network name	Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK)日本放送協会
network logo
network type	Broadcast radio network and Broadcast television network
picture format	1080i (HDTV)
country	Japan
available	Nationwide and Worldwide
slogan	("Straightforward, earnest")
area	Shibuya, Tokyo
owner	Public Broadcast
launch date	March 22, 1925 (radio) 1950 (television)
past names	Japanese Radio Station (1925-26)
website	nhk.or.jp

terr serv 1	General TV
terr chan 1	Digital–Ch 1 (Tokyo)Digital–Ch 2 (Osaka)Digital–Ch 3 (Nagoya)
terr serv 2	Educational TV
terr chan 2	Digital- Ch 2 (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya)
sat serv 1	BS-1
sat chan 1	Digital-Ch 101
sat serv 2	BS-PREMIUM
sat chan 2	Digital- Ch 103
sat serv 3	NHK WORLD
sat chan 3	nhkTV, nhkRadio Japan
online chan 1	}}

NHK (, ''Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai''; official English name: Japan Broadcasting Corporation) is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee.

NHK operates two terrestrial television services (NHK General TV and NHK Educational TV), two satellite television services (NHK BS-1 and NHK BS Premium, both now a High-definition television service), and three radio networks (NHK Radio 1, NHK Radio 2, and NHK FM).

NHK also provides an international broadcasting service, known as NHK World. NHK World is composed of NHK World TV, NHK World Premium, and the shortwave radio service NHK World Radio Japan. World Radio Japan also makes some of its programs available on the internet.

History

Until the 1940s, NHK was a national radio broadcasting monopoly.

On March 22, 1925, one and a half years after the Great Kantō earthquake, the Radio Japan produced the first radio broadcast in Japan, transmitting from Atago Hill just north of the Tokugawa Tombs in Shiba Park. The first program included Beethoven, classical Japanese music, and a play by ōyō. In the same year, there were also broadcasts from Osaka and Nagoya.

NHK was founded in 1926, modeled on the BBC radio company of the United Kingdom. NHK evolved from the amalgamation of the three regional broadcasting corporations. This merger and reorganization was carried out under the auspices of the pre-war Ministry of Communications.

NHK’s second radio network was started in 1931. And in 1935, NHK started a shortwave radio service for listeners overseas, which was known as ’’‘Radio Japan’’’ in 1930s and 1940s.

In November 1941, the Imperial Japanese Army nationalised all public news agencies and coordinated their efforts through the Information Liaison Confidential Committee. All published and broadcast news reports became official announcements of the Imperial Army General Headquarters in Tokyo for the duration of World War II. The famous Tokyo Rose wartime programs were broadcasts by NHK.

In 1950, post-war three radio rules were enacted including the Broadcast Law (“Hōsō Hō”), and they replaced the pre-war Radio Telegraph Law. Under this law, NHK started afresh as a special corporation to be supported by audiences.

NHK started General TV in 1950 and the Educational TV in 1959. It aired its first color television broadcast in 1960.

In 1980s, NHK BS TV broadcasts were started. And in 1995, NHK started ’’‘NHK World TV’’’.

In 2000, NHK started satellite digital TV broadcasts. And in 2003, terrestrial digital TV broadcasts were started for three megacity areas, which are to be expanded to cover almost all Japan by July 2011.

NHK BS Hi-Vision analog TV was stopped by September 2007.

Since End of September 2008, NHK World TV can be received Free-To-Air over the Astra 19.2°E (Astra 1L) in Europe.

As of 28 November 2008, NHK World TV was seen to start Test transmissions on the Eurobird series of satellites, Free to Air, at 28.5 Degrees East. The transmissions, on 11.680 GHz (Vertical polarity, FEC 2/3, S/R 27.5MBaud), currently appear only by adding the channel manually on Sky Digital equipment, and the channel is currently recognised by a code number, “51108”. It is not currently known how long this service will be available for, or what the plans for NHK World presently are. It appears in the Freesat EPG on channel 209.

License fee

NHK is paid for by license fees (known in Japanese as ). The Broadcast Law which governs NHK’s funding stipulates that any television equipped to receive NHK is required to pay. The fee is standardized, with discounts for office workers and students who commute, as well a general discount for residents of Okinawa prefecture.

However, the Broadcast Law lists no punitive actions for nonpayment; as a result of this, after a rash of NHK-related scandals, the number of people who had not paid the license fee surpassed one million users. This incident sparked debate over the fairness of the fee system. In 2006, the NHK opted to take legal action against those most flagrantly in violation of the law.

NHK domestic broadcasting stations

TV programming

NHK General TV broadcasts a variety of programming. The following are noteworthy:

News

Local, national, and world news reports. NHK News 7 offers bilingual broadcasts on NHK General TV, NHK World TV and NHK World Premium. Its current flagship news program is ''News Watch 9'', also broadcast throughout the whole NHK network. NHK also offers news for the deaf, regional news and children’s news. News Today 30 Minutes is the new name of NHK NEWSWATCH which ran for 6 years. It is an English newscast designed for foreign viewers. On 2 February 2009, NHK World TV changed and the flagship newscast, ''Newsline'', also changed and is currently the flagship newscast on NHK and NHK World TV.

Emergency reporting

Under the Broadcast Act, NHK is under the obligation to broadcast early warning emergency reporting in times of natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis. Their national network of seismometers in cooperation with the Japan Meteorological Agency makes NHK capable of delivering the news in just 2–3 minutes after the quake. They also broadcast air attack warnings in the event of war, using the J-Alert system. All warnings are broadcast in five languages: English, Mandarin, Korean and Portuguese (Japan has small Chinese, Korean and Brazilian populations), as well as Japanese. The warnings were broadcast in these languages during the 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Education

Education programmes are watched nation-wide at primary schools. ''Tensai Terebikun MAX'' (better known as TTK) is a show combining a small amount of education with entertainment. TTK is currently hosted by the Yasuda Big Circus, Maki Nishiyama and a cast of 24 children ranging from ages 8 to 14.

