BBC World Service RADIO

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BBC Radio 1 | image | city | area United Kingdom: FM, DAB, TV United States: Satellite Radio, TV Canada: Satellite Radio Worldwide: Internet Radio | branding | slogan The Best New Music And Entertainment Listen, Watch, Share | airdate 30 September 1967 | frequency FM: 97.7 MHz - 99.7 MHz (UK)97.1 MHz (Jersey)DAB: 12B - BBC National DAB RDS Name:Radio 1 Freeview: 700Freesat: 700Sky: 0101Virgin Media: 901TalkTalk TV: 600UPC Ireland: 907 Dish Network (USA): 6015 | share 8.7% | share as of March 2011 | share source | format Contemporary Hit Radio, News, Entertainment, Speech, Showbiz | language English | callsign_meaning | owner BBC | sister_stations BBC Radio 1Xtra | webcast WMA | website }}

BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock or interviews. It is aimed primarily at the 15–29 age group, although the average age of the audience is 33. Radio 1 was launched at 7:00am on 30 September 1967 as a direct response to the popularity of offshore pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline, which had been outlawed by Act of Parliament.

History

First broadcast

The first DJ to broadcast on the new station was Tony Blackburn, whose cheery style, first heard on Radio Caroline and Radio London, won him the prime slot on what became known as the "Radio 1 Breakfast Show" (although its original formal title, as shown in the Radio Times was Daily Disc Delivery, while Blackburn himself referred to it eponymously as the Tony Blackburn Show). The first words on Radio 1 – after a "countdown" by the Controller of Radios 1 and 2, Robin Scott, and a jingle, recorded at PAMS in Dallas, Texas, beginning "The voice of Radio 1" – were "... And, good morning everyone. Welcome to the exciting new sound of Radio 1". This was the first use of US-style jingles on BBC radio, but the style was familiar to listeners who were acquainted with Blackburn and other DJs from their days on pirate radio. The first complete record played on Radio 1 was "Flowers in the Rain" by The Move (although technically the first music played was "Theme One" by George Martin leading into part of "Beefeaters (On Parade)" by Johnny Dankworth, Blackburn's signature tune carried over from pirate radio). The second single was "Massachusetts" by The Bee Gees. The breakfast show remains the most prized slot in the Radio 1 schedule, with every change of breakfast show presenter exciting considerable media interest. The initial rota of staff included John Peel (who remained with the station until his death in October 2004) and a gaggle of others, some hired from pirates, such as Keith Skues, Ed Stewart, Mike Raven, David Ryder, Jim Fisher, Jimmy Young, Dave Cash, Kenny Everett, Simon Dee, Duncan Johnson, Doug Crawford, Tommy Vance, Chris Denning, Emperor Rosko, Pete Murray, and Bob Holness. Many of the most popular pirate radio voices, such as Simon Dee, had only a one-hour slot per week, ("Midday Spin.") Annie Nightingale, who joined in 1970, was effectively Britain's first female DJ and is now the longest serving presenter, having constantly evolved her musical tastes with the times.

1970s peak

Initially, the station was unpopular with some of its target audience who, it is claimed, disliked the fact that much of its airtime was shared with Radio 2 and that it was less unequivocally aimed at a young audience than the offshore stations, with some DJs such as Jimmy Young being in their 40s. The very fact that it was part of an "establishment" institution such as the BBC was a turn-off for some, and needle time restrictions prevented it from playing as many records as offshore stations had. It also had limited finances (partially because the BBC did not increase its licence fee to fund the new station) and often, as in January 1975, suffered disproportionately when the BBC had to make financial cutbacks, strengthening an impression that it was regarded as a lower priority by senior BBC executives.

Despite this, it gained massive audiences, becoming the most listened to station in the world with audiences of over 10 million claimed for some of its shows (up to 20 million for Blackburn's Breakfast Show). In the early-mid 1970s Radio 1 presenters were rarely out of the British tabloids, thanks to the Publicity Department's high profile work. The popularity of Radio 1's touring summer live broadcasts the Radio 1 Roadshow - usually as part of the BBC 'Radio Weeks' promotions that took Radio 1, 2 and 4 shows on the road - drew some of the largest crowds of the decade. The station undoubtedly played a role in maintaining the high sales of 45 rpm single records although it benefited from a lack of competition, apart from Radio Luxembourg and the tiny Manx Radio in the Isle of Man. (Independent Local Radio did not begin until October 1973 and took many years to cover virtually all of the UK). Alan Freeman's 'Saturday Rock Show' was voted 'Best Radio Show' 5 years running by readers of a national music publication, and was then axed by controller Derek Chinnery.

1990s changes

In his last few months as controller, Johnny Beerling commissioned a handful of new shows that in some ways set the tone for what was to come under Matthew Bannister. One of these "Loud'n'proud" was the UK's first national radio series aimed at a gay audience (made in Manchester and was aired from August 1993). Far from being a parting quirk, the show was a surprise hit and led to the network's first coverage of the large outdoor Gay Pride event in 1994. Bannister took the reins fully in October 1993. His aim was to rid the station of its 'Smashie and Nicey' image and make it appeal to the under 25s. Although originally launched as a youth station, by the early 1990s, its loyal listeners (and DJs) had aged with the station over its 25 year history. Many long-standing DJs, such as Simon Bates, Dave Lee Travis, Alan Freeman, Bob Harris, Gary Davies, and later Steve Wright, Bruno Brookes and Johnnie Walker left the station or were sacked, and in January 1995 old music (typically anything recorded before 1990) was banned from the daytime playlist.

Many listeners rebelled as the first new DJs to be introduced represented a crossover from other parts of the BBC (notably Bannister and Trevor Dann's former colleagues at the BBC's London station, GLR) with Emma Freud and Danny Baker. Another problem was that, at the time, Radio 2 was sticking resolutely to a format which appealed mainly to those who had been listening since the days of the Light Programme, and commercial radio, which was targeting the "Radio 1 and a half" audience, consequently enjoyed a massive increase in its audience share at the expense of Radio One.

After the departure of Steve Wright, who had been unsuccessfully moved from his long-running afternoon show to the breakfast show in January 1994, Bannister hired Chris Evans to present the prime morning slot in April 1995. Evans was a popular but controversial presenter who was eventually sacked in 1997 after he demanded to present the breakfast show for only four days per week. Evans was replaced from 17 February 1997 by Mark and Lard – Mark Radcliffe (along with his sidekick Marc Riley), who found the slick, mass-audience style required for a breakfast show did not come naturally to them. They were replaced by Zoe Ball and Kevin Greening eight months later in October 1997, with Greening moving on and leaving Ball as solo presenter. The re-invention of the station happened at a fortuitous time, with the rise of Britpop in the mid-90s – bands like Oasis, Blur and Pulp were popular and credible at the time and the station's popularity rose with them. Documentaries like John Peel's "Lost In Music" which looked at the influence that the use of drugs have had over popular musicians received critical acclaim but were slated inside Broadcasting House.

Later in the 90s the Britpop boom declined, and manufactured chart pop (boy bands and acts aimed at sub-teenagers) came to dominate the charts. New-genre music occupied the evenings (indie on weekdays and dance at weekends), with a mix of specialist shows and playlist fillers through late nights. The rise of rave culture through the late 80s and early 90s gave the station the opportunity to move into a controversial and youth-orientated movement by bringing in club DJ Pete Tong amongst others. There had been a dance music programme on Radio 1 since 1987 and Pete Tong was the second DJ to present an all dance music show. This quickly gave birth to the Essential Mix where underground DJs mix electronic and club based music in a two hour slot. Dance music has been a permanent feature on Radio 1 since with club DJ's such as Judge Jules, Danny Rampling and Seb Fontaine all having shows as well as Radio 1 hosting an annual weekend in Ibiza.

