Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications in various media, performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete output.

Editing activity is as old as human communication. Its earliest record is visual, dated to 20,000 years ago. However, signaling using sounds has been suggested by anthropologists to significantly predate painting as a form of communication, using agreed-on sound forms. Writing dates to only about 9,000 years ago. All these forms of communication, to be mutually intelligible to the author and the recipient, had to comply to some culturally agreed-upon standard. The need to assure this compliance created experts in the use of these forms of communication with the social authority to correct others, i.e. to edit.

Modern transmission of communications began with the invention of maritime signal flags in the mid-17th century by the Duke of York. A ship's message had to be approved by the Officer of the watch who was in a sense the first modern telecommunications editor.

In a sense, the editing process originates with the idea for the work itself, and continues in the relationship between the author and the editor. Editing is, therefore, also a practice that includes creative skills, human relations, and a precise set of methods.

Print media

There are various editorial positions in publishing. Typically, one finds junior editorial assistants reporting to the senior-level editorial staff and directors who report to senior executive editors. Senior executive editors are responsible for developing a product to its final release. The smaller the publication, the more these roles run together.

The title of the top editor at many publications may be "Editor in Chief", "Executive Editor", or just "Editor". A frequent and esteemed contributor to a magazine may acquire a title of ''Editor At-Large'' or ''Contributing Editor'' (See below).

In the book publishing industry, editors organize anthologies and other compilations, produce definitive editions of a classic author's works ("Scholarly Editor"), and organize and manage contributions to a multiauthor book (symposium editor or volume editor). Finding marketable ideas and presenting them to appropriate authors are the responsibility of a sponsoring editor. Obtaining copy or recruiting authors such as: an ''Acquisitions Editor'' or a ''commissioning editor'' for a publishing house.

Midlevel newspaper editors often manage or help manage sections, such as business, sports and features. In U.S. newspapers, the level below the top editor is usually the managing editor.

Improving an author's writing so that they indeed say what they mean to say in an effective manner, is "substantive editing". Depending on the writer's competence, this editing can sometimes turn into ghost writing. Many types of editors do substantive editing, either in-house at a publishing company or on an independent basis.

Changes to the publishing industry since the 1980s have resulted in nearly all copy editing of book manuscripts being outsourced to freelance copy editors.

Copy editors correct spelling, grammar, and align writings to house style. At newspapers and wire services, they write headlines and work on more substantive issues, such as ensuring accuracy, fairness, and taste. In some positions, they design pages and select news stories for inclusion. At U.K. and Australian newspapers, the term is "Sub-Editor". They may choose the layout of the publication and communicate with the printer—a ''production editor.'' This type of work earns one a title of "Layout Editor", "Design Editor", "News Designer", or—more so in the past—"Makeup Editor".

Light edits, heavy edits, and derivative works

A "light edit", otherwise known as a "minor change", may be regarded as a change that does not substantively change the theme, typeface, tone, structure, characters, or other elements of intellectual property that are held by the author. Such changes would include changes to spelling or grammar that don't deviate from the author's use of, for example, non-standard grammar or speech patterns.

A "heavy edit" may substantively change the tone, structure, characters, or other elements of intellectual property contained in the work.

Executive editor

The top editor sometimes has the title executive editor or editor-in-chief. This person is generally responsible for the content of the publication. An exception is large newspapers, who usually have a separate editor for the editorials and opinion pages to separate news reporting and editorial content.

The executive editor sets the publication standards for performance, and motivates and developes the staff. The executive editor is also responsible for developing and maintaining the publication budget. In concert with the publisher and the operating committee, the Executive Editor is responsible for strategic and operational planning. The Executive Editor is effectively the head of the newspaper and has considerable influence on its content.

Periodicals

Editors at newspapers supervise journalists and improve their work. Newspaper editing encompasses a variety of titles and functions. These include:

Copy editors

Department editors

Managing editors and assistant or deputy managing editors (the managing editor is often second in line after the top editor)

News editors, who oversee the news desks

Photo or picture editors

Section editors and their assistants, such as for business, features, and sports

Editorial Page Editor who oversees the coverage on the editorial page. This includes chairing the Editorial Board and assigning editorial writing responsibilities. The editorial page editor may also oversee the op-ed page or those duties are assigned to a separate op-ed editor.

Top editors, who may be called ''editor in chief'', ''executive editor,'' or sometimes just ''editor''

Readers' editors, sometimes known as the ombudsman, who arbitrate complaints

Wire editors, who choose and edit articles from various international wire services, and are usually part of the copy desk

Administrative editors (who actually don't edit but perform duties such as recruiting and directing training)

The term ''city editor'' is used differently in North America and South America, where it refers to the editor responsible for the news coverage of a newspaper's local circulation area (also sometimes called ''metro editor''), than in the United Kingdom, where it refers to the editor responsible for coverage of business in the City of London and, by extension, coverage of business and finance in general.

Scholarly books and journals

Editors of scholarly books and journals are of three types, each with particular responsibilities: the ''acquisitions editor'' (or ''commissioning editor'' in Britain), who contracts with the author to produce the copy, the ''project editor'' or ''production editor,'' who sees the copy through its stages from manuscript through bound book and usually assumes most of the budget and schedule responsibilities, and the ''copy editor'' or ''manuscript editor,'' who performs the tasks of readying the copy for conversion into printed form.

The primary difference between copy editing scholarly books and journals and other sorts of copy editing lies in applying the standards of the publisher to the copy. Most scholarly publishers have a preferred style guide, usually a combination of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and: (a) either ''the Chicago Manual of Style'', the ''MLA Style Manual'', or the ''APA Publication Manual'' in the US; or (b) the New Hart's Rules in the UK. The New Hart's Rules are based on "Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers", published by the University Press, Oxford (1893). Since scholars often have strong preferences, very often a publisher will adopt different styles for different fields. For instance, psychologists prefer the APA style, while linguists might prefer the MLA style. These guidelines offer sound advice on making cited sources complete and correct and making the presentation scholarly.

Technical editing

Technical editing involves reviewing text written on a technical topic, and identifying errors (grammar, punctuation and use of words) related to the use of language in general or adherence to a specific style guide.

Technical editing may include any of the following: correction of grammatical mistakes, misspellings, mistyping, incorrect punctuation, inconsistencies in usages, poorly structured sentences, wrong scientific terms, wrong units and dimensions, inconsistency in significant figures, technical ambivalence, technical disambiguation, correction of statements conflicting with general scientific knowledge, correction of synopsis, content, index, headings and subheadings, correcting data and chart presentation in a research paper or report, correcting errors in citations.

This activity ensures that documentation is of good quality. In large companies, experienced writers are dedicated to the technical editing function. In organizations that cannot afford dedicated editors, experienced writers typically peer-edit text produced by their relatively less experienced colleagues.

It helps if the technical editor is familiar with the subject being edited, but that is not always essential. The "technical" knowledge that an editor gains over time while working on a particular product or technology does give the editor an edge over another who has just started editing content related to that product or technology. In the long run, however, the skills that really matter are attention to detail, the ability to sustain focus while working through lengthy pieces of text on complex topics, tact in dealing with writers, and excellent communication skills.

Revising is also another form of editing. It is looking for awkward sentences, run-on sentences, and in general parts of the paper that don't make sense to the editor. Usually the writer revises his/her copy before turning it in.

A number of standards and tools (such as XML editors) have been elaborated for the editing of technical documents such as

Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA)

DocBook

Business editing

Businesses and nonprofit organizations often use editors, who may be employees of a company, individual contractors working on site at a client's office or independently off-site, or employees or partners in a specialized copywriting agency. Working with writers inside or outside the business, such editors provide services such as proofreading, copy editing, line editing, developmental editing, editing for search engine optimization (SEO), etc.

References

See also

Editor (disambiguation)

Audio editing

Film editing

Society for Editors and Proofreaders (in the UK)

Video editing

External links

American Copy Editors Society

Blake Morrison "Black day for the blue pencil" ''The Guardian'', 6 August 2005

Editorial Freelancers Association (USA)

Society for Editors and Proofreaders (UK)

Technical Editing special interest group (SIG) of the Society for Technical Communication (STC)

Writer Beware of Independent Editors and Manuscript Assessment Services Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, 22 July 2010

Category:Journalism occupations Category:Media occupations

bo:སྒྲིག་མཁན། cs:Editace cy:Golygu da:Redaktion de:Redaktion es:Edición (proceso) fa:ویرایش ko:편집 hi:सम्पादन ia:Redaction kk:Редакциялау lt:Redagavimas ml:എഡിറ്റിങ്ങ് ms:Menyunting mn:Редакторлах зүй nl:Redactie ja:編集 no:Redaksjon pl:Redakcja pt:Edição jornalística ru:Редактирование sl:Filmski in televizijski montažer fi:Redaktio sv:Redaktion tl:Pamamatnugot th:บรรณาธิการ ur:Editing yi:רעדאקטירונג zh:编辑

Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
name	Conan O'Brien
birth name	Conan Christopher O'Brien
alias	Coco
birth date	April 18, 1963
birth place	Brookline, Massachusetts, United States
medium	Television
nationality	American
active	1985–present
genre	Improvisational comedy, sketch comedy, physical comedy, surreal humor, self-deprecation
subjects	Self-deprecation, pop culture
influences	Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Robert Smigel
spouse	Elizabeth Ann Powel (since 2002; 2 children)
notable work	''The Simpsons''(writer, producer, 1991–1993)''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''(host, 1993–2009)''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien''(host, 2009–2010) ''Conan'' (host, 2010–present)
education	Harvard University
signature	Conan O'Brien Signature.svg

}} Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted ''Conan'', a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS.

O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts and raised in an Irish Catholic family. He served as president of the ''Harvard Lampoon'' while attending Harvard University, and was a writer for the sketch comedy series ''Not Necessarily the News''. After writing for several comedy shows in Los Angeles, he joined the writing staff of ''Saturday Night Live'', and later of ''The Simpsons''. He hosted ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' from 1993 to 2009, followed by seven months hosting ''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'', the only person to serve as host for both NBC programs.

Early life

O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts (a suburb of Boston) to Thomas O'Brien, a physician, epidemiologist, and professor of medicine at Harvard, and Ruth O'Brien (née Reardon), an attorney and partner at the Boston firm Ropes & Gray. He is the third of six children. O'Brien's family is Irish Catholic and descends from pre-Civil War era immigrants. In a ''Late Night'' episode, O'Brien paid a visit to County Kerry, Ireland, where his ancestors originated.

O'Brien attended Brookline High School, where he served as the managing editor of the school newspaper. In his senior year, O'Brien won the National Council of Teachers of English writing contest with his short story, "To Bury the Living". After graduating as valedictorian in 1981, he entered Harvard University. At Harvard, O'Brien lived in Holworthy Hall during his freshman year and Mather House during his three upper-class years. He concentrated in history and literature and graduated ''magna cum laude'' in 1985. His senior thesis concerned the use of children as symbols in the works of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor. Throughout college, O'Brien was a writer for the ''Harvard Lampoon'' humor magazine. He also briefly served as the drummer in a band called "The Bad Clams". During his sophomore and junior years, he served as the ''Lampoon'''s president. At this time, O'Brien's future boss at NBC, Jeff Zucker, was serving as President of the rival ''The Harvard Crimson''.