Weather

Weather in detail, nationwide, and international for travellers.

Sports

NHK broadcasts the six annual Grand Sumo tournaments, high-school baseball championships from Koshien Stadium, Olympic Games, National Sports Festival of Japan, and a range of other sports. NHK also broadcasts Boston Red Sox games when Daisuke Matsuzaka pitches.

News analysis

The network carries in-depth reports on current topics, political debate, and similar programming.

Music

The annual ''Kōhaku Uta Gassen'' on New Year’s Eve is the highlight. The weekly schedule includes an amateur hour, and prime-time shows for all ages. Music Japan is shown each week with brand new Japanese pop, and rock acts.

J-Melo is NHK’s first music program to be recorded entirely in English for international consumption.

The NHK Symphony Orchestra, financially sponsored by NHK, was formerly (until 1951) the Japanese Symphony Orchestra. Its website details the orchestra's history and ongoing concert programme.

Drama

A sentimental morning show, a weekly jidaigeki and a year-long show, the ’’Taiga drama’’, spearhead the network’s fiction offerings. But for no special reason, it write wrongly from ''Emperor's family'' to ''Royal family'' in the Webpage of ''Taira no Kiyomori'' that will be broadcasted at 2012 as Taiga drama(http://www9.nhk.or.jp/kiyomori/pre/03/diagram.html 2012 Taiga drama )

NHK is also making efforts to broadcasting the drama made in foreign countries as "".

Documentaries

NHK has become known for its documentary series, first popularized by the mini-series ''Legacy for the Future'', afterwards, "The Silk Road" in ''NHK Tokushu'' (''NHK Special'' at later years), and in ''NHK Special''.

Children

The longest running children’s show in Japan, }}, still airs to this day on NHK-ETV.

''Sesame Street'' was one of the first imports, debuting in 1971. It resumed in 1988, until 2004, when a local adaptation was announced, which NHK refused to be involved in. Teenagers and adults watched the program to learn English (though much later on, a dubbed version was also available). When the American Sesame Street aired on NHK, the channel produced episode guides. In the 2000s, when the show was available in both English and Japanese, ''Sesame English'' was interspersed within the program, first as a replacement for ''Elmo's World'', but later in addition to it.

Other

Cooking, comedy, exercise, gardening, crafts, anime, igo, shogi.

Notable programs

{| |valign=top|

’’Allison & Lillia’’ (2008)

’’Big Wolf on Campus’’ (2002-2003)

’’BuBu ChaCha’’

’’Caillou’’(1998-present)

’’Cardcaptor Sakura’’ (1998-2002)

’’Dynamic China’’ (2007-)

’’Doctor Who’’

’’Doug’’

’’Dungeons & Dragons’’ (1996-2002)

’’Eigo de Shabera Night’’ (2002-2009)

’’Futatsu no Spica’’

’’Future Boy Conan’’ (1978)

’’Guardian of the Sacred Spirit’’ (2007-)

’’Goosebumps’’ (1998-1999)

’’J-Melo’’ (2005-)

’’Kaitai-Shin Show’’

’’Kōhaku Uta Gassen’’

’’Kyo Kara Maoh!’’

’’MAJOR’’ (2004-2009)

’’Minna no Uta’’ (1961-ongoing)

’’Morizzo and Kiccoro’’ (2005 Aichi World Expo season)

’’Mujin Wakusei Survive’’

’’Mysterious Cities of Gold’’ (1982-1983)

|valign=top|

’’Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water’’ (1990-1991)

’’Oshin’’ (1983-1984)

’’Pants Pankuro’’ (2004-2008)

’’The Pirates of Dark Water’’ (1993)

’’Planetes’’

''Questa

’’Sesame Street’’ (1971-2004)

’’Shibawanko no Wa no Kokoro’’

’’Shirasu Jiro’’ (2009)

’’Snow Princess’’

’’SpongeBob SquarePants’’ (2002-present)

’’Sports Kyoushitsu’’

’’Star Wars: The Clone Wars’’

’’Taiga drama’’

’’Tales from the Darkside’’

’’Ten Minutes Box’’

’’The Nightmare Room’’ (2002-2003)

’’Tsubasa Chronicle’’

’’TV Colosso’’ (1993-1997)

’’UFO Baby’’ (2000-02)

’’Visions of Light’’

’’Yat Anshin Uchuu Ryokou’’ (1996-1998)

’’Zettai Shonen’’ (“Absolute Boy”) (2004–2005)

|}

See also

{| |valign=top|

Domo-kun

Hobankyo - Organization based in Japan that enforces Fuji Television copyright issues

ISDB

Japanese media

Japan Prize Contest (NHK)

Japanese television programs

|valign=top|

NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories

NHK Spring Company

NHK World

UHDTV

Welcome to the NHK!

|}

References

Notes

Additional sources

Johnston, Eric. (July 7, 2009). Japan Times: NHK a fount of info, a lot of it from the government ''Japan Times'', p. 3.

Seidensticker, Edward. (1990). ’‘Tokyo Rising: The City Since the Great Earthquake.’’ New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-394-54360-2

External links

NHK official Youtube channel NHK official Youtube channel

NHK WORLD English

NHK Science & Technical Research Laboratories

NHK/digital

Category:Commercial-free television networks Category:Japanese radio Category:Publicly funded broadcasters Category:1926 establishments Category:Cable TV of Hong Kong

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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 City, 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. Employed 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 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 most recent album ''Born This Way'' (2011) topped the charts of most major markets and generated more international chart-topping singles that include "Born This Way", "Judas", "The Edge of Glory", and "Marry The Night". 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 well-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 her 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 thirteen 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 City 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.