Listening numbers continued to decline but the station succeeded in targeting a younger age-group and more cross gender groups. Eventually, this change in content was reflected by a rise in audience that is continuing to this day. Notably, the station has received praise for shows such as The Surgery with Aled, Bobby Friction and Nihal, The Evening Session with Steve Lamacq and its successor Zane Lowe. Its website has also been well received.

However, the breakfast show and the UK Top 40 continued to struggle. In 2000, Zoe Ball was replaced in the mornings by friend and fellow ladette Sara Cox, but, despite heavy promotion, listening figures for the breakfast show continued to fall. In 2004 Cox was replaced by Chris Moyles. The newly rebranded breakfast show is known as The Chris Moyles Show and has increased its audience, now ahead of The Today Programme on Radio 4 as the second most popular breakfast show (after 'Wake up with Wogan' hosted by Terry Wogan). Moyles continued to use innovative ways to try to tempt listeners from the 'Wake up with Wogan' show; in 2006, for example, creating a 'SAY NO TO WOGAN' campaign live on-air. This angered the BBC hierarchy, though the row simmered down when it was clear that the 'campaign' had totally failed to alter the listening trends of the time – Wogan still increases figures at a faster rate than Moyles. The chart show's ratings fell after the departure of long-time host Mark Goodier, amid falling single sales in the UK. Ratings for the show fell in 2002 whilst Goodier was still presenting the show, meaning that commercial radio's Network Chart overtook it in the ratings for the first time. However, the BBC denied he was being sacked. The BBC show now competes with networked commercial radio's The Big Top 40 Show which is broadcast at the same time.

Many DJs either ousted by Bannister or who left during his tenure (such as Johnnie Walker, Bob Harris and Steve Wright) have joined Radio 2 which has now overtaken Radio 1 as the UK's most popular radio station, using a style that Radio 1 had until the early 1990s.

The success of Moyles' show has come alongside increased success for the station in general. In 2006, DJs Chris Moyles, Scott Mills and Zane Lowe all won gold Sony Radio Awards, while the station itself came away with the best station award.

A new evening schedule was introduced in September 2006, dividing the week by genre. Monday was mainly pop-funkrock-oriented, Tuesday was R&B; and hip-hop, Thursdays and Fridays were primarily dance, with specialist R&B; and reggae shows.

Following the death of John Peel in October 2004, Annie Nightingale is now the longest serving presenter, having worked there since 1970.

40th birthday

On 30 September 2007, Radio 1 celebrated its 40th birthday. To mark this anniversary Radio 1 hosted special features, including:

Special shows hosted by music legends at 9:00pm each weekday.

Between 9:00am and 10:00am on the Chris Moyles show, the best music from the last 40 years (a re-creation of Simon Bates' Golden Hour).

Playing Radio 1's old jingles, which were created by PAMS productions of Dallas.

40 different artists performed 40 different covers, one from each year since Radio 1 was established. All 40 songs were played in the weeks leading up to the release of the compilation album Radio 1 Established 1967.

Today

BBC Radio 1 operates a system that separates all of the DJs between 'Day' and 'Night' DJs.

'Day' DJs play music generally orientated around the Radio 1 Playlist

'Night' DJs play more eclectic and specialised 'New Music'.

The day presenters on the network on weekdays are: Dev (4:00AM–06:30AM), Chris Moyles (06:30AM–10:00AM), Fearne Cotton (10:00AM–12:45PM), Greg James (1:00PM–4:00PM), and Scott Mills (4:00PM–7:00PM).

The weekend day slots now house a number of former weekday daytime presenters, including Edith Bowman (7:00AM–10:00AM), Vernon Kay (Sat 10:00AM–1:00PM), Sara Cox (Sun 10:00AM–1:00PM), Huw Stephens (1:00PM–4:00PM) and Reggie Yates (Request Show on Saturdays and the Official Chart on Sundays, 4:00PM–7:00PM).

Weekday 'Night' DJs from 7pm until 4am play host to eclectic and specialised content that include: Zane Lowe (7-9pm) and Nick Grimshaw (10-12pm). Huw Stephens, Nihal, Annie Nightingale, Rock Show with Daniel P Carter, Punk Show with Mike Davies, Kissy Sell Out, Benji B and Gilles Peterson each have a 2 hour slot either between 12-2am or 2-4am Tuesday to Friday mornings.

Currently, between 9pm and 10pm Monday-Thursdays, there is a variety of one hour programmes including a music documentary series named BBC Radio 1's Stories on Mondays, a review show hosted by Nihal on Tuesdays, a comedy show hosted by Matt Edmondson known as The Matt Edmondson Show on Wednesdays, and In New DJs We Trust on Thursday evenings.

Friday evening is Radio 1's "Dance Music Marathon" from 7pm to 7am which consists of Annie Mac (7-9pm), Pete Tong (9-11pm), Judge Jules (11pm-1am), Kutski (1-3am), The Essential Mix (3-5am) and Rob da Bank (5-7am).

Saturday evenings include 12 hours of urban music which, since October 2009, has been simulcast entirely on 1Xtra. DJs include: Trevor Nelson (7-9pm), Tim Westwood (9-11pm) and MistaJam (11pm-1am). At 1am, the output changes every week offering four hours of the specialist genres of music that 1Xtra plays every weeknight from 10pm. This includes; Hip Hop, Dancehall, UKG, RnB and D&B.; Each week, between 1am and 3am, a programme known as The 1Xtra Showcase is aired offering one of these genres of urban music. This is followed by The 1Xtra Mix which follows with the same genre of music at 3am until 5am. Each week the theme of these shows change offering four hours of each genre once every 5 weeks in the same timeslot on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. Every week this is followed by My Top 10 and 1Xtra's Best of the Week at 5am and 6am before daytime programmes resume on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra.

Sunday evenings include a magazine show hosted by Tom Deacon (7-9pm), advice show The Surgery with Aled (9-10pm) and a show hosted by Nick Grimshaw and Annie Mac (10-12pm). This is before specialist music takes over the station at midnight with BBC Introducing in the Nations with Jen Long in Wales, Rory McConnell in Northern Ireland and Ally McCrae in Scotland (12-2am) followed by Fabio and Grooverider (2-4am)

The licence-fee funding of Radio 1, alongside Radio 2, is often criticised by the commercial sector. In the first quarter of 2011 Radio 1 was part of an efficiency review conducted by John Myers. His role, according to Andrew Harrison, the chief executive of RadioCentre, was "to identify both areas of best practice and possible savings."

Broadcast

Studios

From inception for over 20 years, Radio 1 broadcast from an adjacent pair of continuity suites (originally Con A and Con B) in the main control room of Broadcasting House. These cons were configured to allow DJs to operate the equipment themselves and play their own records and jingle cartridges (called self-op). This was a departure from traditional BBC practice, where a studio manager would play in discs from the studio control cubicle. Due to needle time restrictions much of the music was played from tapes of BBC session recordings. The DJs were assisted by one or more technical operators (TOs) who would set up tapes and control sound levels during broadcasts.

The current studios are located in the basement of Yalding House (near to BBC Broadcasting House) which is on Great Portland Street in central London. The station moved there in 1996 from Egton House, which was demolished in 2003 to make way for the extensions to Broadcasting House. When complete in 2012, Radio 1 will move to new studios in Broadcasting House.

Radio 1 also uses the BBC Maida Vale Studios in west London, where artists record music sessions for various shows, including the popular Live Lounge for Fearne Cotton's show. There are also live performances held there in front of Radio 1 competition winners.

Programmes have also regularly been broadcast from other regions, notably the Mark and Lard show, broadcast every weekday from New Broadcasting House, Oxford Road, Manchester for over a decade (October 1993-March 2004) – the longest regular broadcast on the network from outside the capital.

