In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song. It can sometimes have a pejorative meaning implying that the original recording should be regarded as the definitive or "authentic" version, and all others merely lesser competitors, alternatives or tributes (no matter how popular). Originally, ''Billboard'' and other magazines which track the popularity of the musical artists and hit tunes originally measured the sales success of the published tune, not just recordings of it. Later, they tracked the airplay that songs achieved, for which some cover versions are the more successful recording(s) of the particular song(s). Contemporary versions of older tunes such as ''Who's Sorry Now?'', ''Blue Moon'', ''I Fought the Law'', ''Twist and Shout'', ''Not Fade Away'', and ''Crossroads'' have often been used to position well-known music between less familiar "originals".

History

The term "cover" goes back decades when ''cover version'' originally described a rival version of a tune recorded to compete with the recently released (original) version. The ''Chicago Tribune'' described the term in 1952 this way: "trade jargon meaning to record a tune that looks like a potential hit on someone else's label." Examples of records being covered include Paul Williams' 1949 hit tune "The Hucklebuck" and Hank Williams' 1952 song "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)." Both crossed over to the popular Hit Parade and had numerous hit versions. Prior to the mid-20th century the notion of an original version of a popular tune would, of course, have seemed slightly odd — the production of musical entertainment being seen essentially as a live event, even if one that was reproduced at home via a copy of the sheet music, learned by heart, or captured on a shellac recording disc.

In previous generations, some artists made very successful careers out of presenting revivals or reworkings of once popular tunes, even out of doing contemporary ''cover versions'' of current hits. Musicians now play what they call "cover versions" (e.g. the reworking, updating or interpretation) of songs as a tribute to the original performer or group. Using familiar material (e.g. evergreen hits, standard tunes or classic recordings) is an important method in learning various styles of music. Most albums, or long playing records, up until the mid-1960s usually contained a large number of evergreens or standards to present a fuller range of the artist's abilities and style. (See, for example, ''Please Please Me'') Artists might also perform interpretations ("covers") of a favorite artist's hit tunes for the simple pleasure of playing a familiar song or collection of tunes. A cover band plays such "cover versions" exclusively.

Today there are broadly three types of entertainers who depend upon cover versions for their principal repertoire:

Tribute acts or bands are performers who make a living by recreating the music of one particular artist. Bands such as Björn Again, Dread Zeppelin, The Fab Faux, The Australian Pink Floyd Show and Iron Median are dedicated to playing the music of ABBA, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Iron Maiden respectively. There are also "tribute acts" that salute the Who, the Rolling Stones and many other classic rock acts. Most tribute bands attempt to recreate another band's music, but there are some such bands who introduce a twist. Dread Zeppelin's reggae takes on the Zeppelin catalog, and Beatallica creates heavy metal fusions of songs by the Beatles and Metallica.

Cover acts or bands are entertainers who perform a broad variety of crowd-pleasing material for audiences who enjoy the familiarity of hit songs. Such bands draw from Top 40 hits of different decades to provide a pleasurable nostalgic entertainment in bars, on cruise ships and at events such as weddings, family celebrations and corporate functions. ;9

Revivalist artists or bands are performers who are inspired by an entire genre of music and who are dedicated to curating and recreating that genre and introducing it to younger audiences who have not experienced that music first hand. Unlike tribute bands and cover bands who rely primarily on audiences seeking a nostalgic experience, revivalist bands usually seek new young audiences for whom the music is fresh and has no nostalgic value. For example: Sha Na Na started in 1969 as a celebration of the doo-wop music of the 1950s, a genre of music that was not initially fashionable during the hippie counter-culture era. The Blues Brothers started in 1978 as a living salute to the blues, soul and R&B; music of the 1950s and 1960s that was not in vogue by the late 70s. The Blues Brothers' creed was that they were "on a mission from God" as evangelists for blues and soul music. The Black Crowes formed in 1984, initially dedicated to reviving 1970s style blues-rock. They subsequently started writing their own material in the same vein.

U.S. copyright law

Since the Copyright Act of 1909, in the United States there has been a right to record a version of someone else's tune, whether of music alone or of music and lyrics. A license can be specifically negotiated between representatives of the interpreting artist and the copyright holder, or recording of published tunes can fall under a mechanical license whereby the recording artist pays a standard royalty to the original author/copyright holder through an organization such as the Harry Fox Agency, and is safe under copyright law even if they do not have any permission from the original author. Other agents can also help facilitate clearance including Limelight, the online mechanical licensing utility powered by RightsFlow. The mechanical license was introduced by Congress in order to head off an attempt by the Aeolian Company to monopolize the piano roll market.

While a composer cannot deny anyone a mechanical license for a new recorded version, he or she has the right to decide who will release the first recording of a song; Bob Dylan took advantage of this right when he refused his own record company the right to release a live recording of "Mr. Tambourine Man".

Live performances of copyrighted songs are typically arranged through performing rights organizations such as ASCAP or BMI.

Origin of the term

Multiple versions in various formats or locations

From early in the 20th century it was common practice among phonograph record labels, if any company had a record that was a significant commercial success, that other record companies would have singers or musicians "cover" the "hit" tune by recording a version for their own label in hopes of cashing in on the tune's success. For example, ''Ain't She Sweet'', was first popularized in 1927 by Eddie Cantor (on stage) and by Ben Bernie and Gene Austin (on record), was repopularized through popular recordings by Mr. Goon Bones & Mr. Ford and Pearl Bailey in 1949, and later still revived as 33 1/3 and 45 RPM records by the Beatles in 1964. Since there was little promotion or advertising involved in the earlier days of record production, other than at the local music hall or music store, when the average record buyer went out to purchase a new record, he usually asked for the tune, not the artist. In addition, distribution of records was highly localized in many cases. So, a quickly-recorded version of a hit song from another area by a locally popular artist could reach an audience before the version by the artist(s) who first introduced the tune in a particular format—the "original", "introductory" or "popularizing" artist—was widely available, and the highly competitive record companies were quick to take advantage of these facts.

Rival outlets and popularized recordings

This began to change in the later 1930s, when the average age of the now greatly increased record-buying public began to expand to include a younger age group. During the Swing era, when a bobby soxer went looking for a recorded tune, say "In the Mood", typically she wanted the version popularized by her favourite artist(s), e.g. the Glenn Miller version (on RCA Victor's cheaper Bluebird label), not someone else's (sometimes presented on a more expensive record company's label). This trend was marked closely by the charting of record sales by the different artists, not just hit tunes, on the music industry's Hit Parades. However, for sound commercial reasons, record companies still continued to record different versions of tunes that sold well. Most audiences until the mid-1950s still heard their favorite artists playing live music on stage or via the radio. And since radio shows were for the most part aimed at local audiences, it was still rare for an artist in one area to reach a mass audience. Also radio stations tended to cater to broad audience markets, so an artist in one vein might not get broadcast on other stations geared to a set audience. So popular versions of Jazz, Country and Western or Rhythm and Blues tunes, and vice versa, were frequent. Consider ''Mack the Knife'' (Die Moritat vom Mackie Messer): this was originally from Bertholt Brecht's 1928 Die Dreigroschenoper. It was popularised by a 1956 record ''Hit Parade'' instrumental tune, ''Moritat'', for the Dick Hyman Trio, also recorded by Richard Hayman & Jan August, but a hit also for Louis Armstrong 1956/1959, Bobby Darin, 1959, and Ella Fitzgerald, 1960, as vocal versions of Mack The Knife.

Europe's Radio Luxembourg, like many commercial stations, also sold "air time"; so record companies and others bought air time to promote their own artists or products, thus increasing the number of recorded versions of any tune then available. Add to this the fact that many radio stations were limited in their permitted "needle time" (the amount of recorded music they were allowed to play), or were regulated on the amount of local talent they had to promote in live broadcasts, as with most national stations like the BBC in the UK.

Incentives to make duplicate recorded versions of a song

In the USA, but not in most other countries, authors and publishers are paid royalty by broadcasters and artists are not, so there is an incentive to record numerous versions of a song, particularly in different genres. For example, King Records frequently cut both rhythm and blues and country and western versions of novelty songs like "Good Morning, Judge" and "Don't Roll those Bloodshot Eyes at Me". This tradition was expanded when rhythm and blues songs began showing up on pop music charts.