Career

''Saturday Night Live'' (1987–1991)

O'Brien moved to Los Angeles after graduation to join the writing staff of HBO's ''Not Necessarily the News''. He was also a writer on the short-lived ''The Wilton North Report''. He spent two years with that show and performed regularly with improvisational groups, including The Groundlings. In January 1988, ''Saturday Night Live'''s executive producer, Lorne Michaels, hired O'Brien as a writer. During his three years on ''Saturday Night Live (SNL)'', he wrote such recurring sketches as "Mr. Short-Term Memory" and "The Girl Watchers"; the latter was first performed by Tom Hanks and Jon Lovitz. O'Brien also co-wrote the sketch, "Nude Beach", with Robert Smigel, in which the word "penis" was said or sung at least 42 times. While on a writers' strike from ''Saturday Night Live'' following the 1987–88 season, O'Brien put on an improvisational comedy revue in Chicago with fellow ''SNL'' writers Bob Odenkirk and Robert Smigel called ''Happy Happy Good Show''. While living in Chicago, O'Brien briefly roomed with Jeff Garlin. In 1989, O'Brien and his fellow ''SNL'' writers received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series.

O'Brien, like many ''SNL'' writers, occasionally appeared as an extra in sketches; his most notable appearance was as a doorman in a sketch in which Tom Hanks was inducted into the SNL "Five-Timers Club" for hosting his fifth episode. O'Brien returned to host the show in 2001 during its 26th season. O'Brien and Robert Smigel wrote the television pilot for ''Lookwell'' starring Adam West, which aired on NBC in 1991. The pilot never went to series, but it became a cult hit. It was later screened at ''The Other Network'', a festival of unaired TV pilots produced by Un-Cabaret; it featured an extended interview with O'Brien and was rerun in 2002 on the Trio network.

''The Simpsons'' (1991–1993)

From 1991 to 1993, O'Brien was a writer and producer for ''The Simpsons'' and was credited as writer or co-writer of four episodes. Of all the episodes he wrote, he considers "Marge vs. the Monorail" to be his favorite. Along with this episode, he has sole writing credits on "New Kid on the Block," "Homer Goes to College," and "Treehouse of Horror IV," on which he wrote the episode wraparounds. He was an active producer during seasons 4 and 5 as well, meaning he would frequently contribute to scripts from those seasons as well as come up with story ideas, plot points, and jokes. The style of the show's comedy during this period was also influenced by his sensibilities, with "Marge vs. the Monorail" being cited by several former writers as the turning point in the show's history where more absurd and visual comedy became acceptable. He also developed a reputation as a "room guy," or a writer who performs comedy bits throughout the day to entertain other writers.

In his speech given at Class Day at Harvard in 2000, O'Brien credited ''The Simpsons'' with saving him, a reference to the career slump he was experiencing prior to his being hired for the show.

During his time at ''The Simpsons'', O'Brien also had a side project working with former writing partner Robert Smigel on the script for a musical film based on the "Hans and Franz" sketch from ''Saturday Night Live''. The film was never produced.

''Late Night'' (1993–2009)

As executive producer, Lorne Michaels invited O'Brien to audition to host the successor show to ''Late Night with David Letterman''. Premiering on September 13, 1993, ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' received generally unfavorable critical reviews during its first few years. The show remained on multiweek renewal cycles while NBC decided its fate. O'Brien later poked fun at the first three years of the show, when on his 10th Anniversary Special Mr. T appeared to give O'Brien a gold necklace with a giant "7" on it. When O'Brien tried to point out that he had actually been on the air for ten years, Mr. T responded, "I know that, fool; but you've only been funny for seven!"

Beginning in 1996, O'Brien and the ''Late Night'' writing team were nominated annually for the Emmy Award for Best Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series, winning the award for the first and only time in 2007. In 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2004, he and the ''Late Night'' writing staff won the Writers Guild Award for Best Writing in a Comedy/Variety Series. In 2001, he formed his own television production company, Conaco, which subsequently shared in the production credits for ''Late Night''.

A long-running joke, which stems from the recurring segment "Conan O'Brien Hates My Homeland", is that O'Brien resembles the first female president of Finland, Tarja Halonen. After joking about this for several months (which led to his endorsement of her campaign), O'Brien traveled to Finland, appearing on several television shows and meeting President Halonen. The trip was filmed and aired as a special.

O'Brien ad-libbed the fictional website name "hornymanatee.com" on December 4, 2006, after a sketch about the fictional manatee mascot and its inappropriate webcam site. NBC opted to purchase the website domain name for $159, since the website did not previously exist. The network was concerned that the Federal Communications Commission would hold NBC liable for promoting inappropriate content if a third party were to register the domain and post such material. For a period of time, the website hosted material concerning Conan's initial manatee joke and other ''Tonight Show'' references, but today the site just redirects to NBC's main web page.

A popular recurring bit on the show was "Pale Force", a series of animated episodes in which comedian Jim Gaffigan and O'Brien are superheroes who fight crime with their "paleness". As Gaffigan introduced each new episode, O'Brien protested the portrayal of his character as cowardly, weak, and impotent. , ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' had for eleven years consistently attracted an audience averaging about 2.5 million viewers. O'Brien is an avid guitarist and music listener. When Bruce Springsteen and the Sessions Band appeared on the show as musical guests, O'Brien joined the 17-piece band, along with the Max Weinberg 7 and guests Jimmy Fallon and Thomas Haden Church, playing acoustic guitar and contributing backup vocals for the song "Pay Me My Money Down". On the June 13, 2008, episode of ''Late Night'', O'Brien simply walked onto the stage at the start of the show. Instead of his usual upbeat antics and monologue, O'Brien announced that he had just received news about the sudden death of his good friend, fellow NBC employee and frequent ''Late Night'' guest, Tim Russert. O'Brien proceeded to show two clips of his favorite Russert ''Late Night'' moments. On February 20, 2009, NBC aired the last episode of ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''. The show consisted of a compilation of previous ''Late Night'' clips and included a surprise appearance by former sidekick, Andy Richter. Will Ferrell, John Mayer, and the White Stripes also appeared. O'Brien ended the episode by destroying the set with an axe, handing out the pieces of the set to the audience, and thanking a list of people who helped him get to that point in his career. Among those thanked were Lorne Michaels, David Letterman, Jay Leno, and O'Brien's wife and children.

The Colbert / O'Brien / Stewart mock feud

During the writers' strike in 2008, O'Brien staged a mock feud with Comedy Central's Jon Stewart (of ''The Daily Show'') and Stephen Colbert (of ''The Colbert Report'') over a dispute about which of the three were responsible for giving a "bump" to Mike Huckabee's campaign to become the Republican presidential nominee. This feud crossed over all three shows during the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike.

''The Tonight Show'' (2009–2010)

In 2004, O'Brien negotiated a new contract with NBC. As part of the deal, O'Brien would take over ''The Tonight Show'' from Jay Leno in 2009. O'Brien was a guest on Jay Leno's final episode of ''The Tonight Show''. On June 1, 2009, Will Ferrell became Conan's first ''Tonight Show'' guest on the couch and Pearl Jam appeared as his first musical guest.

During the taping of the Friday, September 25, 2009, episode of ''The Tonight Show'', O'Brien suffered from a mild concussion after he slipped and hit his head while running a race as part of a comedy sketch with guest Teri Hatcher. He was examined at a hospital and released the same day. A rerun was aired that night, but O'Brien returned to work the following Monday and poked fun at the incident.

Departure from ''The Tonight Show''

On Thursday, January 7, 2010, NBC executive Jeff Zucker met with Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien to discuss how to get Leno out of prime time, where his ratings were lackluster, and back into late night. A proposal was made that would see O'Brien remain as host of ''The Tonight Show'', which would be moved to 12:05 am with Leno hosting a 30-minute show at 11:35 pm On January 10, NBC Universal Television Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin confirmed that ''The Jay Leno Show'' would indeed end at the start of the Winter Olympics on February 12, 2010, and be moved to 11:35 pm following the Olympics coverage. Sources familiar with the situation told the ''New York Post'' that O'Brien was unhappy with NBC's plan.

On January 12, O'Brien released this statement: "I sincerely believe that delaying ''The Tonight Show'' into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. ''The Tonight Show'' at 12:05 simply isn’t ''The Tonight Show.''" On January 21, 2010, it was announced that Conan had reached a deal with NBC that would see him exit ''The Tonight Show'' the next day. The deal also granted him $45 million, of which $12 million was designated for distribution to his staff, who had moved with Conan to Los Angeles from New York when he left ''Late Night''.

The final ''Tonight Show'' with Conan aired January 22, 2010, and featured guests Tom Hanks, Steve Carell (who did an exit interview and shredded Conan's ID badge), Neil Young (singing "Long May You Run"), and Will Ferrell. For Ferrell's appearance, Conan played guitar with the band and Ferrell sang "Free Bird" while reprising his ''SNL'' cowbell. Ferrell's wife, Viveca Paulin, together with Ben Harper, Beck, and ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons, also joined the band for this final performance.

Jay Leno returned to ''The Tonight Show'' following NBC's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Under the $45 million deal with NBC, Conan was allowed to start working for another network as soon as September 2010. Conan's rumored next networks ranged anywhere from Fox to Comedy Central.

After ''Tonight''

On February 8, 2010, it was reported that O'Brien was attempting to sell his Central Park West penthouse in New York with an asking price of $35 million. He purchased the apartment in 2007 for $10 million. Two years earlier, O'Brien had purchased a home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles for over $10.5 million. Some industry insiders have speculated that O'Brien had chosen to stay on the west coast in order to facilitate a return to late night television and because he did not want to put his children through another move.

On February 24, 2010, O'Brien attracted media attention for starting a Twitter account. His tweets, although primarily jokes, amounted to his first public statements since leaving ''The Tonight Show'' one month earlier. After about one hour, O'Brien's subscriber list had rocketed to over 30,000 members and approximately 30 minutes later, he was on the brink of passing 50,000 followers, already 20,000 more than the verified @jayleno account. After 24 hours, O'Brien had well over 300,000 followers. In late May 2010, he surpassed the one million mark for number of Twitter followers, and he has over 3.3 million followers.

O'Brien has been named to the 2010 Time 100, a list compiled by TIME of the 100 most influential people in the world as voted on by readers. After being prohibited from making television appearances of any kind until May, O'Brien spoke about the ''Tonight Show'' conflict on the CBS newsmagazine ''60 Minutes'' on May 2, 2010. During the interview with Steve Kroft, O'Brien said the situation felt "like a marriage breaking up suddenly, violently, quickly. And I was just trying to figure out what happened." He also said he "absolutely" expected NBC to give him more of a chance and that, if in Jay Leno's position, he would not have come back to ''The Tonight Show''. However, Conan said he did not feel he got shafted. "It's crucial to me that anyone seeing this, if they take anything away from this, it's I'm fine. I'm doing great," said O'Brien. "I hope people still find me comedically absurd and ridiculous. And I don't regret anything."

The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour

On March 11, 2010, O'Brien announced via his Twitter account that he would embark on a 30-city live tour beginning April 12, 2010, entitled "The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour". Co-host Andy Richter, along with members of the former Tonight Show Band, joined O'Brien on the tour. Max Weinberg, however, was not able to join, except for a guest appearance at one of Conan's New York City shows. VIP tickets for $695 offered the opportunity to meet O'Brien in person. On the same day, teamcoco.com—an apparently official website—was launched.

On April 12, 2010, O'Brien opened his two-month comedy tour in Eugene, Oregon, with a crowd of 2,500 and no TV cameras. The tour traveled through America's Northwest and Canada before moving on to larger cities, including Los Angeles and New York City, where he performed on the campuses that house both of the NBC-owned studios he formerly occupied. The tour ended in Atlanta on June 14. With ticket prices starting at $40, "The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour" was effectively sold out.

''Conan'' (2010–present)

On April 12, 2010, just hours before the start of his tour in Eugene, Oregon, O'Brien announced that he would host a new show on cable station TBS. The show debuted on November 8, 2010, and airs Monday through Thursday beginning at 11:00 pm ET/10:00 pm CT. O'Brien's addition moved ''Lopez Tonight'' with George Lopez back one hour to midnight ET/11:00 pm CT. Refusing at first to do to Lopez what had happened to him at NBC, O'Brien agreed to join the network after Lopez called to persuade him to come to TBS. In Canada, CTV will air the show and in Turkey, CNBC-e will air the show.