UK analogue frequencies

Radio 1 initially broadcast on 1215 kHz medium wave (or 247 metres as it was referred to at the time) and moved to 1053/1089 kHz (275/285 m) on 23 November 1978, but did not broadcast nationally on FM until 1988. The BBC was allocated three FM frequency ranges in 1955, for the then Light Programme (now BBC Radio 2), Third Programme (now BBC Radio 3) and Home Service (now BBC Radio 4) stations. This meant when Radio 1 was launched, there was no FM frequency range allocated for the station, the official reason being that there was no space even though no commercial stations had yet launched on FM. Because of this, from launch until the early 1980s Radio 1 was allowed to take over Radio 2's FM transmitters for a few hours per week – Saturday afternoons, Sunday teatime and evening – most notably for the Top 40 Singles Chart on Sunday afternoons – and 10:00 pm to midnight on weeknights including Sounds of the Seventies until 1975, and thereafter the John Peel show.

In 1988 the 97–99 MHz frequencies became available when the existing police communication allocation changed, and Radio 1 acquired them for its own national FM network. This was rolled out as of 1 September 1988, starting with the Central Scotland, Midlands & Yorkshire areas (FM broadcasts were available in London as of 31 October 1987, but this was at low power on 104.8 MHz FM – see here). Radio 1 made great efforts to promote its new FM service, renaming itself on-air initially to 'Radio 1 FM' and also later on as '1FM' until 1995.

The Conservative government then decided that to increase competition on AM it would disallow the simulcast of services available on both AM and FM. Therefore Radio 1's old medium wave frequencies were reallocated to Talk Radio UK in 1994 (now talkSPORT). Radio 1's last broadcast on MW was on 1 July that year, with Stephen Duffy's "Kiss Me" being the last record played on MW just before 9:00am. In the initial months after this closure a pre-recorded message with Bruno Brookes was played to warn listeners about the fact Radio 1 was now an "FM-only" station, but before the pre-launch test transmissions for Talk Radio UK, the new station played out a new recorded message in the style of a 1930s/40s BBC radio announcer played out, making fun of the legislation that made the BBC have to give up their AM frequencies, saying "goodbye to listeners everywhere". During this time it also began broadcasting on spare audio subcarriers on Sky Television's analogue satellite service, initially in mono (on UK Gold) and later in stereo (on UK Living).

Digital distribution

The BBC launched its national radio stations on DAB digital radio in 1995, however the technology was expensive at the time and so was not marketed, instead used as a test for future technologies. DAB was "officially" launched in 2002 as sets became cheaper. Today it can also be heard on UK digital TV services Freeview, Virgin Media, Sky and the Internet as well as FM. In July 2005, Sirius Satellite Radio began simulcasting Radio 1 across the United States as channel 11 on its own service and channel 6011 on Dish Network satellite TV. Sirius Canada began simulcasting Radio 1 when it was launched on 1 December 2005 (also on channel 11). The Sirius simulcasts are time shifted five hours to allow U.S. and Canadian listeners in the Eastern Time Zone to hear Radio 1 at the same time of day as UK listeners. On 12 November 2008, Radio 1 made its debut on XM Satellite Radio in both the US and Canada on channel 29, moving to XM 15 and Sirius 15 on 4 May 2011. Radio 1 was able to be heard by approximately 20.6 million listeners in North America on satellite radio alone. BBC Radio 1 can be heard on the cable in the Netherlands at 105.10 FM.

SiriusXM Cancellation in North America

As of 12AM on 9 August 2011, Sirius XM is no longer carrying BBC Radio 1 programming. Sirius XM gave no prior warning to its customers that it was going to be removed. On 10 August, the BBC issued this statement:The BBC’s commercial arm BBC Worldwide has been in partnership with SIRIUS Satellite Radio to broadcast Radio 1 on their main network, since 2005. This agreement has now unfortunately come to an end and BBC Worldwide are in current discussions with the satellite radio station to find ways to continue to bring popular music channel, BBC Radio 1, to the US audience. We will keep you posted. Press Release.

Sirius XM to return in North America Sirius XM has announced that BBC Radio 1 will become available again to US listeners this week, as part of a new multi-platform carriage deal with the corporation.

Last week, the BBC's flagship music radio station was dropped from Sirius XM after six years on the subscription satellite radio platform, although the corporation continued talks to bring the station back to US listeners.

Sirius and the BBC have now agreed a new carriage agreement that will see Radio 1 broadcast on the Sirius XM Internet Radio platform from August 19 at 5pm ET.

===Regionalisation=== Since 1999, Radio 1 has split the home nations for localised programming in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to allow the broadcast of a showcase programme for regional talent. This show, otherwise known as 'BBC Introducing' currently broadcasts between Midnight and 2am on Sunday Nights/Monday Mornings. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own shows, which are broadcasted on a rotational basis in England.

Scotland's show, since 2011 has been presented by Ally McCrae. Formally it was hosted by Vic Galloway (who also presents for BBC Radio Scotland); who had presented the show solo since 2004, after his original co-host Gill Mills departed.

Wales's show is hosted by Jen Long. Previously Bethan Elfyn occupied the slot, who had at one time hosted alongside Huw Stephens, until Stephens left to join the national network (Stephens can still be heard in Wales, as he also broadcasts Welsh-language music programming on BBC Radio Cymru, on a Monday Night between.)

Rory McConnell currently presents the Northern Irish programme. Before joining the national network, Colin Murray was a presenter on the Session In Northern Ireland, along with Donna Legge; after Murray's promotion to the network Legge hosted alone for a time, and on her departure McConnell took her place.

The regional opt-outs originally went out from 8:00pm to 10:00pm on Thursdays (the Evening Session's time slot) and were known as the Session In The Nations (the 'Session' tag was later dropped due to the demise of the Evening Session); they later moved to run from 7:30pm to 9:00pm, with the first half hour of Zane Lowe's programme going out across the whole of the UK. Since the early hours of 18 October 2007 the regional programmes have been aired Wednesday night/Thursday mornings from 12:00am to 2:00am under the BBC Introducing banner, allowing Lowe's Thursday show to be aired across the network; prior to this change Huw Stephens had presented the Wednesday midnight show nationally. In January 2011, BBC Introducing was moved to the new time slot of 00:00 to 02:00 on Monday mornings, and the Scottish and Welsh shows were given new presenters in the form of Ally McCrae and Jen Long.

These opt-outs are only available to listeners on the FM frequencies. Because of the way the DAB and digital TV services of Radio 1 are broadcast (a single-frequency network on DAB and a single broadcast feed of Radio 1 on TV platforms), the digital version of the station is not currently regionalised.

Controllers

Content

Music

While most commercial stations concentrate on two main themes, 1980s music & classic rock, Radio 1 plays a mix of current songs, including independent/alternative, rap, hip hop, rock, house, electronica, dance, drum and bass and pop.

Due to restrictions on the amount of commercial music that could be played on radio in the UK until 1988 (the "needle time" limitation) the station has recorded many live performances and studio sessions, many of which have found their way to commercially-available LPs and CDs. The station also broadcasts documentaries and interviews. Although this type of programming arose from necessity it has given the station diversity. The needletime restrictions meant the station tended to have a higher level of speech by DJs. While the station is often criticised for "waffling" by presenters, an experimental "more music day" in 1988 was declared a failure after only a third of callers favoured it.

News and current affairs

Radio 1 has a public service broadcasting obligation to provide news, which it fulfills through Newsbeat bulletins throughout the day. Short news summaries are provided roughly hourly on the half hour during daytime hours with two 15-minute bulletins at 12:45pm and 5:45pm. The main presenter is Tulip Mazumdar. However, there are other presenters, such as Dominic Byrne who reads the news on the Chris Moyles Show, Chris Smith, Debbie Randle and Simon Mundie who reads the sports news in the afternoon on the Scott Mills show.

Notable programming

The Radio 1 Chart Show

Radio 1's long-running chart show broadcasts on Sunday afternoons between 4:00pm and 7:00pm; it has always ended at 7:00pm since the station's inception, although the format, length and starting time have varied. From 15 March 1992 through 2 February 2003, the format was a countdown of all the top 40 selling singles in the UK for that week, from 40 to 1. Since that date, the show has taken on new presenters (currently Reggie Yates) and a more chat-oriented format. The show no longer plays all the top 40 singles; instead, the entire top 20 is played along with a selection of tracks between 21 and 40, interviews and other features. The chart is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company; Radio 1 is the only station to broadcast the "official" UK singles chart.