Left-handed 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. Notwithstanding 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 singer and model, 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. She responded, "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 had relocated to Los Angeles, where she worked extensively with her record label to complete her debut album in addition to setting up her own creative team – modeled on Andy Warhol's Factory – Haus of Gaga. Intensive work continued on the album, 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'', described as an exploration of her obsession with fame and the intricacies of a rich and famous lifestyle, was first released on August 19, 2008, preceded by lead single "Just Dance" four months earlier. Due to radio play being slow, Gaga supported the releases by performing in the backwaters of Malta and Vietnam in addition to small gay clubs around the United States. She was also billed as a supporting artist on the North American leg of New Kids on the Block's reunion concert tour.

A sleeper hit, "Just Dance" hit the summit of the charts in six countries – Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States – in January 2009. The Grammy Award-nominated song provoked the instant success of ''The Fame''. Receiving positive reviews from contemporary critics who commended Gaga's ability to discover a melodious hook and compared her vocal abilities to those of Gwen Stefani, the album went to number-one in countries like the United Kingdom, Canada, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Ireland while appearing in the top-five in Australia, the United States and fifteen other countries. On ''Billboard'''s Dance/Electronic Albums chart, it stayed at the top spot 106 non-consecutive weeks. Since its release, ''The Fame'' has sold over 12 million copies worldwide. Gaga achieved an even greater unexpected success when "Poker Face", another sleeper hit, reached number-one in almost all major music markets in the world including the United Kingdom and the United States 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 the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronica Album. Gaga was the recipient of many other honors in 2009 including the accumulation of 3 of 9 MTV Video Music Awards nominations – she won Best New Artist while the video for her single "Paparazzi" gained the awards for 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 on their legs 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 world on tour, she wrote ''The Fame Monster'', a collection of eight songs, which was released in November 2009. Each song, dealing with the darker side of fame from personal experience, is expressed through a monster metaphor. Its first single "Bad Romance" topped the charts in eighteen countries, while reaching the top-two in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. It made Gaga the first artist in digital history to have three singles (along with "Just Dance" and "Poker Face") to pass the four million mark in digital sales and accrued the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance while its accompanying music video won the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video at the 53rd Grammy Awards The album's 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 while its accompanying music video, although controversial, received a more positive reception from contemporary critics: praising 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. Musically, ''The Fame Monster'' has also received abundant success. Equating to the amount of Grammy nominations her debut received, ''The Fame Monster'' garnered a total of six nominations; the album won for Best Pop Vocal Album and earned her a second-consecutive nomination for Album of the Year at the 53rd annual awards ceremony.

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, according to ''Billboard'', 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." A realized collaboration with Polaroid started in January 2010. Excited about combining the company with the digital era, Gaga was named Chief Creative Officer for a line of imaging products for the international optic company with the intent of creating fashion, technology and photography products.

Despite a successful debut, Mermaid Music LLC – her production team – was sued in March 2010 by past producer Rob Fusari who claimed that he was entitled to a 20% share of its earnings. Gaga's lawyer, Charles Ortner, described the agreement with Fusari as "unlawful" and declined to comment. Five months later, the New York Supreme Court dismissed both the lawsuit and a countersuit by Gaga. In addition to such strife, Gaga has been tested borderline positive for lupus, but claims not to be affected by the symptoms. The revelations caused considerable dismay amongst her 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's second studio album and third major release ''Born This Way'' was released on May 23, 2011. Described as "a marriage of electronic music with major [...] metal or rock 'n' roll, pop, anthemic style melodies with really sledge-hammering dance beats" and referred to as an album "about what what keeps us up at night and what makes us afraid", she stated. Gaga characterized her new music 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". Its arrival followed the release of its eponymous lead single "Born This Way" on February 11, 2011, which was performed live for the first time at the 53rd Grammy Awards two days after its release. The song, dealing with self-acceptance regardless of race or sexual orientation, 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, while selling more than 3 million digital copies in the United States by October 2011. A music video was released for the song, showing Gaga giving birth to a new race amidst surrealistic images; critics noted artistic and cultural references and praised its concept. Gaga lent her vocals elsewhere, pairing with Elton John to record an original duet for the animated feature film ''Gnomeo & Juliet''. The song, titled "Hello, Hello", was released on February 11, 2011, without Gaga's vocals. The duet version was only featured in the film.

Two other singles, "Judas" and "The Edge of Glory", as well as a promotional single, "Hair", were eventually released before the album. 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" additionally peaked within the top ten in several major musical markets. "The Edge of Glory" was intended as a promotional single; nevertheless, due to commercial success in digital outlets, the song was released as a single to critical appreciation, accompanied by a music video. Gaga also undertook a job as a fashion columnist for ''V'', where she wrote about her creative process, her studying of the world of pop culture, and her ability to tune into the evolution of pop-culture meme. Upon release, ''Born This Way'' sold 1.108 million copies in its first week in the United States, debuting atop the ''Billboard'' 200, and topping the charts in more than 20 other countries. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised its range of different styles as well as her vocals. Later, Lady Gaga went to Sydney to promote ''Born This Way'' with a one-of-a-kind concert at the Sydney Town Hall on July 13, 2011.

She continued her musical endeavors, releasing "You and I" and "Marry the Night" as succeeding singles from ''Born This Way'', as well as recording songs with veteran artists like Cher and Tony Bennett. The song recorded with Bennett is a jazz version of "The Lady Is a Tramp", while Gaga described her duet with Cher as a "massive" and "beautiful" track, which she "wrote a long time ago, and I've never put it on one of my own albums for, really, no particular reason." On August 28, at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, Gaga won two awards out of four nominations, and attended the event dressed as Jo Calderone, her male alter-ego. For the 2012 edition of the ''Guinness World Records'', Gaga was listed for Most Followers on Twitter, with over 13 million followers, and "Poker Face" was listed for Most Weeks on US Digital Hot Songs, with 83 weeks. Gaga continued her live appearances, and performed at the celebration of former US president Bill Clinton's 65th Birthday alongside Bono, Stevie Wonder and Usher, among others. She wore a blond wig as a nod to the famous performance of Marilyn Monroe for John F. Kennedy and changed the lyrics to her song "You and I" specifically for the performance. Later on, Gaga won four awards out of six nominations in the main categories at the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards in November, for Best Female, Biggest Fans, Best Song and Best Video; the latter two with "Born This Way". On November 14, 2011, Gaga and her choreographer and creative director Laurieann Gibson parted ways, after working together for four years. Gibson's assistant Richard Jackson replaced her as Lady Gaga's choreographer.