In the early days of rock and roll, many tunes originally recorded by R&B; and Country musicians were still being re-recorded in a more popular vein by other artists with a more toned-down style or professional polish. Given the reluctance of radio stations to play formats outside their own target audience group's taste, this was inevitable. By far the most popular style of music in the mid-1950s / mid-1960s was still the professional light orchestral unit, so that was the format sought by popular recording artists. For many purists these popular versions lacked both the raw, often amateurish, earthiness of the original introducing artists. But mostly they did not have the added kudos craved by many rebellious teenagers, the social stigma - or street credibility - of rock and roll music; as most of these were performed by the type of black artists not heard on the popular mass entertainment markets, some having also been written by them. The bowdlerized popular cover versions were considered by most audiences at the time to be more palatable for the mass audience of both parents and children as a group audience. Therefore the artists targeting the white-majority family audience were more acceptable to programmers at most radio and TV stations. For this reason singer-songwriter Don McLean has called the cover version a "racist tool." Many parents in the 1950s - 60s, whether intentionally racists or not, felt deeply threatened by the rapid pace of social change. After all they had for the most part shared entertainments with their parents in ways that their own children had become reluctant to do. The jukebox and the personal record disc player were still relatively expensive pieces of machinery - and the portable radio a great novelty, allowing truculent teenagers to shut themselves off. Tunes by introducing or "original" niche market artists which were then successful on the mass audience Hit Parade charts are called crossovers as they "crossed over" from the targeted Country, Jazz or Rhythm audience. Also, many songs originally recorded by male artists were rerecorded by female artists, and vice versa. Such a cover version is also sometimes called a ''cross cover version''. Incidentally, up to the mid-1930s male vocalists often sang the female lyrics to popular songs, though this faded rapidly after it was deemed decadent in Nazi Germany.

Reworking non-English language tunes and lyrics for the Anglo-Saxon markets was once a popular part of the music business. For example, the 1954 worldwide hit The Happy Wanderer was originally ''Der fröhliche Wanderer'', to this must be added ''Hymne a l`amour'', ''Mutterlein'', ''Volare'', ''Seeman'', ''"Quando, Quando, Quando"'', ''L'amour est bleu'', etc.

Modern cover versions

Cover versions of many popular songs have been recorded, sometimes with a radically different style, sometimes virtually indistinguishable from the original. For example, José Feliciano's version of "Light My Fire" (recorded after the original had disappeared from sales charts) was distinct from The Doors' version. Some producers or recording artists may also enlist the services of a sample replay company such as Scorccio, in order to replicate an original recording with precision detail and accuracy.

A song may be covered into another language. For example, in the 1930s, a recording of ''Isle of Capri'' in Spanish, by Osvaldo Fresedo and singer Roberto Ray, is known. Falco's 1982 German-language hit "Der Kommissar" was covered in English by After the Fire, although the German title was retained. The English version, which was not a direct translation of Falco's original but retained much of its spirit, reached the Top 5 on the US charts. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" evolved over several decades and versions from a 1939 Zulu ''a cappella'' song. Many of singer Laura Branigan's 1980s hits were English-language remakes of songs already successful in Europe, for the American record market. Numerable English-language covers exist of "99 Luftballons" by German singer Nena (notably one by punk band Goldfinger), one having been recorded by Nena herself following the success of her original German version. "Popcorn", a song which was originally completely instrumental, has had lyrics added in at least six different languages in various covers. During the heyday of Cantopop in Hong Kong in the late 1970s to early 1990s, many hits were covers of English and Japanese titles that have gained international fame but with localised lyrics (sometimes multiple sets of lyrics sung to the same tune), and critics often chide the music industry of shorting the tune-composing process.

Although modern cover versions are often produced for artistic reasons, some aspects of the disingenuous spirit of early cover versions remain. In the album-buying heyday of the 1970s, albums of sound-alike covers were created, commonly released to fill bargain bins in the music section of supermarkets and even specialized music stores, where uninformed customers might easily confuse them with original recordings. The packaging of such discs was often intentionally confusing, combining the name of the original artist in large letters with a tiny disclaimer like ''as originally sung by'' or ''as made popular by''. More recently, albums such as the Kidz Bop series of compact discs, featuring versions of contemporary songs sung by children, have sold successfully.

Updating older songs

Cover versions (as the term is now used) are often contemporary versions of familiar songs. For example "Singin' in the Rain" was originally introduced in the film ''The Hollywood Revue of 1929''. The famous Gene Kelly version was a revision that brought it up to date for a 1950s Hollywood musical, and was used in the 1952 film ''Singin' in the Rain''. In 1978, it was covered by French singer Sheila accompanied by the B. Devotion group, as a disco song, once more updating it to suit the musical taste of the era. During the disco era there was a brief trend of taking well known songs and recording them in the disco style. More recently "Singin' In the Rain" has been covered and remixed by British act Mint Royale for a television commercial for Volkswagen. Another example of this, from a different angle, is the tune "Blueberry Hill", many mistakenly believe the Fats Domino 1956 release to be the original recording and artist. In fact, it was originally introduced on film by Gene Autry and popularised on the record Hit Parade of 1940 by Glenn Miller. The Fats Domino ''rock and roll'' version is the only one that might currently get widespread airplay on most media - due, no doubt, to the still prevailing prejudice against non-beat music artists or styles. Similarly, "Unchained Melody" was originally performed by Todd Duncan, featured in the 1955 film ''Unchained'' (based on the non-fiction story ''Prisoners are People'' by Kenyon J. Scudder); Al Hibbler having the biggest number of worldwide record sales for the vocal version with Jimmy Young's ''cover version'' rival outdoing this in the UK, Les Baxter's Orchestra gaining the big instrumentalist sales, reaching the US Hit Parade number one spot in May 1955, but The Righteous Brothers' later version (top five on the US Hit Parade of September 1965 stalling at number 14 in the UK in August) is by far the wider known version, and especially so following its appearance in the 1990 film ''Ghost''.

Director Baz Luhrmann has contemporised and stylised older songs for use in his films. New or cover versions such as John Paul Young's "Love Is in the Air" occur in ''Strictly Ballroom'', Candi Staton's "Young Hearts Run Free" appear in ''Romeo + Juliet'', and adaptations of artists such as Nat King Cole, Nirvana, Kiss, Elton John, Thelma Houston, Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, T. Rex, David Bowie, Queen and The Police are used in ''Moulin Rouge!'' The covers are carefully designed to fit into the structure of each film and suit the taste of the intended audience.

Other artists release new versions of their own previous songs, like German singer Nena who recorded an entire album with great success, with new versions of older hits. British singer Kim Wilde also re-recorded some old songs and returned to the top 20 with a remake off her big 1988 hit "You came", in a 2006 version called "You came 2006".

Introduction of new artists

New artists are often introduced to the record buying public with performances of well known, "safe" songs as evidenced in ''American Idol'' and its counterparts in other countries. It is also a means by which the public can more easily concentrate upon the new performer without the need to judge the quality of the songwriting skills.

However, some new artists have chosen to radically rework a popular song to exemplify their approach and philosophy to music. Prime examples include Joe Cocker's soul reworking of The Beatles' originally-jaunty "With a Little Help from My Friends", the band Devo's radical reconstruction of the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", or Marilyn Manson's version of the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)". Many musicians have other goals, such as to create publicity as in Sid Vicious' notorious version of "My Way", or to personalize a song, such as Johnny Cash reworking Nine Inch Nails's "Hurt" to a devastating acoustic version that reflected upon his ill state (Cash died less than a year after the release of the album on which the song appears).

Tributes, tribute albums and cover albums

Established artists often pay homage to artists or songs that inspired them before they started their careers or musicians who in some way helped them enter show business by recording their own versions of tunes associated with that artist (See, for example, I Remember Tommy) or performing tunes associated with their favourite influential musician(s) in their own live performances for variety. For example U2 has performed ABBA's "Dancing Queen" live, and Kylie Minogue has performed The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go" - songs that would be completely out of character for them to record, but which allow them artistic freedom when performing live. These performances are often released as part of authorised "live recordings".

Since the late twentieth century, unrelated contemporary artists have contributed individual reworkings of tunes to tribute albums for well established artists who are considered to be influential and inspiring. This trend was spawned by Hal Willner's ''Amarcord Nino Rota'' in 1981. Typically, each project has resulted in a collection of the particular artist's best recognised or most highly regarded songs reworked by more current performers. Some of the most notable artists to receive this form of recognition are The Beatles, Aerosmith, R.E.M., The Clash, Pink Floyd, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, AC/DC, Michael Jackson, Kiss, Tupac, Black Sabbath, Joy Division, Guns N' Roses, New Order, Judas Priest, Rush, Iron Maiden, Slipknot, Faith No More, Tom Waits, Oingo Boingo, Bob Marley, the Bee Gees, ABBA, Fleetwood Mac, Cher, Shania Twain, The Grateful Dead, Linkin Park, Kate Bush, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Deep Purple, Marvin Gaye, Rammstein, The Carpenters, Dolly Parton, Nirvana, Depeche Mode, Modest Mouse, The Doors, Nine Inch Nails, Van Morrison, Leonard Cohen, U2, Jimi Hendrix, Elton John, Duran Duran, The Kinks, Carole King, Megadeth, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Smashing Pumpkins, Led Zeppelin, Sick of It All, Metallica, Alice Cooper, ZZ Top, Marilyn Manson, the Ramones, Queen, the Misfits, Sublime, Velvet Revolver, Jeff Beck, Weezer, Daniel Johnston, Loretta Lynn, the Finn Brothers, Bruce Cockburn, Ronnie James Dio, Donovan, Harry Chapin, David Bowie, Harry Nilsson, Cyndi Lauper, Gordon Lightfoot, Britney Spears and Björk. At least five tribute albums to Gary Numan have been released.