Other networks that were reportedly interested in O'Brien include TBS' sister networks TNT and HBO, Fox, FX, Comedy Central, Showtime, Revision3, and even the NBC Universal-owned USA Network.

On September 1, 2010, O'Brien announced via his Twitter account and Team Coco YouTube page that the title of his new show on TBS would simply be ''Conan''.

Television writer/producer (2002–present)

In 2004, O'Brien apologized to Canadians for engaging in Quebec bashing, something which some felt reflected prejudice against Francophones. On March 7, 2006, NBC announced a new adventure/comedy series entitled ''Andy Barker, P.I.'', starring O'Brien's former sidekick, Andy Richter. O'Brien was executive producer and co-wrote the pilot. After six episodes and low ratings, the show was canceled despite being named by ''Entertainment Weekly'' as one of the Top Ten Shows of 2007. USA Network has handed out a 90-minute, cast-contingent pilot order to the medical-themed ''Operating Instructions'' from O'Brien's production banner. O'Brien will serve as an executive producer through his Conaco label. The script comes from ''Just Shoot Me'' veterans Judd Pillot and John Peaslee who will also executive produce." NBC ordered two pilots from Conaco in January 2010, the one-hour courtroom drama, ''Outlaw'', and a half-hour comedy. ''Outlaw'' was later green-lit to series and premiered on September 15, 2010.

Voice work and guest appearances

O'Brien's first guest appearance after beginning his late-night career was on the show he used to write for, ''The Simpsons''. He played himself in the season five episode "Bart Gets Famous", interviewing Bart Simpson during his rise to fame as a catchphrase comedian. The episode was produced after O'Brien's audition to replace David Letterman, but before he was hired for the show. O'Brien recorded his part after his own show went on the air, though he believed his show would be canceled by the time "Bart Gets Famous" aired. In 2006, he voiced himself in a short ''South Park'' scene as part of the opening of the 2006 Emmy Awards. In 2005, he provided the voice of Robert Todd Lincoln in the audio book version of ''Assassination Vacation'' by Sarah Vowell.

O'Brien has made multiple voice appearances on the Adult Swim series ''Robot Chicken'', including the specials ''Robot Chicken: Star Wars'', and ''Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II'' as the voice of the bounty hunter Zuckuss. On the TV show ''30 Rock'', O'Brien is depicted as an ex-boyfriend of lead character Liz Lemon, who works in the same building. In the episode "Tracy Does Conan," Conan appears as himself, awkwardly reunited with Lemon and coerced by network executive Jack Donaghy into having the character Tracy Jordan on ''Late Night'', despite having been assaulted in Jordan's previous appearance.

O'Brien made an appearance on ''Futurama'' in the second-season episode "Xmas Story". O'Brien plays himself as a head in a jar and still alive in the year 3000. O'Brien performs a stand-up routine at a futuristic ski lodge while being heckled by Bender the robot.

O'Brien also made a cameo appearance on the U.S. version of ''The Office''. In the episode "Valentine's Day", Michael believes that he spots former ''SNL'' cast member, Tina Fey, but has actually mistaken another woman for her. In the meantime, Conan has a quick walk-on and the camera crew informs Michael, when he returns from talking to the Tina Fey lookalike.

In January 2010, O'Brien appeared in ''The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special – In 3-D! On Ice!'' to honor the show he had written for in the early 1990s.

O'Brien created a superhero character with veteran DC Comics animator Bruce Timm during one episode of ''Conan''. Named "The Flaming C", the superhero bears a likeness to O'Brien, with a typically muscular superhero body and costume with chest insignia, but also with idiosyncrasies arbitrarily suggested by O'Brien like an oven mitt, a jai alai glove, marijuana leaf buckle, golf shoes, sock garters and fishnet stockings. O'Brien later aired a clip in which the character appears in ''Young Justice''.

Emmy host

O'Brien hosted the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards on August 27, 2006, to critical acclaim. He had previously hosted the Primetime Emmys in 2002, and co-hosted in 2003.

Commercials and product placements

According to Marketing Evolutions, the company that produces Q Scores measuring the familiarity and appeal of celebrities and brands, almost 74% of U.S. consumers are familiar with O'Brien. In spite of that high score, O'Brien hasn't done many commercials for corporate America; two recent examples are a 2009 appearance in a Super Bowl XLIII commercial for Bud Light, and one for American Express, which debuted on the same day as ''Conan''. He donated his proceeds from the Super Bowl commercial to the Fresh Air Fund, a charity which sends inner-city New York children to the country for vacations. According to ''The Wall Street Journal'', O'Brien was paid more than one million dollars to do the American Express commercial, which required him to spend three days in Jaipur, India filming it.

While O'Brien has done few commercials, he "does do plenty of promoting, weaving product pitches into his show"; he has said "it's increasingly incumbent to help with tie-ins [but] if it can't be funny, I'd rather go hungry."

Comedy and mannerisms

On ''Late Night,'' O'Brien became known for his active and spontaneous hosting style. He started off every show by saying, "We have a great show for you tonight" and ended nearly every show with a quick, quirky "Bye, everybody, bye!" His stage habits included, but were not limited to, mime, self-deprecation, dramatic expressions, various impressions, use of awkward pauses or responses, moving his hair and scalp back and forth and constantly buttoning and unbuttoning his suit jacket. He frequently made fun of and interacted with the audience and commonly made light of his own appearance, including his hairstyle, his pale skin, his clumsiness, and his height. He continued many of these themes into his position as host of ''The Tonight Show''.

One of O'Brien's trademarks is to perform the "string dance." He also does intentionally poor and exaggerated impressions of celebrities that are often reduced to a specific characteristic, phrase, or gesture that represents that person.

Personal life

O'Brien met Elizabeth Ann 'Liza' Powel in 2000 when she appeared on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' in an advertising skit involving Foote, Cone & Belding, where she worked as senior copywriter. The couple dated for nearly 18 months before their 2002 marriage in Powel's hometown of Seattle. O'Brien and Powel have a daughter, Neve (born in 2003) and a son, Beckett (born in 2005).

O'Brien repeatedly affirms his Irish Catholic heritage on his show. On a 2009 episode of ''Inside the Actors Studio'', he stated that both sides of his family moved to America from Ireland in the 1850s, subsequently marrying only other Irish Catholics, and that his lineage is thus 100% Irish Catholic.

He has been a staunch Democrat since casting his first vote for President in 1984 for Walter Mondale, although he considers himself a moderate on the political spectrum. O'Brien's longtime friend and former roommate at Harvard is Father Paul B. O' Brien, with whom he founded ''Labels Are For Jars'', an antihunger organization based in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and helped open the ''Cor Unum'' meal center in 2006. The two are not related.

In January 2008, after his show was put on hold for two months owing to the strike by the Writers Guild of America, he reemerged on late-night TV sporting a beard, which guest Tom Brokaw described as making him look like "a draft dodger from the Civil War." After leaving ''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'' on Jan. 22, 2010, O'Brien again grew a beard, which he kept until May 2, 2011, when it was partially shaved on the set of his TBS talk show, ''Conan'', by Will Ferrell with battery-operated clippers (and completely shaved off-screen by a professional barber). The event was dubbed on the show as "Beardocalypse," and included a contest for fan-submitted artwork.

O'Brien purchased a $10.5-million mansion in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, to prepare for his move there in 2009 from New York City to host ''The Tonight Show'' at Universal Studios Hollywood. As part of a long running gag, he brought his 1992 Ford Taurus SHO with him to California, showcasing it on both the inaugural episodes of ''The Tonight Show'' and ''Conan''.

Victim of stalking

It was reported that since September 2006, O'Brien had allegedly been stalked by Father David Ajemian of the Archdiocese of Boston, who, despite multiple warnings to stop, had been sending O'Brien letters signed as "your priest stalker" and coming in contact with O'Brien's parents. Frustrated that he had been denied a spot in the ''Late Night'' audience, Ajemian sent a letter to O'Brien stating that he flew to New York "in the dimming hope that you might finally acknowledge me." He stated in another letter, "Is this the way you treat your most dangerous fans??? You owe me big time, pal." In another letter, Ajemian seemed to make a death threat, saying, "Remember Frank Costello once dodged a bullet in your building and so can you." Ajemian then tried to forcefully enter a taping of ''Late Night'' but was caught and arrested. He was previously warned by the NBC security team to stay away from the studio. After a psychological evaluation, he was deemed fit to stand trial. He has since been bailed out of jail. He was then reported missing by his father on November 10, 2007. He was found and underwent evaluation at a hospital. It is known that the two had attended Harvard University at the same time. He was found fit to stand trial on April 4, 2008. On April 8, 2008, Ajemian pleaded guilty to stalking, stating that he "never meant to cause anxiety or to upset anyone." He was ordered to pay a $95 US$ court charge and to sign a two-year restraining order barring him from coming near O'Brien. On September 11, 2008, Ajemian checked himself out of his treatment at a hospital against the wishes of his bishop, Seán Patrick O'Malley. Cardinal O'Malley then released a statement saying that because he violated his bishop's wishes, Ajemian could no longer serve as a priest in the Catholic Church. As of late 2010, Ajemian has moved on to stalking Anthony Everett.

Nicknames

Conan acquired the nickname "Coco" after its use in the first "Twitter Tracker" sketch during the second episode of his ''Tonight Show'' run. Guest Tom Hanks used the nickname during his subsequent interview, even getting the audience to chant it. In reaction to the moniker, Conan remarked to Hanks in jest, "If that catches on, I'll sue you."

In a March 23, 2011, interview with WWE Champion The Miz on ''Conan'', The Miz dubbed Conan "The Ginja Ninja", a reference to Conan's red hair and the fact that he came back fighting to get his new late-night talk show. A week later, "Team Ginja Ninja" T-shirts were available on TeamCoco.com.

Filmography

;Appearances on talk shows: Guest appearance on ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' (1993, 2007, 2008, 2009)

Guest appearance on ''Late Night with David Letterman'' (1993)

Guest appearance on ''The Jon Stewart Show'' (1993)

''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' (1993–2009)

Guest appearance on ''Last Call with Carson Daly'' (2002)

Guest appearance on ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' (2007, 2008)

Guest appearance on ''The Colbert Report'' (2007, 2008)

''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' (2009)

''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'' (2009–2010)

Guest appearance on ''Lopez Tonight'' (2010, 2011)

''Conan'' (November 8, 2010–)

;Other shows:

''Saturday Night Live'' (1991, 2001)

''The Simpsons'' (''as himself'') (1994)

''Space Ghost: Coast to Coast'' (''as himself'') (1999)

''Mr. Show with Bob and David'' (1995)

''The Single Guy'' (1996)

''Arli$$'' (1996)

''Spin City'' (1999)

''Futurama'' (1999)

''Storytelling'' (2001)

''Vanilla Sky'' (2001)

''Sugar & Spice'' (2001) ''(cameo in end credits)''

''Dr. Katz'' (''as himself'') (2002)

''Andy Richter Controls the Universe'' (2003)

''End of the Century'' (2003)

''Bewitched'' (''as himself'') (2005)

''Robot Chicken'' (2005)

''The Denial Twist (The White Stripes music video)'' (2005)

''O'Grady'' (2006)

''The Office'' ''(cameo)'' (2006)

''Queer Duck'' (''as himself'') (2006)

''30 Rock'' (''as himself'') (2007, 2009)

Robot Chicken Star Wars (as ''Zuckuss'') (2007)

''Sesame Street'' (2008)

''Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II'' (as ''Zuckuss'', Star Wars nerd) (2008)

''The Backyardigans'' (2009)