Gaga released her fourth extended play ''A Very Gaga Holiday'' on November 22, and followed an appearance in her Thanksgiving Day television special entitled ''A Very Gaga Thanksgiving''. The television special was critically acclaimed and attained 5.749 million American viewers upon original airing. The accompanying tour for ''Born This Way'' was materializing, and at the same time Gaga started writing songs for a new record. She further explained to MTV News that she and Garibay were working on the follow-up album to ''Born This Way'' and stated that it was "beginning to flourish".

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."

Musical and performance 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."

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 "Yoü 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?"

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, who 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 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 while her stylist, Dazed & Confused creative director Nicola Formichetti, won the Fashion Creator of the Year Award at the British Fashion Awards.

Part of the reasoning for Gaga's Best Dressed achievement was her attire worn to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards: a dress supplemented by boots, a purse and a hat – each fabricated from the flesh of a dead animal. The dress, named ''Time'' magazine's Fashion Statement of 2010 and more widely known as the "meat dress", received divided opinions – evoking the attention of worldwide media but invoking the fury of animal rights organization PETA. Lady Gaga 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 addition to this unconventionality, in a question posed about the necessary procedure to attach the prosthetics to give the 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. 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.

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 eponymous 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 with the focus upon 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 immigration law. She premiered the tune for the first time 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)

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 be:Lady Gaga be-x-old:Lady Gaga bg:Лейди Гага bs:Lady Gaga br:Lady Gaga ca:Lady Gaga 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 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 mhr:Lady Gaga pap:Lady Gaga nds:Lady Gaga pl:Lady Gaga pt:Lady Gaga ro:Lady Gaga ru: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

Name	Shoko Ishikawa
Fullname	Shoko Ishikawa
Country
Birth date	May 12, 1990
Birth place	Tokyo
Height
Coach	Nobuo Sato Kumiko Sato
Formercoach	Koji Okajima, Yutaka Higuchi Shizuka Nakaya
Choreographer	Noriko Sato
Skating club	Meiji University
Combined total	133.54
Combined date	2008 JGP Czech Republic
Sp score	53.52
Sp date	2008 JGP South Africa
Fs score	83.45
Fs date	2008 JGP Czech Republic }}

is a Japanese figure skater. She is the 2008 Japanese junior bronze medalist. She placed 10th at the 2009 NHK Trophy.

Programs

! Season	! Short program	! Free skating
! 2011–2012	La Rosa (Tango) choreo. by Kenji Miyamoto	Miss Saigon choreo. by Shizuka Arakawa
! 2010–2011
! 2009–2010	Incantation from Quidam (Cirque du Soleil) by Benoît Jutras	Violin Concerto by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Competitive highlights

align="center">11th

		2003-04	! 2004-05	! 2005-06	! 2006-07	! 2007-08	! 2008-09	! 2009-10	! 2010-11
Japan Figure Skating Championships	Japanese Championships		|			8th		26th	9th
Japan Junior Figure Skating Championships	Japanese Junior Championships	|	22nd	6th	12th	3rd	6th
NHK Trophy	|						10th
NRW Trophy	|							1st
Crystal Skate of Romania	|						3rd
2008-2009 ISU Junior Grand Prix	Junior Grand Prix, South Africa	|					4th
2008-2009 ISU Junior Grand Prix	Junior Grand Prix, Czech Republic	|					4th
2007-2008 ISU Junior Grand Prix	Junior Grand Prix, Estonia	|				5th
2006-2007 ISU Junior Grand Prix	Junior Grand Prix, Hungary	|			5th

References

Category:1990 births Category:Japanese female single skaters Category:People from Tokyo Category:Living people

ja:石川翔子 ru:Исикава, Сёко

name	Daisuke Takahashi
country
fullname	Daisuke Takahashi
birth date	March 16, 1986
birth place	Kurashiki, Okayama
hometown	Agamasaki
residence	Osaka
height
coach	Utako Nagamitsu
formercoach	Nikolai Morozov
choreographer	Shae-Lynn Bourne Pasquale Camerlengo Stéphane Lambiel
formerchoreographer	Nikolai Morozov Kenji Miyamoto
skating club	Kansai University SC
Currenttraininglocations	Osaka
Beganskating	1994
Worldranking	1 ('''')
Pbrankings	3 (''2010–2011'') 1 (''2009–2010'')
combined total	264.41
combined date	2008 Four Continents
sp score	90.25
sp date	2010 Olympics
fs score	175.84
fs date	2008 Four Continents
medaltemplates	}}

}}

is a Japanese figure skater, notable as the 2010 Olympic bronze medalist, the 2010 World Champion, the 2007 World silver medalist, a two-time (2008, 2011) Four Continents Champion, and a four-time (2006–2008, 2010) Japanese national champion.

Takahashi represented Japan at the 2006 Winter Olympics and at the 2010 Winter Olympics. His bronze medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics was the first Olympic medal for Japan in the men's singles event.

Career

Early career

Born in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, Japan, Takahashi began figure skating when he was 8 years old. When a skating rink was built near his house, he went with his mother to watch the skaters at the rink, and afterwards, enrolled in the figure skating club. His mother intended for him enroll in the ice hockey club, but he didn't like the protective gear of ice hockey, so he enrolled in the figure skating club, instead.

Takahashi had a successful junior career, winning the 2002 World Junior Championships, in his first, and only, appearance at that competition. Takahashi is the first Japanese man to have won the title.