The soundtracks to the films ''I Am Sam'' and ''Across the Universe'' are examples of this: they consisted of Beatles songs redone by various contemporary artists. Some more notable examples are ''Conception: The Interpretation of Stevie Wonder Songs''; ''Common Thread'' an album of contemporary country artists performing hit singles by the Eagles; the ''Rhythm, Country and Blues'' album where a country artist duets with a rhythm and blues artist on a standard of either genre. Two notable tribute albums to the Grateful Dead are ''Wake the Dead'', with Celtic-style covers, and ''Might As Well'', by The Persuasions.

In some cases this proves to be popular enough to spawn a series of cover albums being released for a band, either under a consistent branding such as the two Black Sabbath ''Nativity in Black'' cover albums and the industrial themed "Blackest Album" cover albums of Metallica songs, or in the form of releases from a number of different companies cashing in on the trend such as the many Metallica cover albums released in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Metallica itself is known for doing covers; their original album, ''Kill 'Em All'', included a couple of covers (Diamond Head's "Am I Evil?" and Blitzkrieg's "Blitzkrieg"), the original ''The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited'' was a collection of covers paying homage to a number of mostly obscure bands, which were later combined with additional new covers on the double album ''Garage Inc.'', which among other things included covers of Black Sabbath ("Sabbra Cadabra"), Bob Seger ("Turn the Page"), Blue Öyster Cult ("Astronomy"), Mercyful Fate (a medley of different songs of the band), and numerous Motörhead tracks. In an interesting turn around there were even a couple of releases of The Metallic-era CDs collecting tracks from bands that Metallica had covered, both the original versions of the covered songs, and some additional songs by the same artist.

A different type of all-covers album occurs when one artist creates a release of covers of songs originally by many other artists, as a way to recognize their influences or simply as a change of pace or direction. An early example of this was David Bowie's album ''Pin Ups'', featuring songs from groups with which he had shared venues in the 1960s. Since these bands included The Who and The Kinks many of the tracks would have been at least familiar to his audience. Other more recent examples of this type of album include ''Renegades'' by Rage Against the Machine featuring covers of songs originally performed by diverse artists including Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Afrikaa Bambaataa, and Erik B and Rakim, as well as the EP ''Feedback'' by Canadian rock band Rush. Tori Amos' album ''Strange Little Girls'' features covers of songs originally performed by male artists sung from the perspective of thirteen female characters she created (including a rather unexpected version of Slayer's "Raining Blood"). Manfred Mann did albums with more covers than original songs, following the mould of Vanilla Fudge. More rarely, bands will do an entire album of cover songs originally by a particular artist, such as The The's ''Hanky Panky'', which consists entirely of Hank Williams songs, or Booker T. & the M.G.'s' album ''McLemore Avenue'' which was a cover of The Beatles' ''Abbey Road'', or Russ Pay's tribute to Manchester legends Joy Division.

There are also bands who create entire albums out of covers, but unlike Tin Pan Alley-style traditional pop singers, they often perform the songs in a genre completely unlike the original songs. Examples include The Moog Cookbook (alternative and classic rock songs done on Moog synthesizers), Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine (top 40, including punk, heavy metal, teen pop and indie rock performed in a Vegas lounge lizard style), and Hayseed Dixie (a play on the name AC/DC, they started covering AC/DC songs and progressed to other classic rock, playing them as bluegrass songs, similar to The Gourds' version of "Gin and Juice".) Also notable are Dread Zeppelin, who take Led Zeppelin songs and cover them in a reggae fashion with the added twist of an Elvis Presley impersonation on the lead vocal; Nine Inch Elvis, who take Elvis Presley songs and rework them in an industrial fashion similar to Nine Inch Nails; and Beatallica, who "mix up" songs from The Beatles and Metallica into Metallica-sounding songs with humorous lyrics referring to both bands' works.

In that same category, The Blues Brothers have recorded only covers on their three most famous albums, ''Briefcase Full of Blues'', ''Made in America'' and the motion picture soundtrack ''The Blues Brothers''. They covered blues, R&B;, soul, country and rock'n'roll songs, but with their own particular, fresh and raw style of interpretation, a successful blend of the Memphis sound provided by MGs band members Steve Cropper and Donald "Duck" Dunn, and the New York City sound from the horn section (Alan Rubin and Lou Marini, for example). The outcome sometimes gave a new life to songs. Some became even more popular after The Blues Brothers had played them, than before. The best example is "Soul Man", more remembered as a hit by The Blues Brothers rather than by the original singers, Sam & Dave. The same can be said of "She Caught the Katy" (originally written by Taj Mahal and Yank Rachell) and "Jailhouse Rock" (sung by Elvis Presley) or "Sweet Home Chicago" (Robert Johnson), acknowledging the fact that covers can become even more famous than original performances.

Recent years have seen well-established artists (especially those mostly active in the 1980s) release cover albums, such as Poison (''Poison'd!''), Tesla (''Real to Reel''), Queensrÿche (''Take Cover''), and Def Leppard (''Yeah!''), revealing a wide range of musical influences.

Some cover albums take the unusual tack of doing classical versions of rock and metal songs. The unusual band Apocalyptica which comprises four classical cellists started out performing classical arrangements of Metallica songs. In a similar vein, there have also been many string quartet tributes to popular rock and metal bands, most notably Tool, Black Sabbath, Breaking Benjamin, New Order/Joy Division, the Cure, Muse, the Beatles, and even Slayer.

One more type of cover album is when a cover of the entire album is done, rather than a collection of songs. A notable band to earn acclaim this way are the Easy Star All-Stars, who covered ''The Dark Side of the Moon'' by Pink Floyd in their album ''Dub Side of the Moon'' and ''OK Computer'' by Radiohead in their album ''Radiodread''. Both albums were radical departures from the original albums, being redone in reggae/dub. Another album which radically ''remade'' an original album in a new genre is the 2001 ''Rebuild the Wall'', in which Luther Wright and the Wrongs covered the entire double-album ''The Wall'' by Pink Floyd as a country/bluegrass piece. Camper Van Beethoven covered Fleetwood Mac's Tusk album in its entirety. Beck's Record Club project has covered ''The Velvet Underground and Nico'', ''Songs of Leonard Cohen'', ''Oar'', ''Kick'', and ''Yannii Live at the Acropolis'' by The Velvet Underground, Leonard Cohen, Skip Spence, INXS, and Yanni, respectively.

By genre

Metal

Many up and coming bands in the metal genre cover songs by their predecessors to gain public interest, although more established bands have also recorded covers. HammerFall, Metallica, Napalm Death, Entombed, Iced Earth, Between the Buried and Me, Overkill, Slayer, Marilyn Manson, Fozzy, and Def Leppard have released entire albums of covers, for example. In specific subgenres of metal, covers generally reflect the genre the band is in. The Norwegian black metal band Mayhem have recorded several Venom covers, while Mayhem themselves have been covered many times: their song "Deathcrush" has been covered around 140 times, according to Encyclopaedia Metallum.

Another approach taken by several metal bands, including Children of Bodom, is to cover songs generally not listened to by metal fans, such as pop, punk, or classic rock songs. Children of Bodom's cover of Britney Spears' "Oops! I Did It Again" was originally recorded as an in-joke amongst the band members but ended up being released as a bonus track on one of their EPs, as well as Andrew W.K.'s "She Is Beautiful". Blind Guardian has covered surf-rock hit "Surfin' USA" as well as 50's hit "Mr. Sandman" and oldies rock and roll staples "Barbara Ann" and "Long Tall Sally". Yngwie J. Malmsteen covered ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" renamed "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Love After Midnight)" the song features the same lyrics, with minor edits, and the same music with a more powerful metal feel. Thrash metal band Megadeth covered Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made For Walkin' on their 1985 debut album ''Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!'', but is more often recognized as a parody rather than a true cover, and is considered controversial because song writer Lee Hazelwood deemed Megadeth's version to be "a perversion of the original". Also, nu metal band Korn have covered Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" for the ''xXx: State of the Union'' soundtrack; and Cameo's "Word Up!" and Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" for their ''Greatest Hits, Vol. 1'' compilation album.

Hip-hop

In recent years, artists have begun covering hip-hop songs, most frequently in concert and typically in a style radically different to the originals. Snoop Dogg, XV, Busy Signal, Kanye West Rock City have all recorded covers of hip-hop songs.

The band Mindless Self Indulgence recorded a cover of the song "Bring the Pain" by Method Man in which they completely change the entire rhythm and sound of the song. The only part of the original song retained in their cover is the lyrics.