''60 Minutes'' (interview) (2010)

''Eagleheart'' (himself) (2010)

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Work	Category	Result
1989	Emmy Award		Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program
1990	Emmy Award	Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program
1991	Emmy Award	Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program
1996	Emmy Award		Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
1998	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
People's Choice Award	Favorite Late Night Talk Show Host
Telvis Award	For the color spot of the year	Special Telvis
Writers Guild of America Award		Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
People's Choice Award	Favorite Late Night Talk Show Host
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
2008	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
			Outstanding Comedy, Music or Variety Series
Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series
Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series
	People's Choice Award	rowspan="4"	Favorite TV Talk Show Host
	Outstanding Comedy, Music or Variety Series
Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series
Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series
American Express	Outstanding Commercial

References

Further reading

External links

in 2006 in 1998

TMZ page on Conan O'Brien

I'm With Coco Facebook

Category:1963 births Category:Living people Category:American comedians Category:American television talk show hosts Category:American television writers Category:Emmy Award winners Category:The Groundlings Category:Harvard Lampoon people Category:Harvard University alumni Category:American comedians of Irish descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American writers of Irish descent Category:Late night television talk show hosts Category:Late Night with Conan O'Brien Category:People from Brookline, Massachusetts Category:Writers from Massachusetts Category:Massachusetts Democrats

ar:كونان أوبراين bg:Конан О'Брайън ca:Conan O'Brien da:Conan O'Brien de:Conan O’Brien et:Conan O'Brien es:Conan O'Brien eo:Conan O'Brien eu:Conan O'Brien fa:کونن اوبراین fr:Conan O'Brien ga:Conan O'Brien id:Conan O'Brien it:Conan O'Brien he:קונאן או'בריין hu:Conan O’Brien nl:Conan O'Brien ja:コナン・オブライエン no:Conan O'Brien pl:Conan O'Brien pt:Conan O'Brien ru:О’Брайен, Конан sq:Conan O'Brien simple:Conan O'Brien fi:Conan O’Brien sv:Conan O'Brien tl:Conan O’Brien th:โคแนน โอ'ไบรอัน tr:Conan O'Brien zh:康納·歐布萊恩

Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
name	Lasse Gjertsen
birth date	July 19, 1984
birth place	Norway
known for	"Hyperactive" and "Amateur" videos on YouTube
occupation	animator, musician, and videographer }}

Lasse Gjertsen (born 19 July 1984) is a Norwegian animator, musician, and videographer known on YouTube as ''lassegg''. He is best known for his short pieces "Hyperactive" and "Amateur", which string together short clips of video to create a unique form of video akin to stop-motion animation. His "Hyperactive" video has over 7 million views and his "Amateur" video has over 13 million views.

Biography

Gjertsen was born in Larvik, Norway. He studied animation at Kent Institute of Art & Design in England, and at Volda University College in Norway. His time at Kent Institute ended with his teachers failing to appreciate his work, specifically ''Hyperactive''.

YouTube

Lasse originally submitted ''Hyperactive'' to YouTube after seeing a copy uploaded by another user with poor sound quality. Over the next six months Lasse uploaded 16 more videos, many created during his animation course. As of May 12, 2007 he has the 31st most subscribed channel, and four videos have been featured on the YouTube front page, ''Hyperactive'', ''What The Fuck?'', ''Amateur'', and ''Sogno ad Occhi Aperti''. While ''Hyperactive'' has been the most popular, ''Amateur'' was featured in an article in the online edition of the ''Wall Street Journal''.

Another video by Gjertsen has also been featured on YouTube; "Hva faen, Speil?" in which he is looking into a mirror while some of the effects of LSD become apparent through very clever video and audio editing.

Lasse Gjertsen's video ''Hyperactive'' was nominated in the category Most Creative video in YouTube's 2006 Video Awards. The video achieved third place.

Hyperactive was copied by Cartoon Network in an advert for the show ''Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends''. Lasse initially considered legal action but after talking to a lawyer decided it would be too arduous.

It was also spoofed in an advertisement for the 3rd season of the FX TV show ''It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia''. Whether this was done with or without Gjertsen's permission is unclear.

Lasse Gjertsen is also the creator of the soundtrack of the Chaplin Snakker videos on YouTube. Chaplin Snakker is one of his electronic songs, in which the freedom- and awe-inspiring speech of Charlie Chaplin from his movie ''The Great Dictator'' (1940) is elevated by the use of music.

Beyond YouTube

The YouTube success has resulted in offers from international companies like Chevrolet and MTV. However, Gjertsen publicly denounces the concept of advertising, considering it below prostitution, and has refused all such offers.

In addition to his video work, Lasse has a self-produced album of electronica music.

In 2007 Lasse worked on a two-part music video collaboration, named ''Sogno ad Occhi Aperti'', with the Italian Cellist Giovanni Sollima. This was presented at the 8th International Fringe Film Festival in Marzamemi, Italy. In the same year he directed the music video for the Swedish rapper Timbuktu's song "Get Fizzy".

Software

Lasse has stated he uses the following software in the creation of his videos:

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe After Effects

Debugmode WinMorph

FL Studio

Music

Lasse uses FL Studio to create original compositions in his videos. Although he claims not to have much skill with instruments, he has sampled himself using Drums, Piano, Guitar, Harmonica, and singing.

The only videos without original compositions are the two music videos, ''Home Sweet Home'' by Norwegian Rapper Sirius, and ''Sogno ad Occhi Aperti'' by Italian Cellist Giovanni Sollima.

YouTube video chronology

2006

! Title	! Release Date	! Length	! Notes
				(the same video uploaded by user champaR has 14,366,600 views )

2007

! Title	! Release Date	! Length	! Notes

2008

! Title	! Release Date	! Length	! Notes
				Lasse had his profile temporarily deleted after uploading the video, and was asked to add a disclaimer when his account was re-instated. It was thought to be real, but it was heavily edited yet still realistic.

2009

! Title	! Release Date	! Length	! Notes

2010

! Title	! Release Date	! Length	! Notes

See also

YouTube celebrities

References

External links

Lasse Gjertsen on YouTube

Lasse Gjertsen on Myspace

Lasse Gjertsen Exclusive content created for E4

Category:Norwegian film directors Category:Norwegian animators Category:Norwegian comedians Category:Internet memes Category:1984 births Category:Living people

Category:Alumni of the University for the Creative Arts

de:Lasse Gjertsen fr:Lasse Gjertsen it:Lasse Gjertsen ja:ラッセ・イェルツェン no:Lasse Gjertsen pl:Lasse Gjertsen fi:Lasse Gjertsen sv:Lasse Gjertsen

Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
name	Corey Vidal
birth name	Corey Steven Vidal
birth date	December 07, 1986
birth place	St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
nationality	Canadian
years active	August 2006–present
notable works	YouTube video series, 888 YouTube Gathering (host)
known for	YouTube Partner; Variety entertainment
website	youtube.com/coreyvidal
web alias	''ApprenticeA'', ''CoreyVidal''
web host service	YouTube
meme	''Star Wars (John Williams Is The Man) A Cappella Tribute'' }}

}} Corey Vidal (born December 7, 1986) is a Canadian online video content provider and digital media consultant. His YouTube videos have been seen over 50 million times, and he has over 175 videos, as of March 2011. He is ranked as one of Canada's "Most Viewed" Partners and "Most Subscribed" users of all time, and ranks in the top 300 YouTube channels worldwide. He is also Canada's "#2 Most Subscribed Guru". His YouTube channel profile has been viewed over 7 million times. In December 2007, Vidal was one of the first Canadians to join the YouTube Partnership Program. Vidal has over 200,000 subscribers.

YouTube career

Vidal began on YouTube in mid-2006 by posting hip hop dance videos inspired by American dance reality television show ''So You Think You Can Dance''. His popularity stemmed from the success of one of his first videos, ''How To Dance: "1, 2 Step" by Ciara ft. Missy Elliot'' (uploaded to YouTube on September 3, 2006), where he teaches dance steps to R&B; singer Ciara's popular music video ''1, 2 Step''. This video is the ''#1 Most Viewed (All Time)'' and ''#1 Top Favorited (All Time)'' video for a Canadian in the "Howto & Style" category. It currently has over 5 million views.

Following his ''How To Dance'' series, Vidal branched into other types of videos. His channel career spans dancing, singing, playing musical instruments, beatboxing, acting in short films (including a major short film production by Niagara College), solving Rubik's Cubes, video blogging, and collaborating with other YouTubers. Microsoft Canada has contributed to one of Corey's videos, and MTV Europe contacted him to produce an exclusive video to appear in their televised series MTV's Best.Show.Ever in 2007. In December 2008, Corey produced a 4-part a cappella Christmas e-card for California-based consulting firm Barbary Coast Consulting. In May 2009, Vidal released a 33-part interactive choose-your-own-adventure-style video as part of a collaboration with Blendtec, the company behind Will It Blend?. He is working on a 14-part television commercial project with Moosebutter and NBC Universal.

Vidal first gained national Canadian media attention in the summer of 2008 when he was announced as the host of the 888 YouTube Gathering that took place August 8, 2008 in Toronto, Canada. Corey hosted a one-hour show featuring many of YouTube's most popular "cewebrities", including KevJumba, HappySlip, Dave Days, Charles Trippy, Shay Carl, Philip DeFranco, and more.

''Star Wars (John Williams Is The Man) A Cappella Tribute''

A notable success is his most popular video, a Star Wars a cappella tribute to John Williams - a video of Vidal lip-syncing to a song written in 1999 and recorded in 2002 by a cappella comedy troupe Moosebutter. The video was featured on YouTube Canada's homepage on November 3, 2008, and then again on the Worldwide homepage three days later. It appeared on the homepage of MSN.com, and was featured by MSN Videos and StupidVideos.com. As of March 2011, the video has been viewed over 13 million times since its upload on October 27, 2008. The video quickly became Canada's ''#1 Top Rated (All Time)'' and ''#1 Top Favorited (All Time)'' Entertainment video, and now has many other ''All Time'' Honors both in Canada and Worldwide. It is also ranked as one of YouTube's Top 100 Rated videos of All Time.

On December 7, 2008 the video was nominated for a 35th Annual People's Choice Awards on CBS as "Favorite User Generated Video" of 2008. It faced competition in its category from other viral videos such as Barack Roll, Fred Goes Swimming, Where the Hell is Matt? (2008), and Wassup 2008. Vidal attended the red carpet event in Los Angeles on January 7, 2009.

Copyright disputes

Vidal is known on YouTube for his multiple Digital Millennium Copyright Act disputes between the content in his videos and copyrighted works owned by major studios and labels. To date, Vidal has fought and won every claim made against his videos.

''4 Minutes''

The first claim came from Warner Music Group in April 2008 over the use of Madonna's song 4 Minutes in one of his hip hop dance videos. The video was removed from YouTube by Warner a month after it being uploaded, having received over 200,000 views. Vidal fought Warner with an official DMCA counter-claim, filed through YouTube's copyright system.

Two weeks after his claim was made, Madonna herself uploaded a video to her official YouTube channel titled ''Madonna's Message To YouTube'' saying "So all you people out there who are making videos to my single 4 Minutes, keep up the good work. Nice job, nice one, OK. But you got to clean up after yourself, alright?"

Vidal forwarded this video to YouTube's copyright department as well as Warner Music Group's legal team, and on May 9, 2008 his video was restored in full, with no penalties held against his account. Ironically, after a falling-out between YouTube and Warner Music Group in early 2009, Warner pulled down every video on YouTube that contained any of their material. This included a complete purging of Madonna's YouTube account and all her videos, including the official music video to 4 Minutes as well as Madonna's message to YouTube. However, because Vidal's claim had legally won in 2008, they were unable to remove his video. It currently has over 4 million views.