Senior career

Senior debut

For the following 2002-2003 season, Takahashi turned senior and his ascent slowed. He struggled with consistency during those first few years of his senior career. He won a bronze medal at the 2005 Four Continents and went on to the 2005 World Championships as the second-ranked of the two Japanese men on the World team, after Takeshi Honda. However, when Honda was forced to withdraw due to injury, it fell on Takahashi to qualify spots for Japan at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Takahashi placed 15th, qualifying only one spot for the Japanese men.

2005–2006 season

In the 2005–2006 season, Nobunari Oda emerged as a challenger for the Olympic spot. Oda and Takahashi both had very good Grand Prix seasons.

At the 2005–2006 Japanese nationals, Oda was declared the winner, and, thus, seemed to have qualified for the one Olympic slot, but his gold medal was quickly taken back, when an error was found in the way scores were tallied in the computer system at the event, and Takahashi was awarded the gold. The Japanese Skating Federation split the international assignments, and gave Takahashi the Olympic berth, and Oda a place at the World Championship. At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Takahashi was in a good position after the short program, but had a poor long program and placed 8th overall.

2006–2007 season

In the 2006–2007 competitive season, Takahashi won a silver medal at 2006 Skate Canada International, then gold at the 2006 NHK Trophy. He qualified for the Grand Prix Final and won the silver medal, although he was ill. He won the Japanese Championships, taking the national title for the second year in a row, and then went on to the Winter Universiade in Turin, Italy which he won as well.

At the 2007 World Championships, Takahashi placed third in the short program. In the free skate, he skated the performance of his life in his home country, placing first in that segment and ending up winning the silver medal, trailing Brian Joubert narrowly. This was the first silver medal for Japan in the men's event at Worlds.

Following that season, Takahashi was ranked as first in the World by the ISU. However, over the summer, the ISU tweaked their scoring criteria. Takahashi had been placed on top, just ahead of Brian Joubert, in part due to Takahashi's victory at the Winter Universiade, a competition for which Brian Joubert was not eligible, as Joubert was not a university student. The ISU determined that the results of the Winter Universiade could not be used to calculate world ranking, and Takahashi's ranking fell from first to second place.

2007–2008 season

In the 2007–2008 season, he won gold at both his Grand Prix events and then silver at the Grand Prix Final behind Stéphane Lambiel. A few weeks later, he won his third Japanese national title and was named to the Four Continents and Worlds teams.

Takahashi won the 2008 Four Continents, scoring a new record in the free skate (175.84) and in the total score (264.41) under the ISU Judging System.

He was considered a favorite heading into the 2008 World Championships but finished off the podium after a disappointing free skate in which he fell on his second quad toe attempt, then stumbled on a triple axel and triple loop, and, finally, performed an extra combination, an invalid element, which did not count towards his points total.

2008–2009 season

Takahashi was originally assigned to the 2008 Cup of China and the 2008 NHK Trophy for the 2008-2009 Grand Prix season. He had to withdraw after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee on October 31, 2008, only a few days before his first event. It was later reported that Takahashi would undergo surgery to repair ligament damage and his right meniscus and would miss the entire 2008-2009 season. A bolt was inserted into his right knee. He was able to return to the ice in April and began practicing jumps in June.

2009–2010 season

After recovering from the surgery and getting back to training normally, Takahashi was assigned to compete at the 2009 Skate Canada International and 2009 NHK Trophy for the 2009-2010 season. He placed second at Skate Canada and fourth at the NHK Trophy. Those placements qualified him to compete in the Grand Prix Final. At the final, he led after the short program with a new personal best of 89.95, but was fifth in the free skate and fifth overall.

He won his fourth national title at the 2009-2010 Japanese Championships. At the 2010 Winter Olympics, Takahashi won the bronze medal with a score of 247.43. It is the first Olympic medal to be won by Japan in men's figure skating. He then won the gold medal at 2010 World Championships, becoming the first Asian to win a world championship in men's singles. In this competition Takahashi attempted a quadruple flip, but two-footed the landing.

2010–2011 season

For the 2010-2011 ISU Grand Prix season, Takahashi will compete in the 2010 NHK Trophy and the 2010 Skate America. At the 2010 NHK Trophy, he placed first with 234.79 points, 16.60 ahead of silver medalist Jeremy Abbott. Takahashi won 2010 Skate America as well, despite flawed short and free skates. During a practice session at the Grand Prix Final, Takahiko Kozuka inadvertently collided with him while Takahashi was doing his run-through; Takahashi said, "it wasn't such a serious injury, just a bit of bruising. [...] It was the first time for me (to be involved in such an accident). I was surprised but there was no malice involved." Takahashi placed third in the short program. In the long program, he attempted a quad flip but landed it two-footed. Multiple problems, including low levels on two spins, resulted in a sixth place finish in that segment, dropping him to fourth overall.

Takahashi won the bronze medal at the 2010–2011 Japan Nationals. At the 2011 World Championships he was third in the short program but finished in fifth overall. In the long program, a screw in his boot came loose on his first element, a quad toe. The Japanese team was able to get it fixed within the three minutes allowed and he resumed his program. He said it may occur at any time regardless of inspections, which his coach does every day, and he does not blame her. On May 19, Takahashi underwent surgery to remove a bolt in his right knee stemming from surgery in late 2008. Following the surgery, he said, "It is thinner around my knee, but I feel better now that there is nothing inside my body. I might be imagining it, but it feels lighter."

2011–2012 season

As part of his preparation for the 2011–2012 season, Takahashi spent two weeks in August 2011 working with ice dancing specialist Muriel Boucher-Zazoui in Lyon, France. His assigned Grand Prix events are 2011 Skate Canada and 2011 NHK Trophy.

Coaching changes

Takahashi is a student at Kansai University, along with Nobunari Oda. For several years, he split his time between Hackensack, New Jersey, where he trained under coach Nikolai Morozov, and Osaka, Japan, where he trains under coach Utako Nagamitsu and jump coach Takeshi Honda. In May 2008, Takahashi announced that he would be parting ways with Morozov.