R&B;

In R&B;, remakes are common, often seen as tributes to the original artist. R&B; artists such as Mary J. Blige have recorded several covers of legendary R&B; artists like Aretha Franklin "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", Chaka Khan (Sweet Thing), and Rose Royce "I'm Going Down". In 1995 D'Angelo remade "Cruisin'" originally recorded by Smokey Robinson. K-Ci Hailey of Jodeci recorded a remake of "If You Think You're Lonely Now" by Bobby Womack. Lionel Richie and various contemporary artists recorded and released a remake of "We Are The World" for Haiti in February 2010. In 1994 Aaliyah recorded a cover of The Isley Brothers classic "At Your Best (You Are Love)" on her debut album ''Age Ain't Nothing But a Number''. In 2001, Christina Agulera, Mýa, Pink and Lil Kim recorded a remake of "Lady Marmalade", originally recorded by Labelle, for the ''Moulin Rouge!'' soundtrack.

Swamp pop

A type of cover version that existed from the early 1950s to the late 1970s in Louisiana was known as swamp pop. Contemporary and classic rock, R&B;, and country songs were re-recorded with Cajun audiences in mind. Some lyrics were translated to French, and some were recorded with traditional Cajun instrumentation. Several swamp pop songs charted nationally, but it was mostly a regional niche market.

New Age

The Taliesin Orchestra specializes in remaking famous songs into orchestra-style melodies. Their debut album, ''Orinoco Flow: The Music of Enya'', was a collection of songs originally created and sung by Enya.

Indie

Independent artists sometimes create covers for songs done by other independent artists. Petra Haden has done several song covers, most notably, the song "Yellow" by Coldplay. Youth Group recorded a cover of the Alphaville song "Forever Young". Singer-songwriter Chan Marshall (a.k.a. Cat Power) is known for covering other musicians' songs in her own, unique style. Canadian indie artist Feist covered "Inside and Out" (originally by the Bee Gees) for her album ''Let It Die''. Archangel have recently done a cover version of "Do It Again" by Steely Dan, and have released it as a single.

Punk

Hundreds of songs have been covered by punk/pop punk bands, including the bands Rancid, Sex Pistols, Burning Heads, and hundreds of others. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is a punk band that only does cover songs. BYO Records has also BYO Split Series with bands such as NOFX, Anti-Flag, Rancid, Alkaline Trio, and The Bouncing Souls in which two bands on each disc cover each other's songs.

Since 2000, Fearless Records has released a series of CDs in which various rock bands perform covers of songs from other genres or time-periods. The deviations from this theme are ''Punk Goes Acoustic'' and ''Punk Goes Acoustic 2'' (in which the featured bands recorded acoustic versions of their own songs); ''Punk Goes Pop 1'', ''2'', and ''3''; and ''Punk Goes Classic Rock''.

Pop

Pet Shop Boys is one of the best example of covering other artists' song to becoming their own hits. They covered few songs and they became their hit, such as "Always on My Mind", "Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes off You)", "Somewhere", "Go West", etc.

See also

Compilation album

Compulsory license

Ed Starink

Joe Cocker

WhoSampled

Mashup

Parody music

Remix

Reprise

Sampling

Tribute act

Remake

Muse

List of artists who have covered The Beatles

List of Grateful Dead covers

Traditional pop music, Jazz standard, List of blues standards

References

External links

"Cover This: What Makes for a Definitive version?", ''Crawdaddy!'' (March 12, 2008)

Lifting the cover, a March 24, 2009 article from the ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette'' Northwest Edition. Accessed 2009-04-14

Using cover song versions legally, US Music Copyright Laws from cleverjoe.com

Category:Album types Category:Music industry Category:Popular music

ar:نسخة غلاف be-x-old:Кавэр bg:Кавър версия ca:Versió (música) cs:Cover verze da:Coverversion de:Coverversion es:Versión (música) fr:Reprise ko:리메이크 노래 hy:Քավեր-տարբերակ id:Daur ulang (musik) ia:Version cover it:Cover he:גרסת כיסוי hu:Feldolgozás nl:Cover (muziek) ja:カバー no:Coverlåt pl:Cover pt:Versão cover ro:Preluare ru:Кавер-версия simple:Cover version sk:Coververzia fi:Cover sv:Cover tr:Düzenleme uk:Кавер-версія vi:Phiên bản cover zh-yue:翻唱 zh:翻唱

name	Greyson Chance
background	solo_singer
birth name	Greyson Michael Chance
born	August 16, 1997Wichita Falls, Texas, U.S.
origin	Edmond, Oklahoma, U.S.
instrument	Piano, vocals
genre	Pop rock
years active	2010–present
label	eleveneleven, Maverick, Streamline, Geffen
website	greyson-official.com
notable instruments	}}

Greyson Michael Chance (born August 16, 1997) is an American pop rock singer and pianist whose April 2010 performance of Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" at a sixth-grade music festival became a hit on YouTube, gaining over 42 million views. Two of his original compositions, "Stars" and "Broken Hearts", gained over 5 and 7 million views respectively on his YouTube channel. His debut single, "Waiting Outside the Lines", was released in October 2010. Chance's début album, ''Hold On 'til the Night,'' was released on August 2, 2011.

Personal life

Chance was born on August 16, 1997 in Wichita Falls, Texas, and currently resides in Edmond, Oklahoma. He is the youngest child of Scott and Lisa Chance; he has a sixteen-year-old sister, Alexa, and a nineteen-year-old brother, Tanner, both of whom also play music. Chance began playing the piano at the age of 8 and has had three years of piano lessons; however, he had no formal vocal training.

Of his inspiration, Chance said, "I love artists who are able to communicate their emotions through music and sing from the heart. That’s what I’m hoping to do with my songs." He is emboldened by Lady Gaga; after seeing her performance of "Paparazzi" at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, he said: "I was awestruck by her performance. I love her sense of drama and theatricality, plus she’s an amazing singer and piano player." Chance is also inspired by Christina Aguilera, rock band Augustana, R&B; singer John Legend, singer-songwriter Elton John, and John Lennon, of The Beatles fame.

Appearances

Chance's "Paparazzi" cover video was posted to YouTube, on April 28, 2010, and for almost two weeks the video generated low views. At least two social websites, GossipBoy.ca and reddit.com, posted video embeds on May 10, 2010. Ellen DeGeneres first saw the video after Chance's brother, Tanner Chance, wrote to her show suggesting she watch it. The video had about 10,000 views when DeGeneres first saw it; while explaining her reasons for naming her new record label "eleveneleven", she listed as one reason the fact that she first saw Chance's ''Paparazzi'' cover on May 11, 2010. Also, she states that 11 is Greyson's soccer jersey number. On the afternoon of May 11, ''Yahoo! Music'' reported: "As of this writing, the video has got more than 36,000 views so far, and he's even been invited to perform on ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show''".

On May 12, 2010 Greyson Chance taped an interview and performance of "Paparazzi" for ''Ellen'' in Los Angeles. It was broadcast on May 13. During the interview, Chance received a phone call from Lady Gaga, who the boy says is his "true inspiration." This first appearance on ''Ellen'' was followed by a second appearance on the show, airing May 26, 2010, on which Chance performed his original song "Broken Hearts," received a $10,000.00 award for winning ''Ellen's Wonderful Web of Wonderment'' contest, a brand new Yamaha piano, and was announced as DeGeneres's first signed artist to her new recording label eleveneleven. Chance now has many fans on online social sites such as Facebook and Twitter. He is the 28th most subscribed musician of all time on YouTube, with a 286,000 subscriber base, as of January 3, 2011. Greyson Chance also appeared at We Day (also known as Me to We Day 2010) in downtown Toronto at the Air Canada Centre, where he performed "Fire" by Augustana.

In the media

On the morning of May 11, 2010, Chance's cover video of "Paparazzi" was embedded at RyanSeacrest.com, which reported finding the video via BuzzFeed, a website that attempts to track and predict emerging viral internet memes. Later in the day, ''TVGuide'', ''The Huffington Post'', and Yahoo! Music's video blog, Video Ga Ga, also posted articles embedding the video; ''TVGuide'' mentioned in its article that a Facebook fan page had already been started for Chance. That afternoon, Ryan Seacrest and DeGeneres linked the video on their Twitter accounts, as did celebrity Ashton Kutcher later that evening.

On May 12, 2010, DeGeneres' announcement of Chance's booking, on ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'', was broadcast at different times across the U.S. and posted to her website. ''Wall Street Journal'' and ''Los Angeles Times'', among other mainstream media, posted articles embedding the video and announcing the forthcoming appearance. That evening, ABC World News broadcast a report on Chance which was introduced by Diane Sawyer, who said the story struck ABC News as "part ''Billy Elliot'' and part ''Glee''." That evening, Guy Oseary, an L.A.-based entertainment manager whose clients include Madonna, Demi Moore, and Ashton Kutcher, recommended Greyson's "Paparazzi" video on Twitter.