''John Williams/Star Wars A Cappella Tribute''

In mid-January 2009, Vidal's Star Wars A Cappella video was removed from YouTube due to a DMCA copyright infringement claim by Warner Music Group. His entire account and all of his videos were suspended, then returned three days later, however the a cappella video remained banned and unviewable. For over a month, the official video was unavailable on YouTube, but copies were spread around the Internet by other uploaders on YouTube and other media sites. On February 24, 2009 the original video returned after Vidal fought Warner's claim, citing the video as being protected under fair use. The video was restored with its original views, ratings, and comments.

Awards and nominations

{| class="wikitable" |- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" |- ! Year ! Nominated work ! Category ! Award ! Result |- | 2009 | ''Star Wars (John Williams Is The Man) A Cappella Tribute'' | Favorite User Generated Video | People's Choice Awards | |-

See also

List of YouTube celebrities

User-generated content

Viral video

References

External links

Corey Vidal's YouTube Home Page

Public Statistics of Corey Vidal's videos

Category:Beatboxers Category:Canadian Christians Category:Canadian dancers Category:Canadian people of German descent Category:Canadian Internet personalities

Category:1986 births Category:Living people

Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
Name	Lady Gaga
Alt	Portrait of Lady Gaga
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta
Birth date	March 28, 1986
Birth place	New York, New York, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, piano, keyboards
Genre	Pop, dance
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, performance artist, record producer, dancer, businesswoman, activist
Years active	2005–present
Label	Def Jam, Cherrytree, Streamline, Kon Live, Interscope
Website	}}

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (; born March 28, 1986), better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to focus on her musical career. She began performing in the rock music scene of Manhattan's Lower East Side, and by the end of 2007 was signed with Streamline Records. During her employment as a songwriter for the record company, her vocal abilities captured the attention of recording artist Akon, who signed her to his label Kon Live Distribution.

Lady Gaga came to prominence as a recording artist following the release of her debut album ''The Fame'' (2008), which was a critical and commercial success that topped charts around the world and included the international number-one singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face". After embarking on the The Fame Ball Tour, she followed the album with ''The Fame Monster'' (2009), which spawned the worldwide hit singles "Bad Romance", "Telephone" and "Alejandro" and allowed her to embark on the eighteen-month long Monster Ball Tour, which later became one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time. Her 2011 album ''Born This Way'' topped the charts of most major markets and generated more international chart-topping singles, which include "Born This Way", "Judas" and "The Edge of Glory". Beside her musical career, she involves herself with humanitarian causes and LGBT activism.

Influenced by such acts as David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Madonna and Queen, Lady Gaga is recognized for her flamboyant, diverse and outré contributions to the music industry through fashion, performance and music videos. She has sold an estimated 23 million albums and 64 million singles worldwide, making herself one of the best-selling music artists of all time and her singles some of the best-selling worldwide. Her achievements include four ''Guinness World Records'', five Grammy Awards and 13 MTV Video Music Awards. Lady Gaga has consecutively appeared on ''Billboard'' magazine's Artists of the Year (scoring the definitive title in 2010), is regularly placed on lists composed by ''Forbes'' magazine, and was named one of the most influential people in the world by ''Time'' magazine.

Biography

1986–2004: Early life

Lady Gaga was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta on March 28, 1986 in New York, NY to parents Cynthia (née Bissett) and Joseph Germanotta, an internet entrepreneur. Descending from Italian and more distant French-Canadian roots, Gaga is the elder of two children. Her sister, Natali, a fashion student, was born in 1992. Despite her seemingly affluent upbringing in the family home in Manhattan's Upper West Side, Gaga has stressed that she did not come from a wealthy background, stating that her parents "both came from lower-class families, so we've worked for everything—my mother worked eight to eight out of the house, in telecommunications, and so did my father."

From the age of 11, Gaga – who was raised Roman Catholic – attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart, a private all-girls Roman Catholic school on Manhattan's Upper East Side. She described her academic life in high school as "very dedicated, very studious, very disciplined" but also "a bit insecure": "I used to get made fun of for being either too provocative or too eccentric, so I started to tone it down. I didn't fit in, and I felt like a freak." Acquaintances dispute that she did not fit in at school. "She had a core group of friends; she was a good student. She liked boys a lot, but singing was No. 1," recalled a former high school classmate.

Lady Gaga began playing the piano at the age of 4, went on to write her first piano ballad at 13, and started to perform at open mike nights by the age of 14. Her passion for musical theatre brought her lead roles in high school productions, including Adelaide in ''Guys and Dolls'' and Philia in ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum''. She also appeared in a very small role as a mischievous classmate in the television drama series ''The Sopranos'' in a 2001 episode titled "The Telltale Moozadell" in addition to unsuccessfully auditioning for parts in New York shows. When her time at the Convent of the Sacred Heart came to an end, her mother encouraged her to apply for the Collaborative Arts Project 21 (CAP21), a musical theatre training conservatory at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. After gaining early admission at 17, she eventually lived in an NYU dorm on 11th Street.

CAP21 prepared her for her future career focus in "music, art, sex and celebrity" where, in addition to sharpening her songwriting skills, she composed essays and analytical papers on art, religion, social issues and politics, including a thesis on pop artists Spencer Tunick and Damien Hirst. With CAP21, she also tried out for and won auditions, including the part of an unsuspecting diner customer where MTV's ''Boiling Points'', a prank reality television show, was being filmed. Not withstanding these achievements, she felt that she was more creative than some of her classmates. "Once you learn how to think about art, you can teach yourself," she said. By the second semester of her sophomore year, she withdrew to focus on her musical career. Her father agreed to pay her rent for a year, on the condition that she re-enroll at Tisch if unsuccessful. "I left my entire family, got the cheapest apartment I could find, and ate shit until somebody would listen," she remembers.

2005–07: Career beginnings

Settled in a small apartment on Rivington Street towards the summer of 2005, Gaga recorded a couple of songs with hip-hop singer Grandmaster Melle Mel, for an audio book accompanying the children's book ''The Portal in the Park'', by Cricket Casey. She also began a band called the Stefani Germanotta Band (SGBand) with some friends from NYU – guitarist Calvin Pia, bassist Eli Silverman, drummer Alex Beckham and booking manager Frank Fredericks – in September of that year. The band played a mixture of songs: some self-penned alongside classic rock numbers like Led Zeppelin's "D'yer Mak'er". Playing in bars like the Greenwich Village's The Bitter End and the Lower East Side's the Mercury Lounge, the band developed a small fan base and caught the eye of music producer Joe Vulpis. Soon after arranging time in Vulpis' studio in the months that followed, SGBand were selling their extended plays ''Words'' and ''Red and Blue'' at gigs around New York while becoming a local fixture of the downtown Lower East Side club scene.

SGBand reached their career peak at the 2006 Songwriters Hall of Fame New Songwriters Showcase at The Cutting Room in June where Wendy Starland, a musician, appeared as a talent scout for music producer Rob Fusari. Starland informed Fusari – who was searching for a female singer to front a new band – of Gaga's ability and contacted her. With SGBand disbanded, Gaga traveled daily to New Jersey to work on songs she had written and compose new material with the music producer. While in collaboration, Fusari compared some of her vocal harmonies to those of Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen. It was Fusari who helped create the moniker Gaga after the Queen song "Radio Ga Ga". Gaga was in the process of trying to come up with a stage name when she received a text message from Fusari that read "Lady Gaga." He explained, "Every day, when Stef came to the studio, instead of saying hello, I would start singing 'Radio Ga Ga'. That was her entrance song" and that the text message was the result of a predictive text glitch that changed "radio" to "lady". She texted back, "That's it," and declared, "Don't ever call me Stefani again." ''The New York Post'', however, has reported that this story is incorrect, and that the name resulted from a marketing meeting.

Although the musical relationship between Fusari and Gaga was unsuccessful at first, the pair soon set up a company titled Team Lovechild in which they recorded and produced electropop tracks and sent them to music industry bosses. Joshua Sarubin, the head of A&R; at Def Jam Recordings, responded positively and vied for the record company to take a chance on her "unusual and provocative" performance. After having his boss Antonio "L.A." Reid in agreement, Gaga was signed to Def Jam in September 2006 with the intention of having an album ready in nine months. However, she was dropped by the label after only three months – an unfortunate period of her life that would later inspire her treatment for the music video for her 2011 single "Marry the Night". Devastated, Gaga returned to the solace of the family home for Christmas and the nightlife culture of the Lower East Side.

She became increasingly experimental: fascinating herself with emerging neo-burlesque shows, go-go dancing at bars dressed in little more than a bikini in addition to experimenting with drugs. Her father, however, did not understand the reason behind her drug intake and could not look at her for several months. "I was onstage in a thong, with a fringe hanging over my ass thinking that had covered it, lighting hairsprays on fire, go-go dancing to Black Sabbath and singing songs about oral sex. The kids would scream and cheer and then we'd all go grab a beer. It represented freedom to me. I went to a Catholic school but it was on the New York underground that I found myself." It was then when she became romantically involved with a heavy metal drummer in a relationship and break-up she likened to the musical film ''Grease'': "I was his Sandy, and he was my Danny, and I just broke." He later became an inspiration behind some of her later songs.

During this time, she met performance artist Lady Starlight, who helped mold her on-stage persona. Starlight explained that, upon their first meeting, Gaga wanted to perform with her to songs she had recorded with Fusari. Like SGBand, the pair soon began performing at many of the downtown club venues like the Mercury Lounge, The Bitter End, and the Rockwood Music Hall. Their live performance art piece was known as "Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue" and, billed as "The Ultimate Pop Burlesque Rockshow", was a low-fi tribute to 1970s variety acts. Soon after, the two were invited to play at the 2007 Lollapalooza music festival in August that year. The show was critically acclaimed, and their performance received positive reviews. Having initially focused on avant-garde electronic dance music, Gaga had found her musical niche when she began to incorporate pop melodies and the glam rock of David Bowie and Queen into her music.

While Gaga and Starlight were busy performing, producer Rob Fusari continued to work on the songs he had created with Gaga. Fusari sent these songs to his friend, producer and record executive Vincent Herbert. Herbert was quick to sign her to his label Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records, upon its establishment in 2007. Gaga later credited Herbert as the man who discovered her, adding "I really feel like we made pop history, and we're gonna keep going." Having already served as an apprentice songwriter under an internship at Famous Music Publishing, which was later acquired by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Gaga subsequently struck a music publishing deal with Sony/ATV. As a result, she was hired to write songs for Britney Spears and labelmates New Kids on the Block, Fergie, and the Pussycat Dolls.

While Gaga was writing at Interscope, singer-songwriter Akon recognized her vocal abilities when she sang a reference vocal for one of his tracks in studio. He then convinced Interscope-Geffen-A&M; Chairman and CEO Jimmy Iovine to form a joint deal by having her also sign with his own label Kon Live Distribution, making her his "franchise player." As 2007 came to a close, her former management company introduced her to songwriter and producer RedOne, whom they also managed. The first song she produced with RedOne was "Boys Boys Boys", a mash-up inspired by Mötley Crüe's "Girls, Girls, Girls" and AC/DC's "T.N.T.". Gaga continued her collaboration with RedOne in the recording studio for a week on her debut album; making the chart-topping singles "Just Dance", "Poker Face" and "LoveGame" together. Gaga also joined the roster of Cherrytree Records, an Interscope imprint established by producer and songwriter Martin Kierszenbaum, after co-writing four songs with Kierszenbaum including the singles "Christmas Tree" and "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)". Despite her secure record deal, she admitted that there was fear about her being too "racy", "dance-orientated" and "underground" for the mainstream market. Her response: "My name is Lady Gaga, I've been on the music scene for years, and I'm telling you, this is what's next."