On 14 October 2007, Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates replaced JK & Joel as hosts of the Chart Show. Fearne Cotton became the first regular female presenter of the UK Top 40. Jo Whiley became the first female to present the UK Top 40 on 24 November 2002 (a week after Mark Goodier's departure from the show) as a string of one-off presenters each week until Scott Mills presented the UK Top 40 each week from 5 January 2003 until 2 February 2003. Wes Butters launched the Chart Show on 9 February 2003. After this date the Chart Show was known as The Official UK Top 40. A weekly "Official Chart Update", which started on 10 March 2010, also features every Wednesday between 3.30 - 4pm in the run up to the chart show on Sunday.

;Chart Show history

17 March 1974 16 April 1995

style="width: 20%;"	From	To	Presenter	Format
1 October 1967	24 September 1972	Alan Freeman
1 October 1972		Tom Browne |>A three-hour show called Solid Gold Sixty featuring new releases, climbers and chart entries below the Top 20 from 4:00pm to 6:00pm, followed by the Top 20 itself from 6:00pm to 7:00pm
24 March 1974
2 April 1978
12 November 1978
2 September 1979	3 January 1982
10 January 1982	1 January 1984
8 January 1984	23 September 1984
30 September 1984
13 April 1986	23 September 1990
30 September 1990
6 January 1991
colspan="2" style="text-align:center"	8 March 1992	Tommy Vance
15 March 1992	|	Bruno Brookes	Extended to a three-hour Top 40 from 4:00pm to 7:00pm
23 April 1995	17 November 2002
24 November 2002	2 February 2003
9 February 2003	30 January 2005
6 February 2005	27 February 2005
6 March 2005	30 September 2007
14 October 2007	20 September 2009
27 September 2009	Present

Weekday Breakfast Show

The breakfast show has been presented by many famous names over the years (see Radio 1 Breakfast Show presenters for more details).

Currently this slot is broadcast between 6:30am and 10:00am, Monday to Friday and has been hosted since January 2004 by Chris Moyles and his team under the alternative title The Chris Moyles Show.

Weekday Drivetime Show

The current weekday Drivetime show is hosted by Scott Mills, under the title The Scott Mills Show. Notable former presenters include Sara Cox, Chris Moyles, Peter Powell, Bruno Brookes, Nicky Campbell, Mark Goodier, Kevin Greening and Dave Pearce. The show currently broadcasts from 4:00pm until 7:00pm every weekday, with a 15 minute break at 5:45pm for Newsbeat. Scott Mills is usually joined by assistant producer Rebecca Huxtable.

The 10 Hour Takeover

The 10 Hour Takeover is a stunt event run on some Bank Holiday Mondays and other public holidays since 2004, the first having been aired on Easter Monday of that year. The event is a request-based special, in which the DJs on air will encourage listeners to select any available track to play. Due to the BBC's long-established and broad-scope music archive, it is often possible for a wide range of songs to be played, and as such the mix of music played may be more diverse than that on a normal weekday.

The Tinsel Takeover

In 2009 and 2010 around 25 Radio 1 listeners were invited to record their own 15 minute show to be broadcast on Christmas Day, with the show containing a selection of songs and discussion about a chosen subject.

Radio 1's Longest Show Ever

On 18 March 2011, BBC's Radio 1 longest serving breakfast DJ Chris Moyles and sidekick Dave Vitty broadcast for 52 hours as part of a Guinness World Record attempt, in aid of Comic Relief. The pair stayed on air for 52 hours in total setting a new world record for ‘Radio DJ Endurance Marathon (Team)’ after already breaking Simon Mayo's 12-year record for Radio 1's Longest Show of 37 hours which he set in 1999, also for Comic Relief.

The presenters started on 16 March 2011 and came off air at 10:30am on 18 March 2011. During this Fearne Cotton made a bet with DJ Chris Moyles that if they raise over £2,000,000 she will appear on the show in a swimsuit. After passing the £2,000,000 mark, Cotton appeared on the studio webcam in a stripy monochrome swimsuit. The appearance of Cotton between 10:10am and 10:30am caused the Radio 1 website to crash due to a high volume of traffic.

In total the event raised £2,622,421 for Comic Relief.

Programming

The BBC Radio 1 schedule is:

Monday–Thursday

{|class="wikitable" |- !Time !Main presenter(s) |- |0000 – 0200 |BBC Introducing (Mon) / The Rock Show with Daniel P. Carter (Tues) / Nihal (Weds) / Huw Stephens (Thurs) / Kissy Sell Out (Fri) |- |0200 – 0400 |''Fabio & Grooverider (Mon) / Mike Davies (Tues) / Gilles Peterson (Weds) / Benji B (Thurs) / Annie Nightingale (Fri) |- |0400 – 0630 |Dev |- |0630 – 1000 |Chris Moyles (The Chris Moyles Show) |- |1000–1245 |Fearne Cotton |- |1245–1300 |Newsbeat |- |1300–1600 |Greg James |- |1530–1600 |Greg James (Weds: The Official Chart Update) |- |1600–1745 |Scott Mills |- ||1745–1800 |Newsbeat |- |1800–1900 |Scott Mills |- |1900–2100 |Zane Lowe |- |2100–2200 |BBC Radio 1's Stories (Mon) / The Review Show with Nihal (Tues) / The Matt Edmondson Show (Weds) / In New DJ's We Trust (Thurs) |- |2200 – 0000 |Nick Grimshaw |- |}

Friday variation

{|class="wikitable" |- !Time !Main presenter(s) |- |1300–1600 |Feet Up Friday |- |1700–1745 |The Wonderyears |- |1800–1900 |Scott Mills Ready for the Weekend |- |1900–2100 |Annie Mac |- |2100–2300 |Pete Tong |- |2300 – 0100 |Judge Jules |- |}

Saturday

{|class="wikitable" |- !Time !Main presenter(s) |- |0100 – 0300 |Kutski |- |0300 – 0500 |Essential Mix |- |0500 – 0700 |Rob da Bank |- |0700 – 1000 |Edith Bowman |- |1000–1300 |Vernon Kay |- |1300–1600 |Huw Stephens |- |1600–1900 |Reggie Yates (The Request Show) |- |1900–2100 |Trevor Nelson (BBC Radio 1Xtra simulcast) |- |2100–2300 |Tim Westwood (BBC Radio 1Xtra simulcast) |- |2300 – 0100 |MistaJam (BBC Radio 1Xtra simulcast) |- |}

Sunday

{|class="wikitable" |- !Time !Main presenter(s) |- |0100 – 0300 |1Xtra Showcase (BBC Radio 1Xtra simulcast) |- |0300 – 0500 |1Xtra M1X Showcase (BBC Radio 1Xtra simulcast) |- |0500 – 0600 |1Xtra's My Top Ten (BBC Radio 1Xtra simulcast) |- |0600 – 0700 |Best of the Week (BBC Radio 1Xtra simulcast) |- |0700 – 1000 |Edith Bowman |- |1000–1300 |Sara Cox |- |1300–1600 |Huw Stephens |- |1600–1900 |Reggie Yates (The Official Chart) |- |1900–2100 |Tom Deacon |- |2100–2200 |Aled Haydn Jones (The Surgery) |- |2200 – 0000 |Nick Grimshaw and Annie Mac |- |}

Public events

;Radio 1 Roadshows The Radio 1 Roadshow, which usually involved Radio 1 DJs and pop stars travelling around popular UK seaside destinations, began in 1973, hosted by Alan Freeman in Newquay, Cornwall, with the final one held at Heaton Park, Manchester in 1999. Although the Roadshow style changed with the style of the station itself—such as the introduction of whistlestop audio postcards of each location in 1994 ("2minuteTour")—they were still considered rooted in the "cheesy" old style of the station, and, in the 1980s, they sometimes featured elements which would be seen as highly politically incorrect today, such as wet T-shirt contests.