On May 13, 2010, Chance's appearance on ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' was broadcast, and mainstream media, including CBS and People, reported on the appearance. That morning, Ryan Seacrest posted another link on Twitter, this time to the video of Chance appearing on ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show''. Not only has he received attention from DeGeneres and Seacrest but also, on May 14, singer, songwriter, and author David Archuleta linked the video on Twitter claiming that Greyson "is talented."

On May 15, 2010, Greyson Chance created an official MySpace page and an official Twitter account. The same day, Crazed Hits, a music industry "tip-sheet" run by Alex Wilhelm, while citing no sources, reported that Interscope Records had signed 12-year-old Chance to a record deal. That same day, NewsOK posted a video, "Three Things to Know about Greyson Michael Chance", and an article in which Chance's father, was quoted as saying the family would spend the weekend deciding how they wanted to proceed before signing any contracts.

On May 18, 2010, ''The New York Post'' reported on the deal with Interscope Records, citing Chance's sister and father as confirming the deal; ''The Post'' also reported that calls made to Chance's school were being referred to Guy Oseary. On May 25, Ellen DeGeneres announced that she had formed a record label called eleveneleven and Chance was her first artist. Guy Oseary who manages Madonna's career and Troy Carter, who manages Lady Gaga's career, would be co-managers of Greyson Chance's career, but no partnership with a major recording label had been finalized.

The chronology of events has resulted in media analysis of the marketing phenomenon as separate from musical or biographical elements. On May 15, 2010, The Christian Science Monitor published an article written by Gloria Goodale, a staff writer for the publication; citing Chance's quick rise to media attention and the establishment of various official and fan websites for Chance, as well as concerns raised by music industry analyst Jeff Snyder about the quality of the video itself, Goodale asked “whether there's a Big Media hand behind sixth grader Greyson Michael Chance.” On May 18, 2010, Goodale followed up on this article with a second article for The Christian Science Monitor focusing on the modern "age of media manipulation", which she introduced by saying, "Reports so far suggest that the Greyson Chance YouTube video is legit." On May 18, 2010, ITN News posted a video report to its YouTube channel, in which many of the same questions were raised; highlighting aspects of Chance's "Paparazzi" video, media industry analyst Alan Stevens pointed out the growing inability within our modern media culture to distinguish between videos which are produced by amateurs and videos which are produced by professionals but made to appear amateur in origin.

His debut single title "Waiting Outside the Lines" was released to iTunes on October 26, 2010. It was released digitally in the UK on December 9. The single also contained a studio version of his cover of Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi". In early December 2010 he visited both Paris and London, appearing on local radio stations and giving private concerts in both cities.

On February 5, Greyson Chance entered the National spotlight again with an appearance/performance of "Waiting Outside The Lines" on the CBS Early Show, while stopping through New York on his tour with Miranda Cosgrove.

On May 17, 2011 his new single "Unfriend You" was released to iTunes.

On April 9, he started the Waiting 4U tour with Australian pop/R&B; singer Cody Simpson in Ivins, Utah. The tour ended on May 18, 2011 in Portland, Oregon.

On May 23, Greyson visited The Ellen DeGeneres Show to premiere his new single, "Unfriend You". After the performance, Greyson revealed a solid release date for his upcoming debut album, Hold On 'Til the Night, which is set to be released on August 2, 2011. The music video features cameo from ''Victorious'' star, Ariana Grande.

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Album	Peak position	Sales
		! style="width:40px;"
2011	''Hold On 'til the Night''	* Released: August 2, 2011	* Label: eleveneleven,
Year	Single	Peak	Album
!width="40"
		12
		—

Music videos

Year	Song	Director
2010	"Waiting Outside the Lines"	[[Sanaa Hamri">Maverick Records	* Format: [[Compact disc			* US: 16,000

Singles

Year	Single	Peak	Album
!width="40"
		12
		—

Music videos

Year	Song	Director
2010	"Waiting Outside the Lines"	[[Sanaa Hamri
2011	"Unfriend You"	Marc Klasfeld

Tours

Waiting 4U Tour

Awards and recognition

! Year	! Category	! Award	! Result
	Choice Web Star	Teen Choice Awards
Icon of Tomorrow
Teen Pick: YouTube Artist	Hollywood Teen TV Awards
2011	Favorite Viral Video Star	People's Choice Awards

References

External links

Official website

Category:1997 births Category:American pianists Category:American male singers Category:American pop pianists Category:American pop singers Category:Living people Category:American child singers Category:Musicians from Oklahoma Category:Internet memes Category:People from Oklahoma Category:People from Edmond, Oklahoma

ar:غريسون تشانس de:Greyson Chance es:Greyson Chance fa:گریسون چنس fr:Greyson Chance id:Greyson Chance ka:გრეისონ ჩენსი hu:Greyson Chance nl:Greyson Chance ja:グレイソン・チャンス nn:Greyson Chance pl:Greyson Chance pt:Greyson Chance ro:Greyson Chance ru:Ченс, Грейсон fi:Greyson Michael Chance sv:Greyson Chance uk:Грейсон Ченс zh:桂森·燦斯

alt	Gary Jules performing live at the Hotel Café on December 9, 2008
name	Gary Jules
background	solo_singer
birth name	Gary Jules Aguirre, Jr.
birth date	March 19, 1969San Diego, California,
instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano, mandolin, harmonica, ukulele
genre	Rock, folk, alternative rock
website	www.garyjules.com }}

Gary Jules (born March 19, 1969 as Gary Jules Aguirre, Jr.) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his cover of Tears for Fears' third single "Mad World", which he recorded together with friend Michael Andrews for the film ''Donnie Darko''. It became the UK Christmas Number One single of 2003. Since then it has been used on popular American TV shows, in a commercial for the critically acclaimed video game ''Gears of War'', an episode of ''CSI: Las Vegas'', and a Season 5 episode of the medical drama ''House''.

Some of Jules' early projects/bands were The Ivory Knights, Our Town Pansies, Woodenfish, Kofi, The Origin, Invisible, No poetry, and Heroes and Heroin. His 2003 residency at the Los Angeles Hotel Café helped develop the venue as a successful singer/songwriter venue.

Songs

Gary Jules recorded a cover of the song "Mad World" (by Tears For Fears) for the film ''Donnie Darko'' and later released it as a single in December 2003. It was a huge success becoming the Christmas No. 1 in the UK. It has also become a popular choice for background music in numerous television dramas. The song was used repeatedly during James Franco's acting stint on ''General Hospital'', playing the part of a homicidal artist named Franco. In one episode of the television show ''Without a Trace'', the Jules' version of Mad World was played during the last part of the episode and into the credits. The song was also featured in the TV series ''Smallville'', and during the beginning of the ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' episode, the trailer for ''The Crazies''," as well as in The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps' 2010 Production "Mad World." Most recently, it was used on the new series ''Stolen voices, Buried secrets'' from Investigation Discovery and also in Silent Witness episode 61 (3rd episode of season 10), part one of ''Terminus''.

''American Idol'' contestant Adam Lambert sang Jules's version of "Mad World" for the top 8 performance, which was highly praised by the judges and viewers, and repeated the song in a different dramatic presentation for the top 2 performance, as well as during the American Idols Live! 2009 tour. Following the performance, Jules's version of "Mad World" shot up to #11 on the iTunes store. Jules has stated he did well until he added a long drawn out note at the end.

His song "Gone Daddy" is based upon his family and himself relocating to North Carolina. When living in L.A. a neighbor was gunned down at night. While the police were investigating the shooting, Gary approached one of the officers and explained that his child was trying to take a nap. Gary asked if the officer knew when they would be finished. The officer told Gary he did not know, but he could always leave L.A. So, Gary did.

His song "Wichita" was inspired by a class Gary took at UCLA regarding Native American history. There was a story about how the Native Americans followed the buffalo around the nation to survive, and when the "white men" finished the intercontinental railroad, the buffalo started to head back south. When they came upon the railroad, the buffalo would not cross it, and millions of them died. Gary has only spent one night in the actual city of Wichita.

Gary has stated that "No Poetry" is possibly his favorite song he has written. His song "Something Else" was featured on the Season 5 episode "My Fallen Idol" of the NBC TV show ''Scrubs''.

Gary also sang on the Esquimaux song "Honey & Dear" from their album ''Perfecto!''.

Career

Music videos

"Mad World" Directed by Michel Gondry (2004)

"Broke Window"

"Beautiful". Stop animation by Tony Clavelli. (2009)

Television appearances

''Appearances on television as himself''

RI:SE

*Aired December 16, 2003

Friday Night with Jonathan Ross

*Episode #5.14 2003

Top of the Pops

*"Mad World" with Michael Andrews. Aired December 19, 2003

Top of the Pops NL

*Episode #1.165 2004

Today with Des and Mel

*Aired February 12, 2004

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

*Aired March 29, 2004

XETV Fox Rox

*April 8, 2004

Never Mind the Buzzcocks

*Episode #14.7 2004

SWR3 Ringfrei

*"Mad World"

Last Call with Carson Daly

*Aired June 5, 2007

RTL German TV

*Performed World" Aired January 22, 2010

Television placements

CBS CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

*”Mad World” (Season 1, episode 1-''Pilot''. Aired October 6, 2000.)