2008–10: ''The Fame'' and ''The Fame Monster''

By 2008, Gaga relocated to Los Angeles to work extensively with her record label to complete her debut album while setting up her own creative team modeled on Andy Warhol's Factory: Haus of Gaga. Intensive work continued on the album, described as an exploration of her obsession with fame and the intricacies of a rich and famous lifestyle, combining genres "from Def Leppard drums and hand claps to metal drums on urban tracks" while drawing inspiration from 1980s synthpop and incorporating dance music with clear hooks. ''The Fame'' was first released on August 19, 2008 but, radio play being slow, Gaga supported it by performing around Europe and in small gay clubs around the US in addition to being billed as a supporting artist on the North American leg of New Kids on the Block's reunion concert tour. A sleeper hit, lead single "Just Dance" had preceded the album's release by four months but only hit the summit of the international charts in January 2009.

"Just Dance" provoked the instant success of ''The Fame'' after earning her first Grammy Award nomination (for Best Dance Recording) while becoming one of the best-selling singles worldwide. Receiving positive reviews from contemporary critics who commended Gaga's ability to discover a melodious hook, the album went to number one in Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and the UK and appeared in the top five in Australia, the US and 15 other countries. It also stayed atop the Dance/Electronic Albums chart for 106 non-consecutive weeks and, since its release, has sold over 12 million copies worldwide. Gaga achieved a greater unexpected success when "Poker Face", another sleeper hit, reached number one in most major music markets worldwide in early 2009. The follow-up single won the award for Best Dance Recording at the 52nd Grammy Awards over nominations for Song of the Year and Record of the Year, while ''The Fame'' was nominated for Album of the Year and won Best Dance/Electronica Album. Gaga was the recipient of other honors in 2009 including the accumulation of 3 of 9 MTV Video Music Awards nominations – winning Best New Artist while the video for her single "Paparazzi" gained Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects – and ''Billboard'' magazine's Rising Star award. In addition to being an opening act on the Pussycat Dolls' Doll Domination Tour during the first half of 2009 in Europe and Oceania, she also embarked on her own six-month critically appreciated worldwide concert tour The Fame Ball Tour which ran from March to September 2009.

While she traveled the globe, she wrote ''The Fame Monster'', an EP of eight songs released in November 2009. Each song, dealing with the darker side of fame from personal experience, is expressed through a monster metaphor. Making Gaga the first artist in digital history to have three singles (alongside "Just Dance" and "Poker Face") to pass the four million mark in digital sales, its lead single "Bad Romance" topped the charts in eighteen countries and reached the top two in the US, Australia and New Zealand while accruing the Grammy Awards for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Short Form Music Video. The second single "Telephone", which features singer Beyoncé, was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and became Gaga's fourth UK number one single; its accompanying music video, although controversial, receiving positive reception from contemporary critics who praised her for "the musicality and showmanship of Michael Jackson and the powerful sexuality and provocative instincts of Madonna." Her following single "Alejandro" paired Gaga with fashion photographer Steven Klein for a music video similarly as controversial – critics complimented its ideas and dark nature but the Catholic League attacked Gaga for her alleged use of blasphemy. Despite the controversy surrounding her music videos, they made Gaga the first artist to gain over one billion viral views on video-sharing website YouTube. At the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, Gaga won 8 of her 13 nominations, including Video of the Year for "Bad Romance" (with "Telephone" also nominated), which made her the first female artist to be nominated twice for the award. In addition, ''The Fame Monster'' garnered a total of six nominations at the 53rd Grammy Awards – equating to the amount of Grammy nominations her debut received – winning Best Pop Vocal Album and earning her a second-consecutive nomination for Album of the Year.

The success of the album allowed Gaga to start her second worldwide concert tour, The Monster Ball Tour, just weeks after the release of ''The Fame Monster'' and months after having finished The Fame Ball Tour. Upon finishing in May 2011, the critically acclaimed and commercially accomplished tour ran for over one and a half years and grossed $227.4 million, making it one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time and the highest-grossing for a debut headlining artist. Concerts performed at Madison Square Garden in New York City were filmed for a HBO television special titled ''Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden''. The special accrued one of its five Emmy Award nominations and has since been released on DVD and Blu-ray. Gaga also performed songs from the album at international events such as the 2009 Royal Variety Performance where she sang "Speechless", a power ballad, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II; the 52nd Grammy Awards where her opening performance consisted of the song "Poker Face" and a piano duet of "Speechless" in a medley of "Your Song" with Elton John; and the 2010 BRIT Awards where a performance of an acoustic rendition of "Telephone" followed by "Dance in the Dark" dedicated to the late fashion designer and close friend, Alexander McQueen, supplemented her hat-trick win at the awards ceremony. Other performances may have included her participation in Michael Jackson's This Is It concert series at London's O2 Arena. "I was actually asked to open for Michael on his tour," she stated. "We were going to open for him at the O2 and we were working on making it happen. I believe there was some talk about us, lots of the openers, doing duets with Michael on stage."

Nevertheless, she realized a collaboration with consumer electronic company Beats by Dr. Dre to create a pair of in-ear jewel-encrusted headphones titled Heartbeats. "They are designed to be the first ever fashion accessories that double as the absolute best sonically sounding headphones in the world," she commented. Gaga also partnered with Polaroid in January 2010. Excited about "blending the iconic history of Polaroid and instant film with the digital era," Gaga was named Creative Director and by the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show, unveiled the first trio of new products called Grey Label: a pair of picture-taking sunglasses, a paperback-sized mobile printing unit and an updated version of the traditional Polaroid camera. But her collaboration with past producer Rob Fusari led to her production team, Mermaid Music LLC, being sued in March 2010 when he claimed that he was entitled to a 20% share of the company's earnings. Gaga's lawyer, Charles Ortner, described the agreement with Fusari as "unlawful" and declined to comment, but five months later, the New York Supreme Court dismissed both the lawsuit and a countersuit by Gaga. In addition to such strife, Gaga was tested borderline positive for lupus, but claimed not to be affected by the symptoms. The revelations caused considerable dismay among fans, leading to Gaga addressing the matter in an interview with Larry King, saying she hopes to avoid symptoms by maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

2011–present: ''Born This Way''

Gaga released her second studio album and third major release, ''Born This Way'', on May 23, 2011. Described as a marriage of electronic music with metal, rock 'n' roll, pop and anthemic style melodies with sledge-hammering dance beats and referred to as an album "about what what keeps us up at night and what makes us afraid," Gaga characterized it as "something so much deeper than a wig or lipstick or a fucking meat dress" and, upon hearing it, Akon remarked that she is taking music to the "next level." Upon release, the album received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised its range of different styles and her vocals. ''Born This Way'' sold 1.108 million copies in its first week in the US, debuted atop the ''Billboard'' 200, and topped the charts in more than 20 other countries. In addition to exceeding 8 million copies in worldwide sales, ''Born This Way'' has received 3 Grammy Award nominations, including her third consecutive for Album of the Year.

In the months prior to its unveiling, Gaga released the singles "Born This Way", "Judas" and "The Edge of Glory" alongside a promotional single "Hair". The eponymous lead single, which was first sung live at the 53rd Grammy Awards in a performance that saw Gaga emerge from an egg-like vessel, deals with self-acceptance regardless of race or sexual orientation and debuted atop the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming the 19th number-one debut and the 1,000th number-one single in the history of the charts. It sold more than 3 million digital copies in the US by October 2011, becoming her eighth consecutive single to exceed sales of 2 million and one of her five best-selling singles worldwide. Critics noted artistic and cultural references and praised the concept of the song's accompanying music video, in which Gaga gives birth to a new race amidst surrealistic images. The music video for "Judas", in which Gaga portrays Mary Magdalene, and Biblical figures such as Jesus Christ and Judas Iscariot are also featured, was criticized for its religious references; the video, nonetheless, received acclaim for its overall delivery and praise from others who claimed that there was nothing offensive about it. "Judas" also peaked within the top ten in several major musical markets while "The Edge of Glory", first a commercial success in digital outlets, was later released as a single to critical appreciation, accompanied by a music video which notably stripped down compared to her usually "extravagant" efforts.

She released "You and I" and "Marry the Night" as the fourth and fifth singles from ''Born This Way''. Although their "crazy and ambitious" music videos were praised for their audacity, both songs failed to match the similar international success that its predececors achieved. Nonetheless, she continued her musical endeavors by pairing with veteran artists like Tony Bennett to record a jazz version of "The Lady Is a Tramp". She also recorded a duet with Cher on a "massive" and "beautiful" track, which Gaga "wrote a long time ago, and I've never put it on one of my own albums for, really, no particular reason." Gaga also lent her vocals to an original duet with Elton John for the animated feature film ''Gnomeo & Juliet''. The song, "Hello, Hello", was released without Gaga's vocals but the duet version features in the film. As she enters 2012, songs for a new album are "beginning to flourish" as she works with producer Fernando Garibay while the accompanying tour for ''Born This Way'' materializes.

Gaga continued her live appearances throughout 2011 including a one-of-a-kind concert at the Sydney Town Hall on July 13 in promotion of ''Born This Way''. She also performed at the celebration of former US president Bill Clinton's 65th Birthday alongside Bono, Stevie Wonder and Usher, among others, wearing a blond wig as a nod to the famous performance of Marilyn Monroe for John F. Kennedy and changing the lyrics to "You and I" specifically for the performance. Televised appearances comprised her own Thanksgiving Day television special entitled ''A Very Gaga Thanksgiving'' which was critically lauded, attained 5.749 million American viewers, and spawned the release of her fourth extended play ''A Very Gaga Holiday''. Her second performance on ''Saturday Night Live'' saw her singing a selection of ''Born This Way'' songs alongside appearing in number of sketches with Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg.

Lady Gaga will start her Born This Way Ball Tour on April 27, 2012 at the Olympic Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.

Artistry

Influences

Gaga's parents, who exposed her to artists like The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Elton John, had significant influence on her childhood and, presently, still do. "I am a real family girl. When it comes to love and loyalty, I am very old-fashioned. And I am quite down-to-earth for such an eccentric person," she insists. "I'm quite traditional in the family sense. I've always been that way." According to Gaga, Joanne Germanotta – her aunt who died of lupus aged 19 – lives on through her and inspires all of her music and art. Joanne's date of death is tattooed on Gaga's body and, despite dying 12 years before her birth, Gaga commented, "I really believe I have two hearts. I think I actually carry two souls in my body, and that I'm living out the rest of her life and her goodness – she died a virgin, she died never having experienced all these things that we all get to love and experience in our lives." Another spiritual influence on Gaga has been the Indian physician, public speaker and writer Deepak Chopra. Labeling him a "true inspiration", she stated that "he's always reminded me to work in a life of service to my fans and to fulfill my vision and my destiny" in addition to thinking about Chopra when it comes to her work as a musician: "I want so much for it to go beyond the music for my fans."

Musically, Gaga takes influence from numerous musicians from dance-pop singers like Madonna and Michael Jackson to glam rock artists like David Bowie and Queen whilst employing the theatrics of artists like Andy Warhol and of her musical theatre roots in performance. The Queen song "Radio Ga Ga" inspired her stage name: "I adored Freddie Mercury and Queen had a hit called 'Radio Gaga'. That's why I love the name [...] Freddie was unique—one of the biggest personalities in the whole of pop music," she commented. Gaga receives regular comparisons to recording artist Madonna who admits that she sees herself reflected in Gaga. In response to the comparisons, Gaga stated, "I don't want to sound presumptuous, but I've made it my goal to revolutionize pop music. The last revolution was launched by Madonna 25 years ago" in addition to commenting that "there is really no one that is a more adoring and loving Madonna fan than me. I am the hugest fan personally and professionally." Like Madonna, Gaga has continued to reinvent herself and, over the years of her career, has drawn musical inspiration from a diverse mix of artists including Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, Grace Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Blondie singer Debbie Harry, Scissor Sisters, Prince, Marilyn Manson and Yoko Ono.