;Radio 1's Big Weekend In March 2000, Radio 1 decided to change the Roadshow format, renaming it One Big Sunday in the process. Several of these Sundays were held in large city-centre parks. In 2003, the event changed again and was rebranded One Big Weekend, with each event occurring biannually and covering two days. Under this name, it visited Derry in Northern Ireland, as part of the Music Lives campaign, and Perry Park in Birmingham.

The most recent change occurred in 2005 when the event was yet again renamed and the decision taken to hold only one per year, this time as Radio 1's Big Weekend. Venues under this title have included Herrington Country Park, Camperdown Country Park, Moor Park–which was the first Weekend to feature a third stage–Mote Park, Lydiard Park, Bangor and Carlisle Airport.

Tickets for each Big Weekend are given away free of charge, making it the largest free ticketed music festival in Europe.

BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend will be replaced by a larger festival in 2012, named 'Radio 1's Hackney Weekend', with a crowd capacity of 100,000. The event is to take place over the weekend of 23–24 June 2012 in Hackney, Central London.

;Radio 1 Switch Live The first ever BBC Switch Live was held on 12 October 2008 at the Hammersmith Apollo. With performances from McFly, Fall out Boy, Ne-Yo, Miley Cyrus, Basshunter, N-Dubz and George Sampson. The event was hosted by Annie Mac, Nick Grimshaw, Kelly Osbourne, Fearne Cotton, Greg James and Tom Deacon. The event was strictly for 14 to 17 years only and was recorded for BBC Switch's show Sound which is shown on BBC Two and is presented by Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw.

;Other events On 18 July 2008, Radio 1 broadcast live from BCM Square, Magaluf, Mallorca as part of their Summer Season 2008. The broadcast started at 4:00pm with Greg James and Judge Jules presenting. Then from 7:00pm to 9:00pm it was back to the London Studio with Pete Tong, and from 9:00pm to 11:00pm it was Kissy Sell Out standing in for Annie Mac with Annie Mac's Mash Up. Then at 11:00pm it was back to Mallorca for Dave Pearce's Dance Anthems. At 1:00am Judge Jules was back to end the night in the BCM Night Club.

During the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2011, Radio 1 ended each day of the festival from Monday 15 to Thursday 18 August with the Fun & Filth Cabaret. Scott Mills presented his show from 4:00pm to 7:00pm live from the BBC Bubble in Edinburgh, as did Nick Grimshaw with his show at 10:00pm. Mills and Grimshaw then hosted the cabaret between 11:00pm and midnight.

See also

List of BBC radio stations

Radio 1 Podcasts

Musicube

References

Further reading

External links

1 Category:Contemporary hit radio stations Category:Sirius Satellite Radio channels Category:XM Satellite Radio channels Category:Radio stations established in 1967 Category:1967 establishments in the United Kingdom

ca:BBC Radio 1 cy:BBC Radio 1 de:BBC Radio 1 es:BBC Radio 1 fr:BBC Radio 1 gd:BBC Radio 1 gl:BBC Radio 1 it:BBC Radio 1 ka:ბი-ბი-სი რადიო 1 nl:BBC Radio 1 pcd:BBC Radio 1 pl:BBC Radio 1 pt:BBC Radio 1 ru:BBC Radio 1 simple:BBC Radio 1 fi:BBC Radio 1 sv:BBC Radio 1 tr:BBC Radio 1

Michael Kiwanuka is a British soul musician who has been compared to Bill Withers and Otis Redding, as well as Van Morrison and the Temptations.

Early life

Kiwanuka grew up in London; his parents are from Uganda.

Career

His debut EP Tell Me A Tale was released on 13 June 2011.

Kiwanuka has supported Adele on Adele Live 2011 tour as well at her iTunes Festival gig 2011, and will play at the 2011 Hard Rock Calling.

Discography

Album !! Year
Tell Me a Tale EP	2011
I'm Getting Ready EP	2011

External links

References

Category:1980s births Category:Living people Category:British musicians Category:British soul singers Category:British people of Ugandan descent

name	Joe Jonas
birth name	Joseph Adam Jonas
background	solo_singer
born	August 15, 1989Casa Grande, Arizona, U.S.
origin	Wyckoff, New Jersey, U.S.
instrument	Vocals, percussion, keyboards, guitars
genre	Teen pop, pop rock, Christian rock
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, actor, dancer
years active	2005–present
label	Hollywood, Columbia
associated acts	Jonas Brothers, Jordin Sparks, Demi Lovato, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus
website	}}

Joseph Adam "Joe" Jonas (born August 15, 1989) is an Pop American singer, musician, actor, and dancer. He is a member of the Jonas Brothers, a pop-rock band made up of him and his two brothers, Nick and Kevin; Joe shares the lead singer role with the Nick. He starred as Joseph Lucas on the Disney Channel original series Jonas.

Early life

Joseph Adam Jonas was born in Casa Grande, Arizona. His mother, Denise (née Miller), is a former sign language teacher and singer, and his father, Paul Kevin Jonas, Sr., is a songwriter, musician and former ordained minister at an Assemblies of God church. Joe is of Italian (from a great-grandfather), German, Irish, English, Cherokee, and French-Canadian descent.

Music career

Jonas Brothers

In early 2005, Columbia Records' new president, Steve Greenberg, listened to Nick's record. While Greenberg did not like the album, he did like Nick's voice. After hearing the song, "Please Be Mine", written and performed by all the brothers, Daylight/Columbia Records decided to sign the three as a group act. After being signed to Columbia, the brothers considered naming their group "Sons of Jonas" before settling on the name "Jonas Brothers".

It's About Time, the brothers' first album, was released on August 8, 2006. According to the band's manager, it was only a "limited release" of a little over 50,000 copies. Because Sony was not interested in further promoting the band, the Jonas Brothers then considered switching labels. The band was ultimately dropped by Columbia Records in early 2007.

After shortly being without a label, the Jonas Brothers signed with Hollywood Records in February 2007. Around the same time, the brothers began appearing in GAP commercials for Baby Bottle Pops, singing the jingle. Their self-titled second album, Jonas Brothers, was released on August 7, 2007. It reached number five on the Billboard Hot 200 chart in its first week.

The Jonas Brothers' third studio album, A Little Bit Longer, was released in the United States on August 12, 2008 and peaked at #1 on the Billboard 200.

On June 16, 2009, The Jonas Brothers' fourth studio album, and third release under Hollywood Records entitled Lines, Vines, and Trying Times was released. The album peaked at number 1 on the Billboard 200 with 247,000 copies sold.

Solo artist

It was announced on May 19, 2010 that Jonas was planning on releasing a solo album. On May 16, 2011, Jonas announced the first single will be called "See No More" and will be released on June 3. Joe Jonas premiered his first solo song "See No More" to the entire world on Friday, June 3, 2011, on the top 40 radio station, B96 in Chicago. While guest hosting the American Top 40, Jonas premiered a snippet of his second single called "Just in Love" from his upcoming album Fast Life. On August 4, 2011, Jonas announced via Twitter that he will join Britney Spears on her European tour starting October 16, 2011. On September 9, 2011, his second single "Just in Love" premiered on RyanSeacrest.com. The music video for the song that was shot in Paris, premiered on E! Online on September 12, 2011. In support of the album, Joe is co-headlining with Jay Sean in the Joe Jonas & Jay Sean Tour with JoJo as the opening act. The tour kicked off on September 9, 2011 and goes on until October 6, 2011.

Acting career

On August 17, 2007, Jonas, along with his brothers, guest starred in an episode of Hannah Montana. The episode debuted alongside the television film High School Musical 2 and a sneak peek of the new Disney Channel show Phineas and Ferb. The episode broke basic cable records with a record 10.7 million viewers, and became basic cable's most watched series telecast ever.

