells andPOP in the martini bar of Toronto’s Pantages Hotel.

Understand though, that he will do it any way possible. This is a man whose sole belief and line of work is to find the party factor in all depths of music. That’s basically the narrowed down version of his job.

“I prefer to do it with the Pop, Rock, Hip/Hop approach, but basically anything to get that killer reaction from an audience. Nothing beats spinning a song, and seeing a crowd go nuts. Nothing.”

Released by Cherrytree Records, the fourth studio project marks Dresti’s first album output with an American record label – a personal milestone for the Paris-born Disc Jockey. On that note, Dresti recalls how much the American DJ scene has evolved over the last few years. “There wasn’t much house music,” says Dresti in a refreshing British accent. “That was the big difference between here and back home.”

Before he got here, Dresti was busy amping up crowds in London’s underground club scene. There, he was a U.K. DJ extraordinaire – the protégé of British DJ legend Fatboy Slim.

But listing his accomplishments is of little interest to him. “Home is home. I was always musically inclined.”

He’s the kind of guy who refuses to mention that his passion led to a handful of singles, which flooded the charts in both the U.K. and the U.S. It was following the remix of Fergie’s Glamorous, which took the No. 2 spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Airplay Chart in 2007, that Dresti released Digital Rock (2007) – his third and most valuable released album to-date.

“I was just trying to show the whole aspect of being a DJ and a rock-star at the same time,” explains Dresti about the term Digital Rock.

“Then, when I combined it with technology, guitars and synthesizers, it just all turned into this Digital Rock age which was a pretty important stage in my life.”

The album is the reason why he was presented with a signing deal to U.S. label Cherrytree Records – an Interscope Records imprint, which focuses on new artists – and the ergo-step to eventually meeting an up-and-coming artist from New York, who was also signed with the label, by the name of Lady Gaga.

“The label said I should meet with this girl, listen to her songs,” says Dresti.

He even recalls their first conversation.

“We actually spoke on New Years Eve. I was in London and she was in Los Angeles, and we just began talking about all our experiences

“We got along so well right away.”

You could say the two were speaking the same language, with conversation topics including sequins, disco balls, Prince, David Bowie and body paint. The U.K. man then flew to L.A. to help Gaga record the single Starstruck – which featured Flo Rida – on her debut album The Fame (2008).

“After we got to know each other better, she invited me to come on tour with her,” says Dresti.

And so he began mastering the sound beds for Gaga’s Fame Ball Tour, which kicked off last March. At that point, Dresti had already had years of experience fueling parties to know the true meaning of peak energy.

Or so he thought.

While working with Gaga, the DJ – who had previously worked and remixed with a variety of iconic artists from The Darkness to Sir Paul McCartney – witnessed energy being set to a new level.

“A unique thing about her,” begins Dresti, “is that whether you’re playing in a stairwell or a stadium, it always has to be the same energy. There’s no excuse, she’ll do whatever it takes. She’ll come to me five minutes before we go on stage and tell me she wants to switch this song in the set, and cut that verse out, and add this in…

“It’s enough to make you go crazy, but in a good way. She always sets the standards high.”

As the audiences grew bigger for each passing show, Dresti came to realize that he was on the most colossal tour of the year. Cities were being booked for two-a-night performances due to the high demand for tickets. The DJ found that with the rising popularity of the tour, so did his pressure to get more creative behind the laptop.

“I definitely had to sit down and start putting together some new sounds,” recalls Dresti. “For example, she (Gaga) would ask me for a song to dance to for two minutes on stage to represent something sad. So I would then try to incorporate other instruments like an organ or violin to find the right sound. Stuff like that.”

And when time would allow it while on the tour bus, Dresti would work on his own passion project, Digital Rockstar. He says it’s taken around a year to complete, and he can’t wait for it to hit the shelves. Shining brightly are songs like I Came 2 Party featuring Cinema Bizarre, Falling Down featuring Chelsea Korka from The Paradisco Girls and then a remixed version featuring LMFAO.

Simply put, it’s dance meets rock, meets party like a digital rockstar.