Gaga has identified fashion as a major influence and has been stylistically compared to English eccentrics Leigh Bowery and Isabella Blow and to American recording artist Cher. She commented that "as a child, she somehow absorbed Cher's out-there fashion sense and made it her own." She has considered Donatella Versace her muse and the late British fashion designer and close friend Alexander McQueen as an inspiration, admitting that "I miss Lee every time I get dressed" while channeling him in some of her work. Modeled on Andy Warhol's Factory, Gaga has her own creative production team, which she handles personally, called the Haus of Gaga, who create many of her clothes, stage props, and hairdos. Her adoration of fashion came from her mother, who she stated was "always very well kept and beautiful." "When I'm writing music, I'm thinking about the clothes I want to wear on stage. It's all about everything altogether—performance art, pop performance art, fashion. For me, it's everything coming together and being a real story that will bring back the super-fan. I want to bring that back. I want the imagery to be so strong that fans will want to eat and taste and lick every part of us." The Global Language Monitor named "Lady Gaga" as the Top Fashion Buzzword with her trademark "no pants" a close third. ''Entertainment Weekly'' put her outfits on its end of the decade "best-of" list, saying, "Whether it's a dress made of Muppets or strategically placed bubbles, Gaga's outré ensembles brought performance art into the mainstream." Gaga made her runway debut at Thierry Mugler's Paris fashion show in March 2011 where she wore items from Nicola Formichetti's debut women's wear collection. In June of the same year, she won the Council of Fashion Designers of America Award for Fashion Icon. She has since devoted her time as a fashion columnist for ''V'' magazine, where she has written about her creative process, her studying of the world of pop culture, and her ability to tune into the evolution of pop-culture meme.

Musical style

Continually experimenting with new musical ideas and images, Gaga's musical and performance style is the subject of much analysis and scrutiny from critics. She professes that she is "liberating" herself by constantly reinventing her sound and image, insisting that she has been drawn to such a practice since her childhood. Vocally, Gaga possesses the range of a contralto and exhibits "overwhelming expression, instinctive vocal phrasing, '80s rock reminiscent chest belts and animalistic vocal ticks" while being able to move through 2.4 octaves. Refusing to lip sync, Gaga – whose range is frequently compared to those of Madonna and Gwen Stefani – has manipulated her vocal style over the course of her career yet considers ''Born This Way'' (2011) "much more vocally up to par with what I've always been capable of." In summation of her voice, ''Entertainment Weekly'' wrote, "There's an immense emotional intelligence behind the way she uses her voice. Almost never does she overwhelm a song with her vocal ability, recognizing instead that artistry is to be found in nuance rather than lung power."

Although her early lyrics have been criticized for lacking intellectual stimulation, "[Gaga] does manage to get you moving and grooving at an almost effortless pace." She admits that her songwriting has been misinterpreted; her friend and blogger Perez Hilton articulated her message in a clearer way: "you write really deep intelligent lyrics with shallow concepts." Gaga opined, "Perez is very intelligent and clearly listened to my record from beginning to end, and he is correct." "I love songwriting. It's so funny – I will just jam around in my underwear or I could be washing my dishes. I wrote several songs just at the piano," she confesses. Gaga believes that "all good music can be played at a piano and still sound like a hit." She has covered a wide variety of topics in her songs: while ''The Fame'' (2008) meditates on the lust for stardom, ''The Fame Monster'' (2009) expresses fame's dark side through monster metaphors. ''Born This Way'' (2011) is sung in English, French, German and Spanish and includes common themes in Gaga's controversial songwriting like love, sex, religion, money, drugs, identity, liberation, sexuality, freedom and individualism.

The structure of her music is said to echo classic 1980s pop and 1990s Europop. Her debut album ''The Fame'' (2008) provoked ''The Sunday Times'' to assert "in combining music, fashion, art and technology, [Gaga] evokes Madonna, Gwen Stefani circa 'Hollaback Girl', Kylie Minogue 2001 or Grace Jones right now" and a critic from ''The Boston Globe'' to comment that she draws "obvious inspirations from Madonna to Gwen Stefani... in [her] girlish but sturdy pipes and bubbly beats." Music critic Simon Reynolds wrote that "Everything about Gaga came from electroclash, except the music, which wasn't particularly 1980s, just ruthlessly catchy naughties pop glazed with Auto-Tune and undergirded with R&B;-ish beats." The follow-up ''The Fame Monster'' (2009), saw Gaga's taste for pastiche, drawing on "Seventies arena glam, perky ABBA disco and sugary throwbacks like Stacey Q" while ''Born This Way'' (2011) also draws on the records of her childhood and still has the "electro-sleaze beats and Eurodisco chorus chants" of its predecessor but includes genres as diverse as opera, heavy metal, disco, and rock and roll. "There isn't a subtle moment on the album, but even at its nuttiest, the music is full of wide-awake emotional details," wrote ''Rolling Stone'', who concluded: "The more excessive Gaga gets, the more honest she sounds."

Performances and music videos

Her performances are described as "highly entertaining and innovative"; the blood-spurting performance of "Paparazzi" at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards was described as "eye-popping" by MTV. She continued the "blood soaked" theme in The Monster Ball Tour, in which she wore a revealing leather corset and is "attacked" by a performer dressed in black who gnaws on her throat, causing "blood" to spurt down her chest, after which she lies "dying" in a pool of blood. Her performances of that scene on tour in England triggered protests from family groups and fans in the aftermath of a local tragedy, in which a taxi driver had murdered 12 people. "What happened in Bradford is very fresh in people's minds and given all the violence which happened in Cumbria just hours earlier, it was insensitive," said Lynn Costello of Mothers Against Violence. Her unconventionality continued at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards when she performed in drag as her male alter ego, Jo Calderone, and delivered a lovesick monologue before a performance of her song "You and I". Chris Rock has defended her flamboyant and provocative behavior. "Well, she's Lady Gaga," he said. "She's not 'Lady Behave Yourself.' Do you want great behavior from a person named Gaga? Is this what you were expecting?" As Gaga's choreographer and creative director, Laurieann Gibson provided much material for her shows and videos for four years but the pair parted in November 2011. Gaga replaced her with Gibson's assistant Richard Jackson. Gaga admits to being a perfectionist when it comes to her elaborate shows. "I'm very bossy. I can scream my head off if I see one light fixture out. I'm very detailed – every minute of the show has got to be perfect."

With constant costume changes, backup dancers, and plenty of provoctative visuals, Gaga's music videos are often described as short films. "Being provocative is not just about getting people's attention. It's about saying something that really affects people in a real way, in a positive way," she professes. Exploring bondage and sadomasochism in addition to highlighting prevalent feminist themes, "the three central themes that shape Lady Gaga's music videos are sex, violence, and power." "Vaudevillian and carnal, Lady Gaga has got the knack of sending rape-like fantasies—in songs and videos that double as catch club hits—to the top of the charts," wrote one critic. "Whether it is physical violence or sexual exploitation, these videos offer vivid depictions of male power over women's bodies," wrote another. While she labels herself "a little bit of a feminist" (she rejects man-hating feminism) and asserts that she is "sexually empowering women," Gaga strives to empower young women to stand up for what they believe in. She also attempts to liberate her fans so they can feel "less alone." "She not only reiterates her assertion of total originality," professed pop critic Ann Powers, "but also finesses it until it's both a philosophical stance about how constructing a persona from pop-cultural sources can be an expression of a person's truth—a la those drag queens Gaga sincerely admires—and a bit of a feminist act." In summation of her videos, ''Rolling Stone'' used the rhetoric: "Does anyone look to a Lady Gaga video for restraint?"

Public image

While ''Rolling Stone'' named Gaga the "Queen of Pop" in 2011, public reception of Gaga's music, fashion sense and persona are mixed. Her status as a role model, self-esteem booster for her fans, trailblazer and fashion icon who breathes new life into the industry is by turns affirmed and denied. Gaga's albums have received mostly positive reviews and critics have pointed out her unique place in pop music, the need for new movements in popular culture, the attention Gaga brings to modern social issues, and the inherently subjective nature of her art. In view of her influence on modern culture and her rise to global fame, sociologist Mathieu Deflem of the University of South Carolina has organized a course titled "Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame" since the spring of 2011 with the objective of unravelling "some of the sociologically relevant dimensions of the fame of Lady Gaga."

Contrary to her outré style, the ''New York Post'' described her early look as like "a refugee from ''Jersey Shore''" with "big black hair, heavy eye makeup and tight, revealing clothes." Lady Gaga is a natural brunette; she bleached her hair blonde because she was often mistaken for Amy Winehouse. She has nine tattoos on the left side of her body (her father has banned etchings on her right): a unicorn head with a ribbon wrapped around its horn that says "Born This Way"; a small heart with "dad" written inside it; several white roses; a treble clef; three daises; "Tokyo Love" with a little heart; "Little Monsters" written in cursive; a peace symbol, which was inspired by John Lennon, whom she stated was her hero; and a curling German script on her left arm quoting the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, her favorite writer, commenting that his "philosophy of solitude" spoke to her. Towards the end of 2008, comparisons were made between the fashions of Lady Gaga and recording artist Christina Aguilera that noted similarities in their styling, hair, and make-up. Aguilera stated that she was "completely unaware of [Gaga]" and "didn't know if it [was] a man or a woman." Lady Gaga released a statement in which she welcomed the comparisons due to the attention providing useful publicity, saying, "She's such a huge star and if anything I should send her flowers, because a lot of people in America didn't know who I was until that whole thing happened. It really put me on the map in a way." When Gaga briefly met with US president Barack Obama at a Human Rights Campaign fundraiser, he described the interaction as "intimidating" as she was dressed in 16-inch heels making her undoubtedly the tallest woman in the room.

When interviewed by Barbara Walters for her annual ABC News special ''10 Most Fascinating People'' in 2009, Gaga dismissed the claim that she is intersex as an urban legend. Responding to a question on this issue, she stated, "At first it was very strange and everyone sorta said, 'That's really quite a story!' But in a sense, I portray myself in a very androgynous way, and I love androgyny." In addition to Aguilera's statement, comparisons continued into 2010, when Aguilera released the music video of her single "Not Myself Tonight". Critics noted similarities between the song and its accompanying music video with Lady Gaga's video for "Bad Romance". There have also been similar comparisons made between Lady Gaga's style and that of fashion icon Dale Bozzio from the band Missing Persons. Some have considered their respective images to be strikingly parallel although fans of Missing Persons note that Bozzio had pioneered the look more than thirty years earlier.

Nonetheless, Gaga was named one of Vogue.com UK's Best Dressed people of 2010, which partly was awarded in recognition of the meat dress she wore to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. The dress – supplemented by boots, a purse and a hat – were all fabricated from the flesh of a dead animal. Named ''Time'' magazine's Fashion Statement of 2010, it received divided opinions – evoking the attention of worldwide media but invoking the fury of animal rights organization PETA. She denied any intention of causing disrespect to any person or organization and wished for the dress to be interpreted as a statement of human rights with focus upon those in the LGBT community. In a question posed about the necessary procedure to attach the prosthetics to give the unconventional appearance of recent horn-like ridges on her cheekbones, temples, and shoulders, Gaga responded, "They're not prosthetics, they're my bones." She also clarified that they were not the result of plastic surgery, believing such surgery to only be the modern byproduct of fame-induced insecurity to which she does not subscribe. The interviewer's further probing brought Gaga to the conclusion that they are an artistic representation of her inner inspirational light and part of the "performance piece" that is her musical persona: an inevitability of her becoming who she now is.