Jonas and his brothers filmed a Disney Channel Original Movie called Camp Rock, where they play a band called "Connect Three." Joe plays the lead male role and lead singer "Shane Gray"; Nick plays the role of "Nate", a guitarist and drummer; and Kevin plays the role of "Jason," also a guitarist. The film's soundtrack was released on June 17, 2008. The movie premiered on June 20, 2008 in the USA on Disney Channel, and in Canada on Family. Jonas reprised his role of Shane in the sequel, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam. The film premiered on September 3, 2010 and the soundtrack was released on August 10, 2010.

The reality short series, Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream, premiered on Disney Channel on May 16, 2008. The first season, which ran until September 5, 2008, documented the brothers' lives on the Look Me In The Eyes Tour. The name was inspired by the band's hit song "When You Look Me in the Eyes". The series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on March 21, 2010. The second season followed the band on the European leg of their World Tour 2009.

Jonas, along with his three brothers Kevin, Nick and Frankie, also starred in their own Disney Channel Original Series, called JONAS. In the series, the Jonas Brothers portray a pop band attempting to live a normal life. The first season premiered on May 2, 2009. Filming for the second season began in February 2010.

Jonas guest judged on an episode of American Idol during the auditions in Dallas. In February 2010, Jonas made a cameo appearance in Vampire Weekend's music video for "Giving Up the Gun" along with Jake Gyllenhaal, Lil Jon, and RZA.

Jonas guest starred on TV Land’s Hot In Cleveland series, which co-stars Betty White. Jonas appeared in an August episode as 'Will', Valerie Bertinelli's character's son, in an episode. In the episode, Will Moretti comes to Cleveland to visit his mother Melanie. The episode aired August 11 and was taped in front of a live studio audience July 17.

Personal life

In 2008, Jonas was in a high-profile relationship with country pop singer The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Swift stated that Jonas broke up with her in a 27-second phone call. In explanation, Jonas wrote on his MySpace blog (in a post that has since been removed): "I called to discuss feelings with the other person, and obviously these feelings were not well received. I did not end the phone call. Someone else ended it for me. Phone calls only last as long as the person on the other end is willing to talk." Furthermore, Jonas stated that he has tried to call her since the breakup, in an attempt at reconciliation, but received no response. During the same interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Swift revealed that the heartbreak song, "Forever & Always", on her album [[Fearless (Taylor Swift album)">Fearless, recorded in late September 2008, was inspired by Jonas.

Jonas began a relationship with actress Camilla Belle after she starred in the band's music video for the song "Lovebug". After almost a year together, it was announced the couple had split. Jonas briefly dated actress and singer Demi Lovato in 2010.

Jonas was in a relationship with actress Ashley Greene. In March 2011, it announced that couple had split. The news of the split came one day after Jonas' interview with Details magazine, in which he "gushed" over the actress, was published on the internet. "It feels good. I think what works about it is she really puts my feelings first. She understands my busy schedule," he stated in the interview. "She'll fly out to my shows — she's been to places in South America that I can't even pronounce."

In July 2011, Jonas was spotted with Karlie Kloss, the Oscar de la Renta model, at a Royal Polo match in Santa Barbara.

Discography

Studio albums

Year

Album details

Peak chart positions

! style="width:30px;"

! style="width:30px;"

! style="width:30px;"

! style="width:30px;"

2011

style="text-align:left;"

* Release date: October 11, 2011

* Formats: CD, CD+DVD, digital download

Hollywood">Music recording sales certification

! style="width:30px;"

! style="width:30px;"

! style="width:30px;"

! style="width:30px;"

! style="width:30px;"

2011

style="text-align:left;"

* Release date: October 11, 2011

* Formats: CD, CD+DVD, digital download

Hollywood

-

-

-

-

-

Singles

{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1" |+ List of songs, with selected chart positions and certifications, showing year charted and album name ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:15em;"| Song ! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Year ! scope="col" colspan="7"| Peak chart positions ! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Album |- ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|US
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|US Pop ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|AUS
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|AUT
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|CAN ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|SWI ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|UK |- ! scope="row" | "See No More" | rowspan="2" | 2011 | 92 || 37 || — || — || — || — || 53 | rowspan="2" | Fastlife |- ! scope="row" | "Just In Love" | — || — || — || — || — || — || — |- | colspan="16" style="font-size:8pt"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart |- |}

Promotional singles

+ List of singles, with selected chart positions	scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:14em;"	Title	Year	Peak chart positions			Album
! scope="col" style="width:4em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:4em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:4em;font-size:90%;"
"Love Slayer"		—	22	—

As featured artist

{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1" ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:15em;"| Song ! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Year ! scope="col" colspan="10"| Peak chart positions ! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Album |- ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|US ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|US Pop ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|AUS
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|AUT
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|CAN ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|GER
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|IRL
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|NZ ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|SWI ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|UK |- ! scope="row" | "We Rock" (with Cast of Camp Rock) | rowspan="2" | 2008 | 33 || — || — || 70 || 41 || — || — || — || — || 97 | rowspan="2"| Camp Rock |- ! scope="row" | "This Is Me" (with Demi Lovato) | 9 || 1 || 46 || 18 || 16 || 36 || 27 || — || 39 || 33 |- ! scope="row" | "Send It On" (with Disney's Friends for Change) | 2009 | 20 || — || 94 || — || — || — || — || — || — || — | Charity single |- ! scope="row" | "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" (with Various Artists) | rowspan="3" | 2010 | 2 || — || 18 || — || 7 || — || 9 || 8 || — || 50 | Charity single |- ! scope="row" | "Make a Wave" (Demi Lovato featuring Joe Jonas) | 84 || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — | Charity single |- ! scope="row" | "Wouldn't Change a Thing" (with Demi Lovato) | — || — || — || — || 90 || — || — || — || — || 71 | rowspan="1"| Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam |- |} ;Notes :1."Wouldn't Change a Thing" didn't enter the Billboard Hot 100 but peaked on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart at number ten.

Other charted songs

{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1" |+ List of songs, with selected chart positions and certifications, showing year charted and album name ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:15em;"| Song ! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Year ! scope="col" colspan="7"| Peak chart positions ! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Album |- ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|US
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|US Pop ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|AUS
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|AUT
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|CAN ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|SWI ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|UK |- ! scope="row" | "Gotta Find You" | 2008 | 20 || 41 || 82 || 31 || 26 || 58 || — | rowspan="1"| Camp Rock |}

Other appearances

! Year	! Song	! Album
	"Things Will Never Be the Same"
"Summer Rain"
"Make It Right"
"What We Came Here For" (with Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas, Alyson Stoner)	rowspan="5"
"This Is Our Song" (with Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas, Alyson Stoner)
"Heart and Soul" (with Nick Jonas, Kevin Jonas)
"Eu Não Mudaria Nada Em Você" (with Jullie)
"Nada Vou Mudar" (with Mia Rose)

Music videos

!Year	!Title	!Album
rowspan="3"	2008	align="left"	rowspan="3"
align="left"
	2009		Non-album Song(Disney's Friends for Change)
	"Make It Right"
"Things Will Never Be the Same"
"Make a Wave" (with Demi Lovato)	Non-album Song
"Eu Não Mudaria Nada Em Você" (Jullie featuring Joe Jonas)
"Nada Vou Mudar" (Mia Rose featuring Joe Jonas)
	"See No More"
"Just in Love"