The WB Smallville

*“Mad World” (Season 2, episode 11-''Visage''. Aired January 14, 2003.)

NBC Third Watch

*”Mad World” (Season 4, episode 15-''Collateral Damage: Part 2''. Aired February 10, 2003.)

CBS Without A Trace

*"Mad World" (Season 2, episode 1-''The Bus''. Aired September 25, 2003.)

ABC Alias

*”Something Else” (Season 3, episode 3-''Reunion''. Aired October 12, 2003.)

CBS CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

*”Mad World” (Season 6, episode 2-''Room Service''. Aired September 29, 2005.)

CBS CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

*”Mad World” (Season 6, episode 14-''Killer''. Aired February 2, 2006.)

NBC Scrubs

*”Something Else” (Season 5, episode 21-''My Fallen Idol''. Aired May 2, 2006.)

CBS CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

*”Mad World” (Season 6, episode 24-''Way To Go''. Aired May 18, 2006.)

ABC Grey’s Anatomy

*”Falling Awake” (Season 3, episode 12-''Six Days: Part 2''. Aired January 4, 2007.)

CBS Jericho

*”Mad World” (Season 1, episode 17-''One Man’s Terrorist''. Aired April 4, 2007.)

ABC Brothers & Sisters

*“Falling Awake” (Season 1, episode 21-''Grapes of Wrath''. Aired May 6, 2007.)

TV3 Colors en sèrie (Spain)

*”Mad World” (''Negre: El túnel al final de la llum''.2007)

A&E; The Cleaner

*”Mad World” (Season 1, episode 6-''To Catch a Fed''. Aired August 26, 2008.)

CW 90210

*”Greetings from the Side” (Season 1, episode 9-''Secrets and Lies''. Aired November 4, 2008.)

NBC Friday Night Lights

*”Beautiful” (Season 3, episode 13-''Tomorrow Blues''. Aired January 14, 2009.)

NBC-Life

*"Been A Long Time" (Episode 215-I Heart Mom. Aired February 18, 2009)

FX-Nip/Tuck

*"Mad World" (Season 6, episode 2 ''Enigma'' Aired October 21, 2009.)

CW Life Unexpected

*”Falling Awake” (Season 1, episode 1-''Pilot''. Aired January 18, 2010.)

ABC Private Practice

*”The Old Days Are Gone” (Season 3, episode 12-''Best Laid Plans''. Aired January 21, 2010.)

ABC General Hospital

*”Mad World”

**Episode #1.11938 (19 November 2009) - Franco

**Episode #1.11939 (20 November 2009) - Franco

**Episode #1.11940 (23 November 2009) - Franco

**Episode #1.11941 (24 November 2009) - Franco

**Episode #1.11943 (30 November 2009) - Franco

**Episode #1.11945 (2 December 2009) - Franco

**Episode #1.11951 (10 December 2009) - Franco

**Episode #1.11952 (11 December 2009) - Franco

**Episode #1.11953 (14 December 2009) - Franco

**Episode #1.11956 (17 December 2009) - Franco

**Episode #1.11957 (18 December 2009) - Franco

**Episode #1.11958 (21 December 2009) - Franco

**Episode #1.11961 (28 December 2009) - Franco

**Episode #1.11962 (29 December 2009) - Franco

**Episode #1.11963 (30 December 2009) - Franco

**Episode #1.11964 (4 January 2010) - Franco

**Episode #1.11965 (5 January 2010) - Franco

**Episode #1.11966 (6 January 2010) - Franco

**Episode #1.11967 (7 January 2010) - Franco

**Episode #1.11968 (8 January 2010) - Franco

**Episode #1.11969 (11 January 2010) - Franco

**Episode #1.11984 (1 February 2010) - Franco

**Episode #1.11985 (2 February 2010) - Franco

FOX So You Think You Can Dance?

*”Mad World" (alternate version) (Season 7, week 7. Aired July 28, 2010.)

ID Investigation Discovery Stolen Voices, Buried Secrets

*"Mad World (2011)

SYFY Being Human

*"Mad World" (Season 1, Episode 9 Aired March 2011.)

Movie placements

Digging to China (1998)

*“Greetings from the Side”

Donnie Darko (2001)

*”Mad World”

Catch and Release (2006)

*”Pills”

Lost Islands (2008)

*"Mad World"

Fireflies in the Garden (2008)

*"Greetings from the Side"

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009)

*"Mad World"

I Will Follow You Into The Dark (2010)

*"Mad World"

Trailers

Xbox 360 Gears of War-trailer (2006)

*"Mad World"

The Cleaner (2008)

*"Mad World"

The Crazies-trailer (2009)

*"Mad World"

Documentaries

''Michel Gondry 2: More Videos (Before and After DVD 1)'' (2009)

*appears in the "Mad World" segment

Joseph Aguirre's "Next Year Country" (2009)

*soundtrack music

Theater

Playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis refers to Gary Jules in his play ''The Little Flower of East Orange.'' This show, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman and starring Ellen Burstyn, premiered at the Public Theater in New York on April 6, 2008. The songs “Goodnight Billie” and “Little Greenie” were featured in this production. In the acknowledgments section of the Faber and Faber, Inc. published version of the play, Guirgis writes, “SPECIAL THANKS TO GARY JULES FOR THE MUSIC.”

Act one, scene three: ''NADINE hits Play. It’s “Little Greenie” by Gary Jules.'' NADINE:''Okay...One time, I was gonna kill myself, but then I played this Gary Jules song like twenty-seven times.''

Discography

Albums

''Greetings from the Side'' – 1998

''Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets'' – 2001, U.S. #144

''Gary Jules'' – 2006

''Bird'' – 2008

EPs

Live at Lime Presents Gary Jules-2009

Daytrotter Session – 2009

Compilations

Ministry of Sound:''Chillout Sessions: Summer Collection 2003'' (2003)

*Track 1 “Mad World”

Echo: ''Acoustic 3'' (2003)

*Disc 1 Track 3 “Mad World”

''Now That’s What I Call Music! 56'' (2003)

*Disc 2 Track 21 “Mad World”

KSGR 107.1: ''Broadcasts Volume 12'' (2004)

*Disc 2 Track 5 “Mad World”

Sanctuary TV: ''The Essential Acoustic Album'' (2004)

*Disc 1 Track 1 “Mad World”

Rolling Stone Deutschland: ''New Noises, Volume 64'' (2004)

*Track 7 “Pills”

Sony Music TV: ''The All Time Greatest Love Songs'' (2004)

*Disc 1 Track 9 “Mad World”

Virgin Records-UK: ''Now That’s What I Call Music!: Years'' (2004)

*Disc 3 Track 2 “Mad World”

BMG TV: ''The Ultimate Smooth Album'' (2004)

*Disc 2 Track 2 “Mad World”

Sony Music TV: ''Natural Woman: The Autumn Collection'' (2004)

*Track 19 “Mad World”

BMG TV: ''Beautiful: the New Collections Autumn'' (2004)

*Track 17 “Mad World”

Warner UK: ''The Ultimate All Time Classic Tearjerkers'' (2004)

*Disc 1 Track 1 “Mad World”

Alice 97.3: ''This is Alice Music, Volume 8'' (2004)

*Track 12 “Mad World”

MSI Music Distribution: ''Hits 60'' (2004)

*Track 38 “Mad World”

RCA Records (USA): ''Nightfly, Volume One'' (2004)

*Track 32 “Mad World (Remix)”

Messenger Records: ''Wouldn’t It Be Beautiful?'' (2005)

*Track 6 “Patchwork G”

*Track 8 “Broke Window”

Rounder Select: ''Trampoline Records Greatest Hits, Volume One'' (2005)

*Track 4 “Dtla”

Starbucks’: ''Sweetheart: Love Songs''(2005)

*Track 5 “How Can I Tell You’’ Cat Stevens cover

KCRW: ''Sounds Eclectic: The Covers Project'' (2007)

*Track 10 “Mad World”

Circle Back Music: ''Songs for a Broken Heart'' (2008)

*Track 12 "No Poetry"

Robin Danar: ''Altered States'' (2008)

*Track 12 “Weirdo” The Charlatans cover

Collaborations

Michael Andrews - ''Donnie Darko'' (2001)

*Track 17 "Mad World" and Track 18 "Mad World (Alternate Mix)" (featured)

Jim Bianco - ''Handsome Devil'' (2004)

*Track 6 "Tennessee Wedding" (background vocals)

Esquimaux - ''perfecto!'' (2005)

*Track 12 "Honey & Dear" (featured)

Jim Bianco - ''Sing'' (2008)

*Track 2 "Sing" and Track 6 "If Your Mama Knew" (background vocals)

Angel Taylor - ''Love Travels'' (2009)

*guitar, mandolin, background vocals

Quotations

"Ideally, I would love to sing for an audience of 3,000 (or 30,000) people who are so cool that it feels like 3 people. I like to try and connect on a very personal level, and I'd like nothing more than for 3,000 people to come together and have an extremely intimate experience all-together at my shows."