In May 2008, Nikolai Morozov explained the split by stating that he could no longer coach Takahashi due to problems with Takahashi's new agent.

Public life and endorsements

Following his win the silver medal at 2007 Worlds, Takahashi made many media appearances and performed in many ice shows in Japan. He was also invited to the French team's show ''Stars Sur Glace (Stars On Ice)'' in Paris, France. It was the first guest performance at the foreign show for him. In 2008, he performed at ''Festa On Ice'' in South Korea.

In July 2007, the Japanese Olympic Committee has selected Takahashi as one of the "JOC symbol athletes" (JOC has paid about 20 million yen per year to the symbol athletes for the image rights. JOC partner companies can use images of JOC Symbol Athletes for free). After he became the "JOC symbol athletes", he has received material assistances from JOC partner companies.

After his won at 2010 Worlds, Takahashi appeared as a guest on many TV shows and as advertising spokespersons for "Use pesticides safety campaign" and Japan Post.

Programs

! Season	Short program (figure skating)>Short program	! Free skating	! Exhibition
! 2010–2011	Historia de un Amor played by Perez Prado Que Rico El Mambo by Perez Prado choreography by Shae-Lynn Bourne	Invierno Porteño by Tango Siempre composed by Ástor Piazzolla choreography by Pasquale Camerlengo
! 2009–2010		La Strada by Nino Rota choreography by Pasquale Camerlengo
! 2008–2009	Did not compete this season	Did not compete this season	Did not compete this season
! 2007–2008	Swan Lake Hip Hop version Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky remix choreography by Nikolai Morozov		Bachelorette (song)
! 2006–2007	Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 by [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky choreography by Nikolai Morozov
! 2005–2006			Nocturne (Secret Garden song)
! 2004–2005	Nyah from ''[[Mission: Impossible II'' by Hans Zimmer choreography by Tatiana Tarasova	Sabre Dance from ''Gayane (ballet)>Gayane'' by Aram Khachaturian	Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquín Rodrigo	Nocturne (Secret Garden song)
! 2003–2004	Nyah from ''[[Mission: Impossible II'' by Hans Zimmerchoreography by Tatiana Tarasova	Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Variation on a Theme of Niccolò Paganini by Sergei Rachmaninoffchoreography by Tatiana Tarasova	Desert Rose (Sting song)
! 2002–2003
! 2001-2002	[[West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein

Competitive highlights

align="center" bgcolor="CC9966">3rd

Event

! 2000–01

! 2001–02

! 2002–03

! 2003-04

! 2004–05

! 2005–06

! 2006–07

! 2007–08

! 2009–10

! 2010–11

Figure skating at the Winter Olympics

Winter Olympic Games

|

8th

3rd

World Figure Skating Championships

World Championships

|

11th

15th

2nd

4th

1st

5th

Four Continents Figure Skating Championships

Four Continents Championships

|

13th

6th

3rd

1st

1st

World Junior Figure Skating Championships

World Junior Championships

|

1st

Japan Junior Figure Skating Championships

Japan Junior Championships

|

4th

1st

Japanese Figure Skating Championships

Japanese Championships

|

5th

4th

3rd

6th

1st

1st

1st

1st

3rd

Grand Prix Final

|

3rd

2nd

2nd

5th

4th

NHK Trophy

|

8th

3rd

1st

1st

4th

1st

Skate America

|

1st

1st

1st

Skate Canada International

|

7th

2nd

2nd

Trophée Eric Bompard

|

5th

11th

Finlandia Trophy

|

1st

Figure skating at the Winter Universiade

Winter Universiade

|

1st

1st

2001–2002 ISU Junior Grand Prix

ISU Junior Grand Prix Final

|

4th

2001–2002 ISU Junior Grand Prix

Junior Grand Prix, Japan

|

1st

2001–2002 ISU Junior Grand Prix

Junior Grand Prix, Bulgaria

|

2nd

2000–2001 ISU Junior Grand Prix

Junior Grand Prix, Ukraine

|

8th

2000–2001 ISU Junior Grand Prix

Junior Grand Prix, China

|

9th

WD = Withdrew; Takahashi did not compete in the 2008–2009 season.

References

External links

Category:1986 births Category:Figure skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Category:Figure skaters at the 2007 Winter Universiade Category:Gold medalists at the 2007 Winter Universiade Category:Japanese male single skaters Category:Living people Category:Olympic figure skaters of Japan Category:People from Okayama Prefecture Category:Figure skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics Category:Olympic bronze medalists for Japan Category:Olympic medalists in figure skating

cs:Daisuke Takahaši de:Daisuke Takahashi es:Daisuke Takahashi fr:Daisuke Takahashi ko:다카하시 다이스케 it:Daisuke Takahashi ja:高橋大輔 (フィギュアスケート選手) no:Daisuke Takahashi pl:Daisuke Takahashi pt:Daisuke Takahashi ru:Такахаси, Дайсукэ simple:Daisuke Takahashi fi:Daisuke Takahashi sv:Daisuke Takahashi tr:Daisuke Takahashi uk:Такахасі Дайсуке zh:高橋大輔

Name	Brandon Mroz
Country
Fullname	Brandon Mroz
Birth date	December 22, 1990
Birth place	St. Louis, Missouri
Residence	Colorado Springs, Colorado
Height
Coach	Tom Zakrajsek Becky Calvin
Formercoach	Doug Leigh
Choreographer	Catarina Lindgren Lori Nichol
Formerchoreographer	Tom Dickson Kurt Browning
Skating club	Broadmoor Skating Club
Currenttraininglocations	Colorado Springs, Colorado
Beganskating	1994
Worldranking	23 ('''')
Pbrankings	17 (''2010–2011'') 23 (''2009–2010'') 19 (''2008–2009'')
Combined total	216.80
Combined date	2010 Cup of China
Sp score	76.10
Sp date	2009 Worlds
Fs score	146.96
Fs date	2010 Cup of China }}

Brandon Mroz (born December 22, 1990) is an American figure skater. He is the 2009 U.S. silver medalist and the 2006 & 2007 Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalist.