Filmography

colspan="4" style="background: LightSteelBlue;"	Film
! Year	! Film	! Role	! Notes
	Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert	Himself	3D Concert film
Camp Rock	Shane Gray	Disney Channel Original Movie
	Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience	Himself	3D Concert film
Band in a Bus	Himself	Reality DVD
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian	Cherub	Film
	2010	Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam	Shane Gray
2011	Jonas Brothers: The Journey	Himself	(Unauthorized Documentary)
Television
! Year	! Series	! Role	! Notes
2007	Hannah Montana	Himself	"Me and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas" (Season 2, Episode 17)
2008,2010	Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream	Himself	Reality series
2009–2010	JONAS L.A.	Joe Lucas	Disney Channel Original Series
	Hot in Cleveland	Will Moretti	August 11, 2010 Episode
Sonny With A Chance	Himself	So Random Christmas
	Himself	November 2010 episode
Guest appearances
! Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes
	Studio DC: Almost Live	Himself	Second show
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition	Himself	"The Akers Family" (Season 6, Episode 2)
2009	Saturday Night Live	Himself	February 14, 2009 episode
	American Idol	Himself as Judge	January 27, 2010 episode
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition	Himself	"The Heathcock Family" (Season 7, Episode 17)
Daily 10	Himself (Host)	July 27, 2010 episode
Top Chef	Himself	"Night At The Museum" December 8, 2010 episode
	When I Was 17	Himself	Documentary; Featured Performer
Music video
Year	Title	Artist	Role
2010	Giving Up the Gun	Vampire Weekend	Tennis player, cameo
Musicals
Year	Musical	Role	Note
2004	La bohème

Awards and nominations

|- | style="text-align:center;"| 2008 || rowspan="5"| Himself |Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica for Best Fashionista (Most Fashionable) || |- | style="text-align:center;"| 2009 |Kids Choice Awards for Favorite TV Actor || |- | style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"| 2010 |The Soup Awards for Best Third Jonas || |- |J-14'S Teen Icon Awards for Iconic Tweeter || |- | style="text-align:center;"| 2011 |Kids Choice Awards for Favorite TV Actor || |}

References

External links

Category:1989 births Category:Actors from New Jersey Category:American Christians Category:American film actors Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:American people of Cherokee descent Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American people of Native American descent Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American television actors Category:Jonas Brothers members Category:Living people Category:Musicians from New Jersey Category:People from Wyckoff, New Jersey

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name	Ellie Goulding
background	solo_singer
birth name	Elena Jane Goulding
birth date	December 30, 1986
birth place	Hereford, Herefordshire, England
origin	London, England
genre	Indie pop, electropop, synthpop, folktronica
occupation	Singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist, drummer
instrument	Vocals, guitar, drums, piano, clarinet, tambourine
years active	2007–present
label	Neon Gold, Polydor, Cherrytree, Interscope
associated acts	Starsmith, Diana Vickers, Gabriella Cilmi, Tinie Tempah, Erik Hassle, Lissie, Frankmusik, Lena Meyer-Landrut,Mumford & Sons
website	}}

Elena Jane "Ellie" Goulding (born December 30, 1986) is an English singer-songwriter. In 2010 she became only the second artist to both top the BBC's annual Sound of... poll, and win the Critics' Choice Award at the BRIT Awards in the same year, following Adele's win of both in 2008. After signing to Polydor Records in 2009, she released her first extended-play recording in 2009, An Introduction to Ellie Goulding, and her debut studio album Lights followed in 2010. Her album went on to debut at number one on the UK Albums Chart and sold there over 380,000 copies by the end of 2010 and over 620,000 copies in total.

Her musical style has been compared to that of Kate Nash, Lykke Li, Tracey Thorn, and Björk.

Background

Ellie was born and brought up in Hereford, Herefordshire, the second of four children. She began playing the clarinet and writing songs at the age of nine, and at fourteen began learning guitar. She started songwriting at the age of fifteen and while in college she won a singing competition.

After commencing a drama course at the University of Kent, where she was exposed to electronic music, she developed her sound with the help of Frankmusik on the track "Wish I Stayed", and Starsmith, who went on to become her chief collaborator and primary producer of Lights. After two years at Kent, she was advised to take a gap year to pursue singing, and moved to West London.

She is a keen runner, running six miles every day, and in 2010 admitted plans to run a marathon. In support of her second EP, Run Into the Light, she invited a small number of fans through her Facebook pages, to run with her in seven different cities on her UK tour, and has announced that she will be doing the same across Europe and the United States. A website, EllieRuns.com, was launched in support. Goulding's keenness for exercise has given her what is considered to be an impressively athletic physique.

She is currently dating BBC Radio 1's DJ Greg James.

Music career

Early career

Signed to Polydor Records in September 2009, she made her debut single. "Under the Sheets", which was released digitally in the United Kingdom on 15 November 2009, peaking outside the top 40. In October 2009 she toured the UK supporting Little Boots, and appeared on Later... with Jools Holland, performing "Under The Sheets" and "Guns and Horses". "Wish I Stayed" was available as a free download as the UK iTunes Store's 'Single of the Week' from 22–28 December 2009.

Lights and Bright Lights

Before the release of her debut studio album, Goulding won the BBC Sound of 2010 poll, which showcases the critics, broadcasters and music industry insiders' top choices for rising stars and artists for the coming year. She also won the Critics' Choice Award at the 2010 BRIT Awards, which prize made her the second artist to win both in the same year.

The album Lights was released in March 2010, reaching number one on the UK Albums Chart and number twelve on the Irish Albums Chart. Its singles, "Starry Eyed", "Guns and Horses", and "The Writer" peaked at numbers 4, 26, and 19 respectively. In August 2010, Ellie released a second extended play, Run Into the Light, a remixed version of Lights. The album was supported by Nike and was released through Polydor as a running soundtrack in an effort to get Goulding's music taken up by the national running subculture.

In November 2010, Lights was re-released as Bright Lights, with six new tracks added. It was originally announced that the lead single from Bright Lights would be the new edit of the title track with a release scheduled for 1 November 2010. Yet this was scrapped to allow her cover of Elton John's "Your Song" to be released in conjunction with the John Lewis Christmas 2010 advertising campaign in the UK. The single became Goulding's highest-charting single to date, reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart. The song also charted in some European countries in early 2011.

Goulding toured in support of Lights and supported Passion Pit in March 2010 and John Mayer during his British tour in May 2010. During the summer she performed at a number of festivals. On 29 May she performed at the Dot to Dot Festival in Bristol. She performed a set on 25 June at the 40th annual Glastonbury Festival on the John Peel Stage. Her third EP was a live recording of part of her set at the iTunes Festival 2010. The whole set was later released as part of the iTunes version of Bright Lights. She made her T in the Park debut on 11 July. She played on the Nissan Juke Arena at the 2010 V Festival in late August. In September she was part of the line-up at Bestival 2010 on the Isle of Wight. In support of the album in Europe she performed on the first day of Pukkelpop in Belgium, at the Open'er Festival in Poland and at Benicàssim in Spain. A track from Lights, "Everytime You Go", was featured in the Vampire Diaries episode "Founder's Day", while "Your Biggest Mistake" appeared in an episode of The Inbetweeners. She began a tour of the United States and Canada in February 2011 to coincide with the release of the American edition of Lights. She will also play at Coachella.

In January 2011 it was announced that the title track from Lights would serve as the second single from Bright Lights. In early 2011 she recorded an original song for the film Life in a Day. Goulding was featured as number five artist on Rolling Stone Magazine's hotlist in February 2011. In February 2011 she returned to the BRIT Awards where she was nominated for the Best British Female Solo Artist and the Best British Breakthrough Act. Previously she had performed at the BRITs launch party where the nominations were announced. Goulding will headline the 2011 Wakestock Festival in Wales, performing on 8 July. In August she will again perform at the V Festival. Following the re-release of Lights and the American launch of the album, Goulding said she would soon begin work on a second studio album with an expected release in September 2011. Goulding made her American television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live on 7 April 2011 performing "Starry Eyed". She appeared as the musical guest on the 700th episode of the Saturday Night Live, broadcast 7 May 2011 and hosted by Tina Fey. She served as the only live performer at the wedding reception of Prince William and Kate Middleton on 29 April 2011 singing her rendition of Your Song for the couple's first dance as well as her hits The Writer and Starry Eyed and several of William and Kate's personal favourites. She was introduced to Prince William by Tinie Tempah at a music festival during the summer of 2010. Ellie performed, for the second consecutive year, at Radio 1's Big Weekend on Saturday 14 May. On 28 July 2011, the American video version of Starry Eyed was released on Youtube. The video reached over 1 million views in just 3 days. The video features Ellie wearing blue contacts

Untitled second album

In March 2011, Goulding told UK showbiz website Digital Spy that she is recording a currently untitled follow-up to Lights. When asked about the musical direction of the record, Ellie told the site:

The previous month, the site reported that she hopes to release the album at some point in 2011, saying, "I'm not going to go away for ages. It'll be out this year or the start of next."