"I think one could make a very good argument that a lot of art, particularly music, is born of suffering. I think the person who writes songs with a deeper resonance makes it their business to think about things like that."

"As far as advice for struggling artists, I'd say separating your art from struggle is the worst mistake you can make. If you really want to be an artist, expect to be struggling forever. You'll struggle to get recognition and once you get recognition you'll have to struggle to change people's opinion when you want to do something slightly different. You have to love exactly what it is you're doing. You have to love the work in order to get by. If you do love it, it doesn't matter what the rest of the world thinks, which is the greatest part."

"I found out that people through the ages are exactly the same as now, they had the same issues, the same desires. One thing that's clear when you read old literature is that there are some great universal truths — things like fart jokes, guys screwing other people's wives and the hunger for power."

References

External links

Official Website

Gary Jules on Myspace

Gary Jules on Facebook

Gary Jules on IMDb

Gary Jules on CDBaby

Gary Jules on iTunes

Gary Jules collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive

Gary Jules on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic with Nic Harcourt 07.03.02

Gary Jules on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic with Nic Harcourt 04.27.04

Gary Jules on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic with Nic Harcourt 11.21.08

Gary Jules on NPR's Mountain Stage 2009

Gary Jules live at Daytrotter 2009 session

Gary Jules at AOL Music

Gary Jules on The TV Guide Channel's M Vids July 2007

Gary Jules featured on MSNBC's "Your Business" circa 2006

Interview with WickedInfo.com

Category:1969 births Category:People from Fresno, California Category:People from San Diego, California Category:Living people Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni Category:American male singers Category:American rock singers Category:Songwriters from California Category:American musicians Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American acoustic guitarists Category:Musicians from California Category:Ivor Novello Award winners

de:Gary Jules es:Gary Jules fr:Gary Jules hr:Gary Jules it:Gary Jules nl:Gary Jules pt:Gary Jules simple:Gary Jules fi:Gary Jules sv:Gary Jules

Name	Maria Lourdes Aragon
Nickname	Maria Gaga
Background	solo_singer
Birth|nickname	Winnie Gaga
Born	July 17, 2000Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Instrument	Vocals, piano
Years active	2011–present
Associated acts	Lady Gaga
Website	http://mariaofficial.com/ }}

Maria Lourdes Aragon (born July 17, 2000) is a singer from Manitoba, Canada of Filipino descent. Aragon gained fame after a YouTube video of her performing Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" went viral.

As a YouTube sensation

On February 16, 2011, a video of Aragon performing a cover of "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga was posted to her sister's YouTube channel to showcase her talent to friends and family. The video caught Lady Gaga's attention when entertainment blogger Perez Hilton sent Gaga her Born This Way Cover , and she was so impressed by Maria's performance that she retweeted a link to the video. In a week, her video reached over 11 million views. As of July 26, 2011, the video had over 39 million hits.

During an interview on HOT 103 in Winnipeg, Lady Gaga called into the show to tell Maria how moved she had been by her performance. Lady Gaga then invited an already surprised Aragon to perform "Born This Way" with her at The Monster Ball Tour concert in Toronto. On March 3, 2011, Aragon joined Lady Gaga on stage at the Air Canada Centre, where they performed an acoustic duet of "Born this Way" with Maria sitting on Gaga's lap, playing piano and Lady Gaga working the pedals. Aragon later rejoined Lady Gaga and her team of back up dancers for an uptempo finale version of "Born this Way".

American talk show host Ellen DeGeneres took notice of her from emails and petitions requesting for Aragon's appearance on the show and eventually invited Aragon to appear on her show on February 21, 2011, where Aragon again performed "Born This Way" on the piano earning a standing ovation from the audience. On March 29, 2011, Aragon performed "Born This Way" at her home for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. She and Harper also performed a duet of John Lennon's song "Imagine".

In 2011, she appeared in a commercial for HTC singing the K'naan song, Wavin' Flag. She performed at the 2011 Canada Day concert on Parliament Hill, which included the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in attendance, as part of their 2011 royal tour of Canada.

Manny Pacquiao chose Maria to sing the Philippine national anthem on his upcoming fight with Manuel Marquez on Nov 12,2011.

Self-titled debut album "Maria Aragon" (Philippines)

On July 20 of the same year, Aragon arrived in the Philippines where she signed a contract with Star Records, the same recording company who signed Charice. She will also have guesting on several ABS-CBN shows including the musical variety show, ''ASAP Rocks''. Aragon was chosen by Star Cinema to sing the official soundtrack of the upcoming Philippine film, ''Way Back Home'', entitled '' You're My Home'', which was originally sang by Lea Salonga.

References

External links

Category:Lady Gaga Category:Living people Category:Canadian Internet personalities Category:2000 births Category:Canadian child singers Category:Canadian female singers Category:Canadian people of Filipino descent Category:People from Winnipeg

fr:Maria Aragon

Name	Lady Gaga
Alt	Portrait of a young, pale-skinned Caucasian female with blond hair
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta
Birth date	March 28, 1986
Birth place	New York, New York, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, piano, keyboards
Genre	Pop, dance
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, performance artist, record producer, dancer, businesswoman, activist
Years active	2005–present
Label	Def Jam, Cherrytree, Streamline, Kon Live, Interscope
Website	}}

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

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

Influenced by David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Madonna and Queen, Lady Gaga is recognized for her flamboyant, diverse and outré contributions to the music industry through her fashion, performances 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 are some of the best selling worldwide. Her achievements include five Grammy Awards and 13 MTV Video Music Awards. Lady Gaga has consecutively appeared on ''Billboard'' magazine's Artists of the Year (scoring the definitive title in 2010), ranked fourth in VH1's list of 100 Greatest Women in Music, is regularly placed on lists composed by ''Forbes'' magazine and was named one of the most influential people in the world by ''Time'' magazine. In 2012, Gaga was ranked at number four on ''Billboard's'' list of top moneymakers of 2011, grossing more than 25 million dollars.

Biography

1986–2004: Early life

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

From the age of 11, Gaga – who was raised Roman Catholic – attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart, a private all-girls Roman Catholic school on Manhattan's Upper East Side. She described her academic life in high school as "very dedicated, very studious, very disciplined" but also "a bit insecure": "I used to get made fun of for being either too provocative or too eccentric, so I started to tone it down. I didn't fit in, and I felt like a freak." Acquaintances dispute that she did not fit in at school. "She had a core group of friends; she was a good student. She liked boys a lot, but singing was No. 1," recalled a former high school classmate. Gaga began playing the piano at the age of 4, went on to write her first piano ballad at 13, and started to perform at open mike nights by the age of 14. Her passion for musical theatre brought her lead roles in high school productions, including Adelaide in ''Guys and Dolls'' and Philia in ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum''. She also appeared in a very small role as a mischievous classmate in the television drama series ''The Sopranos'' in a 2001 episode titled "The Telltale Moozadell" in addition to unsuccessfully auditioning for parts in New York shows.

When her time at the Convent of the Sacred Heart came to an end, her mother encouraged her to apply for the Collaborative Arts Project 21 (CAP21), a musical theatre training conservatory at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. After becoming one of twenty students to gain early admission, she eventually lived in an NYU dorm on 11th Street by the age of 17. CAP21 prepared her for her future career focus in "music, art, sex and celebrity" where, in addition to sharpening her songwriting skills, she composed essays and analytical papers on art, religion, social issues and politics, including a thesis on pop artists Spencer Tunick and Damien Hirst. With CAP21, she also tried out for and won auditions, including the part of an unsuspecting diner customer for MTV's ''Boiling Points'', a prank reality television show. But Gaga felt more creative than some of her classmates. "Once you learn how to think about art, you can teach yourself," she said.

2005–07: Career beginnings

Gaga withdrew from CAP21 at 19, in the second semester of her sophomore year, deciding 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. Settled in a small apartment on Rivington Street towards the summer of 2005, Gaga recorded a couple of songs with hip-hop singer Grandmaster Melle Mel, for an audio book accompanying the children's book ''The Portal in the Park'', by Cricket Casey. She also began a band called the Stefani Germanotta Band (SGBand) with some friends from NYU – guitarist Calvin Pia, bassist Eli Silverman, drummer Alex Beckham and booking manager Frank Fredericks – in September of that year. The band played a mixture of songs: some self-penned alongside classic rock numbers like Led Zeppelin's "D'yer Mak'er". Playing in bars like the Greenwich Village's The Bitter End and the Lower East Side's the Mercury Lounge, the band developed a small fan base and caught the eye of music producer Joe Vulpis. Soon after arranging time in Vulpis' studio in the months that followed, SGBand were selling their extended plays ''Words'' and ''Red and Blue'' (both 2005) at gigs around New York while becoming a local fixture of the downtown Lower East Side club scene.