Gaga often refers to her fans as "Little Monsters" and in dedication, has had that inscription tattooed on "the arm that holds my mic." Her treatment of her "Little Monsters" has inspired criticism, due to the highly commercial nature of her music and image. To some, this dichotomy contravenes the concept of outsider culture. Camille Paglia in her 2010 cover story "Lady Gaga and the death of sex" in ''The Sunday Times'' asserts thatGaga "is more an identity thief than an erotic taboo breaker, a mainstream manufactured product who claims to be singing for the freaks, the rebellious and the dispossessed when she is none of those." Writing for ''The Guardian'', Kitty Empire opined that the dichotomy "...allows the viewer to have a 'transgressive' experience without being required to think. At [her performance's] core, though, is the idea that Gaga is at one with the freaks and outcasts. The Monster Ball is where we can all be free. This is arrant nonsense, as the scads of people buying Gaga's cunningly commercial music are not limited to the niche worlds of drag queens and hip night creatures from which she draws her inspiration. But Gaga seems sincere."

Philanthropy

Besides her career in music, Gaga has also contributed to various charities and humanitarian works. In 2011, she launched her own non-profit organization, the Born This Way Foundation, which focuses on youth empowerment and issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring, and career development. "My mother and I have initiated a passion project. We call it the Born This Way Foundation," Gaga said in a statement about the foundation, which takes its name from the 2011 single and album. "Together we hope to establish a standard of Bravery and Kindness, as well as a community worldwide that protects and nurtures others in the face of bullying and abandonment." The foundation will work with a number of partners, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The California Endowment and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

For natural disasters, Gaga has also helped various relief efforts. Although declining an invitation to appear on the single "We Are the World 25" to benefit victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, she donated the proceeds of her January 24, 2010 concert at New York's Radio City Music Hall to the country's reconstruction relief fund. All profits from her official online store on that day were also donated. Gaga announced that an estimated total of $500,000 was collected for the fund. Hours after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, 2011, Gaga tweeted a message and a link to Japan Prayer Bracelets. All revenue from a bracelet she designed in conjunction with the company was donated to relief efforts. As of March 29, 2011, the bracelets raised $1.5 million. However, attorney Alyson Oliver filed a lawsuit against Gaga in Detroit in June 2011, noting that the bracelet was subject to a sales tax and an extra $3.99 shipping charge was added to the price. She also believed that not all proceeds from the bracelets would go to the relief efforts, demanding a public accounting of the campaign and refunds for people who had bought the bracelet. Lady Gaga's spokesperson called the lawsuit "meritless" and "misleading". On June 25, 2011, Gaga performed at MTV Japan's charity show in Makuhari Messe, which benefited the Japanese Red Cross.

Gaga also contributes in the fight against HIV and AIDS, focusing on educating young women about the risks of the disease. In collaboration with Cyndi Lauper, Gaga joined forces with MAC Cosmetics to launch a line of lipstick under their supplementary cosmetic line, Viva Glam. Titled Viva Glam Gaga and Viva Glam Cyndi for each contributor respectively, all net proceeds of the lipstick line were donated to the cosmetic company's campaign to prevent HIV and AIDS worldwide. In a press release, Gaga declared, "I don't want Viva Glam to be just a lipstick you buy to help a cause. I want it to be a reminder when you go out at night to put a condom in your purse right next to your lipstick." The sales of Gaga-endorsed Viva Glam lipstick and lipgloss have raised more than $202 million to fight HIV and AIDS.

With the performance of the bilingual song "Americano" from her second studio album ''Born This Way'' (2011), Gaga jumped into the debate surrounding SB 1070, Arizona's recently-enacted anti-immigration law. She premiered the tune on the Guadalajara, Mexico stop of her "Monster Ball" tour, telling the local press that she could not "stand by many of the unjust immigration laws" in the United States.

LGBT advocacy

Gaga attributes much of her early success as a mainstream artist to her gay fans and is considered to be a gay icon. Early in her career she had difficulty getting radio airplay, and stated, "The turning point for me was the gay community. I've got so many gay fans and they're so loyal to me and they really lifted me up. They'll always stand by me and I'll always stand by them. It's not an easy thing to create a fanbase." She thanked FlyLife, a Manhattan-based LGBT marketing company with whom her label Interscope works, in the liner notes of ''The Fame'', saying, "I love you so much. You were the first heartbeat in this project, and your support and brilliance means the world to me. I will always fight for the gay community hand in hand with this incredible team." One of her first televised performances was in May 2008 at the NewNowNext Awards, an awards show aired by the LGBT television network Logo, where she sang her song "Just Dance". In June of the same year, she performed the song again at the San Francisco Pride event.

After ''The Fame'' was released, she revealed that the song "Poker Face" was about her bisexuality. In an interview with ''Rolling Stone'', she spoke about how her boyfriends tended to react to her bisexuality, saying "The fact that I'm into women, they're all intimidated by it. It makes them uncomfortable. They're like, 'I don't need to have a threesome. I'm happy with just you'." When she appeared as a guest on ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' in May 2009, she praised DeGeneres for being "an inspiration for women and for the gay community". She proclaimed that the October 11, 2009 National Equality March rally on the National Mall was "the single most important event of her career." As she exited, she left with an exultant "Bless God and bless the gays," similar to her 2009 MTV Video Music Awards acceptance speech for Best New Artist a month earlier. At the Human Rights Campaign Dinner, held the same weekend as the rally, she performed a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" declaring that "I'm not going to [play] one of my songs tonight because tonight is not about me, it's about you." She changed the original lyrics of the song to reflect the death of Matthew Shepard, a college student murdered because of his sexuality.

Gaga attended the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards accompanied by four service members of the United States Armed Forces (Mike Almy, David Hall, Katie Miller and Stacy Vasquez), all of whom, under the United States military's "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) policy, had been prohibited from serving openly because of their sexuality. In addition, Gaga wore a dress fabricated from the flesh of a dead animal to the awards ceremony. Gaga wished that the dress, more widely known as the "meat dress", was interpreted as a statement of human rights with focus upon those in the LGBT community adding that "If we don't stand up for what we believe in and if we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our own bones." She later released three videos on YouTube videos urging her fans to contact their Senators in an effort to overturn the policy. In late September 2010 she spoke at the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network's "4the14K" Rally in Deering Oaks Park in Portland, Maine. The name of the rally signified the number – an estimated 14,000 – of service members discharged under the DADT policy at the time. During her remarks, she urged members of the U.S. Senate (and in particular, moderate Republican Senators from Maine, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins) to vote in favor of legislation that would repeal the DADT policy. Following this event, editors of ''The Advocate'' commented that she had become "the real fierce advocate" for gays and lesbians, one that Barack Obama had promised to be.

Gaga appeared at Europride, a pan-European international event dedicated to LGBT pride, held in Rome in June 2011. In a nearly twenty-minute speech, she criticized the intolerant state of gay rights in many European countries and described homosexuals as "revolutionaries of love" before performing acoustic renderings of "Born This Way" and "The Edge of Glory" in front of thousands at the Circus Maximus. She stated that "Today and every day we fight for freedom. We fight for justice. We beckon for compassion, understanding and above all we want full equality now". Gaga revealed that she is often questioned why she dedicates herself to "gayspeak" and "how gay" she is, to which, she told the audience: "Why is this question, why is this issue so important? My answer is: I am a child of diversity, I am one with my generation, I feel a moral obligation as a woman, or a man, to exercise my revolutionary potential and make the world a better place." She then joked: "On a gay scale from 1 to 10, I'm a Judy Garland fucking 42."

Discography

''The Fame'' (2008)

''The Fame Monster'' (2009)

''Born This Way'' (2011)

Filmography

''Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden'' (2011)

''A Very Gaga Thanksgiving'' (2011)

Concert tours

The Fame Ball Tour (2009)

Fame Kills: Starring Kanye West and Lady Gaga (2009–10) (canceled)

The Monster Ball Tour (2009–11)

The Born This Way Ball Tour (2012–13)

See also

List of awards and nominations received by Lady Gaga

Honorific nicknames in popular music

List of best-selling music artists

References

Further reading

Monster Anthems (2011) by Robert Christgau

External links

Slide show ''Vanity Fair''

Category:1986 births Category:American contraltos Category:American dance musicians Category:American electronic musicians Category:American female pop singers Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:American performance artists Category:American pop singer-songwriters Category:American Roman Catholics Category:Androgyny Category:Bisexual musicians Category:Brit Award winners Category:Echo winners Category:English-language singers Category:Feminist musicians Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Interscope Records artists Category:Keytarists Category:LGBT Christians Category:LGBT musicians from the United States Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:LGBT rights activists Category:Living people Category:People from Manhattan Category:Pseudonymous musicians Category:Singers from New York City Category:Sony/ATV Music Publishing artists Category:Synthpop musicians Category:Tisch School of the Arts alumni Category:Wonky Pop acts

af:Lady Gaga als:Lady Gaga ar:ليدي غاغا an:Lady Gaga frp:Lady Gaga ast:Lady Gaga az:Ledi Qaqa zh-min-nan:Lady Gaga ba:Леди Гага be:Lady Gaga be-x-old:Lady Gaga bg:Лейди Гага bs:Lady Gaga br:Lady Gaga ca:Lady Gaga cv:Леди Гага ceb:Lady Gaga cs:Lady Gaga co:Lady Gaga cy:Lady Gaga da:Lady Gaga de:Lady Gaga dz:Lady Gaga et:Lady Gaga el:Lady Gaga es:Lady Gaga eo:Lady Gaga eu:Lady Gaga fa:لیدی گاگا fo:Lady Gaga fr:Lady Gaga fy:Lady Gaga ga:Lady Gaga gd:Lady Gaga gl:Lady Gaga gan:蕾蒂嘉嘉 glk:لیدی گاگا ko:레이디 가가 hy:Լեդի Գագա hi:लेडी गागा hr:Lady Gaga io:Lady Gaga ig:Lady Gaga ilo:Lady Gaga id:Lady Gaga ik:Lady Gaga is:Lady Gaga it:Lady Gaga he:ליידי גאגא jv:Lady Gaga kn:ಲೇಡಿ ಗಾಗಾ ka:ლედი გაგა csb:Lady GaGa sw:Lady Gaga ku:Lady Gaga ky:Леди Гага mrj:Lady Gaga la:Lady Gaga lv:Lady Gaga lb:Lady Gaga lt:Lady GaGa li:Lady GaGa hu:Lady Gaga mk:Лејди Гага mg:Lady Gaga mt:Lady Gaga mi:Lady Gaga mr:लेडी गागा xmf:ლედი გაგა arz:ليدى جاجا mzn:لیدی گاگا ms:Lady Gaga mwl:Lady Gaga mn:Лэди Гага my:လေဒီဂါဂါ nah:Lady Gaga na:Lady GaGa nl:Lady Gaga ne:लद्य् गग new:लद्य् गग ja:レディー・ガガ nap:Lady Gaga no:Lady Gaga nn:Lady Gaga nrm:Lady Gaga nov:Lady Gaga oc:Lady Gaga mhr:Lady Gaga pap:Lady Gaga nds:Lady Gaga pl:Lady Gaga pt:Lady Gaga ro:Lady Gaga ru:Леди Гага sah:Леди Гага se:Lady Gaga sq:Lady Gaga si:ලේඩි ගාගා simple:Lady Gaga sk:Lady Gaga sl:Lady Gaga szl:Lady GaGa sr:Леди Гага sh:Lady Gaga su:Lady Gaga fi:Lady Gaga sv:Lady Gaga tl:Lady Gaga ta:லேடி காகா th:เลดี้ กาก้า tr:Lady Gaga tw:Lady GaGa uk:Lady Gaga vi:Lady Gaga vo:Lady Gaga vls:Lady Gaga yi:ליידי גאגא yo:Lady Gaga zh-yue:Lady Gaga bat-smg:Lady Gaga zh:女神卡卡