Work with other artists

Goulding co-wrote "Love Me 'Cause You Want To" for Gabriella Cilmi's second album, Ten, and three songs, "Remake Me + You", "Notice" and "Jumping Into Rivers," for Diana Vickers's debut album, Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree. Her song "Not Following" was used by Lena Meyer-Landrut on her debut album My Cassette Player. Goulding featured on the rapper Tinie Tempah's fifth official single "Wonderman" from his debut studio album Disc-Overy. Goulding is also featured on American rap duo Chiddy Bang's song "Under the Sheets" on their mixtape Airswell. Frankmusik told Digital Spy he hoped to collaborate with Goulding on his upcoming album. The two previously worked together on Ellie's track Wish I Stayed.

Discography

;Studio albums

2010: Lights / Bright Lights

2011: TBA

;Extended plays

2009: An Introduction to Ellie Goulding

2010: iTunes Festival: London 2010

2010: Run Into the Light

Awards and nominations

Year	Organization	Nominated Work	Award	Result
			Sound of 2010
2010 BRIT Awards	Critics' Choice
rowspan="2"	Best Female Artist
Best Breakthrough Artist
	Best UK & Ireland Act
2010 MP3 Music Awards	The BNC Award
	Best Female Artist
	Best Breakthrough Artist
rowspan="2"	Best Newcomer
Lights	Best Album
			British Female Solo Artist
British Breakthrough Act
rowspan="2"		Pandora Newcomer of the Year 2011

References

External links

Category:1986 births Category:Alumni of the University of Kent Category:BRIT Award winners Category:English electronic musicians Category:English female guitarists Category:English female singers Category:English pop guitarists Category:English pop pianists Category:English pop singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English vegetarians Category:English-language singers Category:Folktronica Category:Indie pop musicians Category:Living people Category:People from Hereford Category:Polydor Records artists Category:Synthpop musicians

bg:Ели Голдинг cs:Ellie Goulding da:Ellie Goulding de:Ellie Goulding es:Ellie Goulding fr:Ellie Goulding id:Ellie Goulding it:Ellie Goulding hu:Ellie Goulding nl:Ellie Goulding pcd:Ellie Goulding pl:Ellie Goulding pt:Ellie Goulding ro:Ellie Goulding ru:Голдинг, Элли fi:Ellie Goulding sv:Ellie Goulding tr:Ellie Goulding zh:愛莉格

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" and "The Edge of Glory". Beside her musical career, she involves herself with humanitarian causes and LGBT activism.

Influenced by such acts as David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Madonna and Queen, Lady Gaga is 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. Brought up in the family home in Manhattan's Upper West Side, Lady Gaga is of Italian and more distant French-Canadian descent, and is the daughter of Cynthia (née Bissett) and Joseph Germanotta, an internet entrepreneur. The elder of two children, Lady Gaga has one sister, Natali, a fashion student, who was born in 1992. Lady Gaga has stressed that – despite her seemingly affluent upbringing – 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, Lady 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" as she told in an interview, "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.

A keen musician, left-handed Lady Gaga began playing the piano at the age of four, 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.

Being part of such a prestigious performance course, she sharpened her songwriting skills while composing essays and analytical papers on art, religion, social issues and politics including a thesis on pop artists Spencer Tunick and Damien Hirst; such research prepared her for her future career focus in "music, art, sex and celebrity." She also tried out for and won auditions while at CAP21, 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 from the school 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, Lady 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 Lady Gaga's ability and contacted her. With SGBand disbanded, Lady 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". Lady 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 Lady 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, Lady 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, Lady 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, Lady 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, Lady 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 Lady Gaga and Lady Starlight were busy performing, producer Rob Fusari continued to work on the songs he had created with Lady 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. Lady 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, Lady 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 Lady 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.". Lady 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. Lady 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, Lady 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, Lady 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 Lady 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. Lady 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. Lady 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 Lady 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 Lady 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 Lady 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. Lady 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, Lady 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 of 2010 by past producer Rob Fusari who claimed that he was entitled to a 20% share of its earnings. Lady 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 Lady Gaga. In addition to such strife, Lady 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 Lady 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

Lady 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. Lady 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, becoming her eighth consecutive single to exceed the sales of two million. A music video was released for the song, showing Lady Gaga giving birth to a new race amidst surrealistic images; critics noted artistic and cultural references and praised its concept. Lady 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 Lady Gaga's vocals. The duet version was only featured in the film. In February, Lady Gaga's concerts of her then-ongoing tour at Madison Square Garden in New York City, were filmed for an HBO special aired in May. The special was nominated for five Emmy Awards.

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 Lady 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, Lady 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, Lady 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. Lady 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, Lady 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, Lady 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.

Artistry

Influences

Lady 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 Lady Gaga, Joanne Germanotta – her aunt who tragically 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 Lady 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, "Lady Gaga": "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. Lady Gaga receives regular comparisons to recording artist Madonna. The 53-year-old singer admits that she sees herself reflected in Lady Gaga. In response to the comparisons, Lady Gaga has 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 few years her career has spanned, Lady Gaga has drawn musical inspiration from a diverse mix of musicians including Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, Grace Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Blondie singer Debbie Harry, Scissor Sisters, Prince, Marilyn Manson and Yoko Ono.

Lady Gaga has identified fashion as a major influence and has been stylistically compared to American recording artist Cher and English eccentrics Leigh Bowery and Isabella Blow. 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, Lady 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, Lady Gaga's outré ensembles brought performance art into the mainstream."

Musical and performance style

Lady Gaga's musical and performance style has been the subject of much analysis and scrutiny of critics. She professes that she is "liberating" herself by constantly reinventing her image and sound, insisting that it is a practice she has been drawn to since her childhood. Her career has been a continuous experimentation with new musical ideas and images in constant quest for new heights of fame and acclaim.

Vocally, Lady Gaga has drawn frequent comparison to the ranges of Madonna and Gwen Stefani. Possessing the range of a contralto, Lady Gaga exhibits "overwhelming expression, instinctive vocal phrasing, '80s rock reminiscent chest belts and animalistic vocal ticks" while being able to move through 2.4 octaves. Lady Gaga, who refuses to lip sync, 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." Lady 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 Lady 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, [Lady 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 Lady Gaga the "Queen of Pop" in 2011, public reception of Lady 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 breaths new life into the industry is by turns affirmed and denied. Lady 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 Lady 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 the 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; a little heart with "DAD" inside it; a white rose; a treble clef; a bunch of daises; a heart saying "Tokyo Love"; a tiny swan; 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, Lady 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, Lady 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 Lady 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, Lady 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 Lady 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 Lady 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.

Lady 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 that Lady Gaga "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, Lady 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. Lady 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 Lady 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 Lady Gaga performed at MTV Japan's charity show in Makuhari Messe, which benefited the Japanese Red Cross.

Lady 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, Lady 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, Lady 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), Lady 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

Lady 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.

Lady 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, Lady Gaga wore a dress fabricated from the flesh of a dead animal to the awards ceremony. Lady 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 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.

Lady 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". Lady 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

;Headlining

The Fame Ball Tour (2009)

The Monster Ball Tour (2009–11)

;Supporting

New Kids on the Block: Live (2008)

Take That Presents: The Circus Live (2009)

Doll Domination Tour (2009)

;Co-headlining

Fame Kills: Starring Kanye West and Lady Gaga (cancelled)

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: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

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