Personal life

Brandon Mroz was born in St. Louis, Missouri, one of four brothers. His mother and a brother suffered serious injuries in a car accident. Mroz's mother was at one time a synchronized skater, and his father a hockey player.

Mroz hopes to study medicine. He lives and trains in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In addition to singles skating, he has also trained as an ice dancer and tested in that discipline up to silver level in the U.S. Figure Skating testing structure.

Career

Early career

Mroz began skating at age 3 and a half.

In the 2001–2002 season, Mroz competed on the Juvenile level, the lowest competitive level in the United States. He represented the St Louis Skating Club in competition. He won his regional competition, the Upper Great Lakes Regional Championship, to qualify at the Juvenile level for the 2002 U.S. Junior Championships, where he placed 6th in his qualifying group and went on to place 18th overall.

In the 2002–2003 season, Mroz moved up to the Intermediate level. He won both the short program and the free skate at his regional competition to win the gold medal overall. By this win he qualified to compete at the Intermediate level at the 2003 U.S. Junior Championships, where he placed second in his qualifying group, 16th in the short program, and 7th in the free skate to place 11th overall.

In the 2003–2004 season, Mroz moved up to the Novice level. At the regional championship, the first qualifying competition for the United States Figure Skating Championships, Mroz won the short program and the free skate to win the gold medal overall. This win qualified him for the 2004 Midwestern Sectional Championships, the second and final qualifying competition for the national championships. At the sectional championships, Mroz placed fourth in the short program and second in the free skate to win the silver medal overall. With this medal he qualified for the 2004 U.S. Figure Skating Championships at the Novice level. At the 2004 U.S. Championships, Mroz placed 7th in the short program and the free skate to place 7th overall. Following the national championships, Mroz competed at the 2004 Copenhagen Trophy, where he won the novice men's competition after winning both segments of the competition

In the 2004–2005 season, Mroz remained on the Novice level. At his regional championships, he placed second in the short program and in the free skate to win the silver medal overall. This medal qualified him for the Midwestern Sectional Championships. At the sectional championships, Mroz placed 8th in the short program and 5th in the free skate to place 6th overall. Due to this placement, he did not qualify for the 2005 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

In the 2005–2006 season, Mroz remained on the Novice level for a third and final season. He had moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado for his training, and represented the Broadmoor Skating Club there. A switch of club meant a change of region. Competing at the Southwestern Regional Championship, Mroz won the short program and the free skate to win the gold medal overall. This win qualified him for the 2006 Midwestern Sectional Championships. At the sectional championships, Mroz competed for the first time under the ISU Judging System. He won the short program and placed second in the free skate to win the gold medal overall, ahead of Eliot Halverson. This win qualified him, again, for the 2006 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

At the 2006 U.S. Championships, Mroz won the short program by a point margin of 1.48. He placed third in the free skate, 5.25 points behind the leader in that segment. Mroz won the silver medal overall, placing 2.26 points behind champion Eliot Halverson and 2.94 points ahead of bronze medalist Curran Oi. In his free skate at the U.S. Championships, Mroz landed all the triples except for the Axel, including a triple lutz-triple toe combination.

Junior career

After the 2006 U.S. championships, Mroz was assigned to the 2006 Triglav Trophy. Competing on the junior level for the first time in his career, Mroz won both the short and free programs to win the gold medal overall, winning the title by 25.84 points ahead of silver medalist Jamie Forsythe.

In the 2006–2007 season, Mroz moved up to the Junior level on the national level, and he debuted on the ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit. At his first Junior Grand Prix event, the 2006-2007 ISU Junior Grand Prix event in Mexico City, Mexico, Mroz placed 11th in the short program and the won the free skate to take the silver medal overall, placing 7.53 points behind champion Kevin Reynolds and 0.16 points head of bronze medalist Daisuke Murakami. At Mroz's second event, the Junior Grand Prix event in Taipei City, Taiwan, Mroz won the short program and placed second in the free skate to win the gold medal overall, placing 7.73 points ahead of silver medalist Reynolds.

These two medals qualified Mroz for the 2006–2007 ISU Junior Grand Prix, to which he was the fourth-ranked qualifier overall. By qualifying for the Junior Grand Prix Final, Mroz also earned a bye to the national championships and so did not need to compete at qualifying events.

At the 2006–2007 ISU Junior Grand Prix Final, Mroz placed 5th in the short program and 2nd in the free skate. He won the silver medal overall, placing 20.07 points behind champion Stephen Carriere and 6.76 ahead of bronze medalist Reynolds.

Mroz then competed at the 2007 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. At the U.S. Championships, Mroz placed second in the short program and third in the free skate. He won the silver medal overall, placing 9.23 points behind champion Eliot Halverson and 0.62 points ahead of bronze medalist Austin Kanallakan This was the second consecutive year in which Halverson and Mroz had won gold and silver at national championships.

After the national championships, Mroz was placed on the team for the 2007 World Junior Figure Skating Championships. At the World Junior Championships, Mroz placed 7th in the short program and 2nd in the free skate to place 4th overall, finishing exactly two points behind bronze medalist Sergei Voronov and 0.08 points ahead of 5th place finisher Kevin Reynolds

In the 2007–2008 season, Mroz remained on the Junior level both nationally and internationally. He competed for the second consecutive season on the Junior Grand Prix. At his first event, the 2007-2008 ISU Junior Grand Prix event in Vienna, Austria, he placed fourth in the short program and won the free skate to win the gold medal overall, placing 1.69 points ahead of silver medalist Guan Jinlin. At his second event, the Junior Grand Prix event in Chemnitz, Germany, he again placed 4th in the short program and won the free skate to win the gold medal overall, this time with a 3.30 margin of victory over silver medalist Michal Březina.