“Definitely a lot of work,” he says after a deep breath, smirking as he looks back on the experience. “I’m glad that’s finally all put together; looking forward to the reception.

“But then again, I’m also so glad that I got those artists to help me out.”

He seems a bit tired; maybe from the performance in Vegas the night before, or the North American solo tour that he’s been doing since the end of July. Luckily he now has a month break before the real fun begins.

There might not be a more perfect situation for his post-release promo-trip: LMFAO’s Party Rock Tour – 31 shows squeezed into a month and a half on the road from November 5 until December 20. A bunch of artists jumping up and down on stage, singing about partying, drinking and having a good time. It’s Dresti’s utopia.

“That truly, is going to be really exciting,” says the DJ who will be joined by the Far East Movement, Shwayze and the Paradiso Girls. “I love those guys and their work. A lot of DJs opt to play stuff by David Geutta or Black Eye Peas’ I Got A Feeling. It’s pretty big right now, but I like spinning with LMFAO a lot.”

Ideally he would love to work with David Bowie or even Kings of Leon, but as he gets up, he readjusts his rhinestone tie and parts with some insight. “I don’t always believe in going with the No. 1 charted song. That’s too easy. Sometimes in order to get a crazy reaction, you’ve got to dig deep and pull off something unique. You’ve got to find a song that not everyone would really expect, but then show them the party factor.”

Racy, Shocking and Provocative: Lady GaGa Dances Her Way into the Music World

andPOP Staff — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:23:38 +0000

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Lady GaGa, an up-and-coming pop artist hailing from New York’s East Side, is a woman who is not afraid to use forceful language when defending her favourite artists.

“Gwen is fucking brilliant. Anyone who says Gwen isn’t brilliant is a dumbass,” said the 22-year-old pop culture enthusiast, referring, of course, to onetime No Doubt frontwoman Gwen Stefani.

Lady GaGa (who got her name from the Queen song “Radio GaGa”) has been involved in the music scene and pop culture since her early teen days. She was playing New York night clubs at 14 and penning songs for the likes of the Pussycat Dolls and New Kids on the Block by her early 20s.

Through relentless self-promotion, Lady GaGa was eventually signed as an artist to Interscope Records. She landed on the top 40 charts this summer with her song “Just Dance” and collaborated with Akon for her upcoming album “The Fame,” due in stores on Sept. 16.

Lady GaGa said that working her way up though the music industry helped her to grow as an artist, and she believes that hard is the key to making music a profession.

“I don’t really feel like reality TV gives you a career,” Lady GaGa told andPOP, referring to shows like American Idol that set out to launch the career of unknowns. “I did it the way I believe you have to.”

Aside from her electro-pop, dance-pop, and rock infused music, Lady GaGa is also known for her racy live shows, which have been described as a form of shock art. Here’s an example: during performances, Lady GaGa will strip down to a pair of her personally-designed and manufactured hot pants and bikini top, light cans of hairspray on fire, and strike a pose below a disco ball to the orchestral sounds of “A Clockwork Orange” – bearing no resemblance to a typical pop-tart concert.

“I’ve always done my shows this way, I never changed it,” said Lady GaGa. “I like to be provocative. I want my live shows to be important because it’s different.”

Her energetic live show caught the attention of celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, who invited Lady GaGa to perform at his Four of July Spectacular party in Las Vegas. The artist agreed to play the show after a dinner with Perez.

“I am such a celebrity-obsessed person, so in some ways Perez and I are very similar,” said Lady GaGa.

Not only is Lady GaGa obsessed with pop culture, she defends pop music and major labels in a way that many other artists avoid.

“I think for whatever reason, society views the big label as evil, or a big factory. People don’t learn about how the label is nothing except for artist that work for it. Artists like Timberland – they are totally brilliant, crazy, and artistic. The whole myth that pop albums do no make good albums is totally neglected by the impact that they have on the world.”

“The Fame” will feature the electric music and theatrics that Lady GaGa is known for, but she also hopes show others what they can do with music.

“I hope to inspire some kind of change in music and to bring back pop. I want it to be important; I want people to be inspired,” she said. “If not, then I did a shitty job.”