These two medals qualified Mroz for the 2007–2008 ISU Junior Grand Prix Final, for which he was the highest-ranked qualifier. At the Junior Grand Prix Final, Mroz placed second in both segments of the competition to win the silver medal overall, placing 15.86 points behind champion Adam Rippon and 5.30 points ahead of bronze medalist Armin Mahbanoozadeh. This was the first time that the United States had swept the Junior Grand Prix Final men's podium.

By qualifying for the Junior Grand Prix Final, Mroz had a bye to the 2008 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. At the U.S. Championships, Mroz competed for the second time on the junior level. He placed 3rd in the short program and 2nd in the free skate to win the silver medal overall, 10.13 points behind champion Rippon.

After the national championships, Mroz was placed on the team to the 2008 World Junior Figure Skating Championships. At the World Junior Championships, Mroz placed 3rd in the short program after landing a triple axel-triple toe loop combination. He placed 5th in the free skate to place 4th overall, placing 3.40 points behind bronze medalist Guan Jinlin.

Senior career

In the 2008–2009 season, Mroz moved up to the Senior level both nationally and internationally. He debuted on the Grand Prix of Figure Skating circuit. At his first event, the 2008 Skate Canada International, he placed 6th in the short program and 7th in the free skate to place 7th overall. During his free skate at Skate Canada International, he was credited with a quadruple toe loop jump.

Mroz went on to compete at the 2008 Trophée Eric Bompard, his second Grand Prix event. He placed 6th in the short program and 5th in the free skate to place 5th overall.

Due to the timing of his Grand Prix events, Mroz had a bye to the 2009 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. At the U.S. Championships, Mroz placed 4th in the short program after being credited with landing a triple axel as his required element axel jump and a triple lutz-triple toe loop combination as his combination jump. He placed 2nd in the free skate, in which he was credited with landing a quadruple toe loop jump and eight triple jumps, including a triple lutz-triple toe loop jump. He won the silver medal overall, placing 12.19 points behind champion and training-mate Jeremy Abbott and 0.60 points ahead of Evan Lysacek.

Following the national championships, Mroz was assigned to the 2009 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships and the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships. At the Four Continents Championships, Mroz placed 5th in the short program after landing a triple axel, a triple flip, and a triple lutz-triple toe combination. In the free skate, Mroz placed 9th, after landing a quadruple toe loop jump, but making errors on several other jumps, including his triple axel. He placed 8th overall.

In his debut at the senior World Championships, Mroz skated a strong short program to place 8th in that segment of the competition. He placed 13th in the free skate to finish 9th overall. His placement, combined with that of World Champion Evan Lysacek, earned the United States the maximum three entries to the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Mroz won his first medal on the senior Grand Prix by capturing silver at 2010 Cup of China. At 2010 Trophée Eric Bompard, he won a bronze medal.

Coaches and choreographers

From 2001 through 2004, Mroz was coached by Shannon Nester and Debbie Howe. From 2002 through 2004, he was coached by Doug Leigh and Michelle Leigh in Barrie, Ontario. In 2005, he moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado and began being coached by Tom Zakrajsek. In spring 2011, he worked with Jeffrey Buttle for choreography.

Programs

! Season	! Short program	! Free skating	! Exhibition
! 2011–2012	Mack the Knife by Kurt Weill choreographed by Jeffrey Buttle	Carmen by Georges Bizet choreographed by Jeffrey Buttle
! 2010–2011	The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini	On the Waterfront by Leonard Bernstein
! 2009–2010	Temptation by Tito Puente Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White by Perez Prado Mambo Jambo by Terry Snyder	Symphony no. 5 Romance in F Major by Ludwig van Beethoven
! 2008–2009	Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks by Richard Strauss	Toccata and Fugue in D MinorandPrelude from Cello Suite No. 1 by J.S. Bach
! 2007–2008	Night by Modest Mussorgsky	King of the Forest by Edvin Marton
! 2006–2007	Improviso by Nino Rota
! 2005–2006	Montoona Clipper	The Incredibles

Competitive highlights

align="center">7th N. align="center" bgcolor="gold" align="center" bgcolor="silver" align="center" bgcolor="gold"

Event			! 2004–05	! 2005–06	! 2006–07	! 2007–08	! 2008–09	! 2009–10	! 2010–11	! 2011–12
World Figure Skating Championships	World Championships		|				9th
Four Continents Figure Skating Championships	Four Continents Championships	|					8th	4th
World Junior Figure Skating Championships	World Junior Championships	|			4th	4th
United States Figure Skating Championships	U.S. Championships	|		2nd N.	2nd J.	2nd J.	2nd	6th	7th
Cup of China	|							2nd
Skate America	|						8th
NHK Trophy	|								TBD
Cup of Russia	|						7th		TBD
Trophée Eric Bompard	|					5th		3rd
Skate Canada International	|					7th
2007-2008 ISU Junior Grand Prix	Junior Grand Prix, Germany	|				1st
2007-2008 ISU Junior Grand Prix	Junior Grand Prix, Austria	|				1st
2006-2007 ISU Junior Grand Prix	Junior Grand Prix, Taipei	|			1st
2006-2007 ISU Junior Grand Prix	Junior Grand Prix, Mexico	|			2nd
Triglav Trophy	|		1st J.
Copenhagen Trophy	1st N. ||
Midwestern Sectional Figure Skating Championships	Midwestern Sectionals	2nd N. ||	6th N.	1st N.
Southwestern Regionals	|		1st N.
Upper Great Lakes Regionals	1st N. ||	2nd N.

N = Novice level; J = Junior level

References

External links

Category:American male single skaters Category:1990 births Category:Living people Category:People from St. Louis, Missouri

ja:ブランドン・ムロズ ru:Мроз, Брэндон uk:Брендон Мроз