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

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

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

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

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

As 2007 came to a close, her former management company introduced her to songwriter and producer RedOne, whom they also managed. The first song she produced with RedOne was "Boys Boys Boys", a mash-up inspired by Mötley Crüe's "Girls, Girls, Girls" and AC/DC's "T.N.T.". Gaga continued her collaboration with RedOne in the recording studio for a week on her debut album and also joined the roster of Cherrytree Records, an Interscope imprint established by producer and songwriter Martin Kierszenbaum, after co-writing four songs with Kierszenbaum including the singles "Christmas Tree" and "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)". Despite her secure record deal, she admitted that there was fear about her being too "racy", "dance-orientated" and "underground" for the mainstream market. Her response: "My name is Lady Gaga, I've been on the music scene for years, and I'm telling you, this is what's next."

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

By 2008, Gaga had relocated to Los Angeles in order to work extensively with her record label to complete her debut album and set up her own creative team Haus of Gaga, modeled on Andy Warhol's Factory. ''The Fame'' was first released on August 19, 2008 to slow radio play. Gaga supported it by performing around Europe and in small gay clubs around the US in addition to being billed as a supporting artist on the North American leg of New Kids on the Block's reunion concert tour. A sleeper hit, lead single "Just Dance" had preceded the album's release by four months but only hit the summit of the international charts in January 2009, provoking the instant success of the album, earning her first Grammy Award nomination (for Best Dance Recording) and becoming one of the best-selling singles worldwide. Gaga achieved a greater unexpected success when "Poker Face", another sleeper hit, reached number one in most major music markets worldwide in early 2009, selling 9.8 million singles worldwide. 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.

''The Fame'' itself was nominated for Album of the Year while winning Best Dance/Electronica Album at the same ceremony. Contemporary critics lauded the album, describing it as an exploration of her obsession with fame and the intricacies of a rich and famous lifestyle, noting its combination of genres "from Def Leppard drums and hand claps to metal drums on urban tracks", the inspiration drawn from 1980s synthpop and incorporation of dance music with clear hooks. ''The Fame'' went to number one in Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and the UK and appeared in the top five in Australia, the US and 15 other countries. It also stayed atop the Dance/Electronic Albums chart for 106 non-consecutive weeks and, since its release, has sold over 12 million copies worldwide. The album's success spawned many 2009 honors including ''Billboard'' magazine's Rising Star award and the accumulation of 3 of 9 MTV Video Music Awards nominations, winning Best New Artist with the video for her single "Paparazzi" gaining Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects. In addition to being an opening act on the Pussycat Dolls' Doll Domination Tour during the first half of 2009 in Europe and Oceania, she also embarked on her own six-month critically appreciated worldwide concert tour The Fame Ball Tour which ran from March to September 2009.

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

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

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

2011–present: ''Born This Way''

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

In the months prior to its unveiling, Gaga released the singles "Born This Way", "Judas" and "The Edge of Glory" alongside promotional single "Hair". The eponymous lead single, first sung live at the 53rd Grammy Awards in a performance that saw Gaga emerge from an egg-like vessel, deals with self-acceptance regardless of race or sexual orientation. The single debuted atop the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming the 19th number-one debut and the 1,000th number-one single in the history of the charts. It sold more than 3 million digital copies in the US by October 2011, becoming her eighth consecutive single to exceed sales of 2 million and, with worldwide sales of 8.2 million copies by November 2011, one of her five best-selling singles worldwide. Critics noted artistic and cultural references and praised the concept of the song's accompanying music video, in which Gaga gives birth to a new race amidst surrealistic images. The 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 but received acclaim for its overall delivery and praise from others who claimed that there was nothing offensive about it. "Judas" also peaked within the top ten in several major musical markets, while "The Edge of Glory", first a commercial success in digital outlets, was later released as a single to critical appreciation, accompanied by a video which was notably stripped down from her usually "extravagant" efforts. She released "You and I" and "Marry the Night" as the following singles from ''Born This Way''. Although their "crazy and ambitious" videos were praised for their audacity, both songs failed to match the similar international success that their predecessors achieved.

Gaga continued her musical endeavors by pairing with veteran artists like Tony Bennett to record a jazz version of "The Lady Is a Tramp". She also recorded a duet with Cher on a "massive" and "beautiful" track, which Gaga "wrote a long time ago, and I've never put it on one of my own albums for, really, no particular reason." Gaga also lent her vocals to an original duet with Elton John for the animated feature film ''Gnomeo & Juliet''. The song, "Hello, Hello", was released without Gaga's vocals but the duet version features in the film. She also continued her live appearances throughout 2011, performing a one-of-a-kind concert at the Sydney Town Hall on July 13 in promotion of ''Born This Way'' and at the celebration of former US president Bill Clinton's 65th birthday, wearing a blond wig as a nod to the famous performance of Marilyn Monroe for John F. Kennedy and changing the lyrics to "You and I" specifically for the performance. Televised appearances comprised her own Thanksgiving Day television special entitled ''A Very Gaga Thanksgiving'' which was critically lauded, attained 5.749 million American viewers, and spawned the release of her fourth extended play ''A Very Gaga Holiday''. Her second performance on ''Saturday Night Live'' saw her singing a selection of ''Born This Way'' songs alongside appearing in number of sketches with Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg. In March 2012, Gaga was ranked at number four on ''Billboard'''s list of top moneymakers of 2011, grossing $25,353,039 dollars, which includes sales from ''Born This Way'' and her ''Monster Ball Tour''.

In early 2012, Gaga stated that songs for a new album were "beginning to flourish" as she worked with producer Fernando Garibay, while the accompanying tour for ''Born This Way'' was materializing. The Born This Way Ball Tour is set to begin on April 27, 2012, at the Olympic Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.

Artistry

Influences

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

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

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

In August 2011 she sent to her 15 millions followers that she had at that time on Twitter, a quote about creativity from the book "Creativity" by Osho, which led journalists, on 28 october of the same year, on her arrival to India for the inauguration of a big Formula One motorsport event, to ask her about her connection to him, to which Gaga said she was influenced by his work and that for her, "the creativity is the greatest way of rebellion": "Equality", she concluded, "is one of the most important things in my life".

Musical style

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

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

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

Music videos and performances

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

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 during The Monster Ball Tour, in which she wore a revealing leather corset and was "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 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: performing in drag as her male alter ego, Jo Calderone, and delivering a lovesick monologue before a performance of her song "You and I". Some have defended her flamboyant and provocative behavior. "Well, she's Lady Gaga," Chris Rock said. "She's not 'Lady Behave Yourself.' Do you want great behavior from a person named Gaga? Is this what you were expecting?" As Gaga's choreographer and creative director, Laurieann Gibson provided material for her shows and videos for four years. However, the pair parted in November 2011; Gaga replacing her with Gibson's assistant Richard Jackson. Gaga admits to being a perfectionist when it comes to her elaborate shows. "I'm very bossy. I can scream my head off if I see one light fixture out. I'm very detailed – every minute of the show has got to be perfect."

Public image

While ''Rolling Stone'' named Gaga the "Queen of Pop" in 2011, public reception of Gaga's music, fashion sense and persona are mixed. Her status as a role model, self-esteem booster for her fans, trailblazer and fashion icon who breathes new life into the industry is by turns affirmed and denied. Gaga's albums have received mostly positive reviews and critics have pointed out her unique place in pop music, the need for new movements in popular culture, the attention Gaga brings to modern social issues, and the inherently subjective nature of her art. In view of her influence on modern culture and her rise to global fame, sociologist Mathieu Deflem of the University of South Carolina has organized a course titled "Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame" since spring 2011 with the objective of unravelling "some of the sociologically relevant dimensions of the fame of Lady Gaga." When Gaga briefly met with US president Barack Obama at a Human Rights Campaign fundraiser, he described the interaction as "intimidating" as she was dressed in 16-inch heels making her undoubtedly the tallest woman in the room.

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." Gaga is a natural brunette; she bleached her hair blonde because she was often mistaken for Amy Winehouse. She has nine tattoos on the left side of her body (her father has banned etchings on her right): a unicorn head with a ribbon wrapped around its horn that says "Born This Way"; a small heart with "dad" written inside it; several white roses; a treble clef; three daises; "Tokyo Love" with a little heart; "Little Monsters" written in cursive; a peace symbol, which was inspired by John Lennon, whom she stated was her hero; and a curling German script on her left arm quoting the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, her favorite writer, commenting that his "philosophy of solitude" spoke to her. In a question posed about the necessary procedure to attach the prosthetics to give the unconventional appearance of recent horn-like ridges on her cheekbones, temples, and shoulders, Gaga responded, "They're not prosthetics, they're my bones." She also clarified that they were not the result of plastic surgery, believing such surgery to only be the modern byproduct of fame-induced insecurity to which she does not subscribe. The interviewer's further probing brought Gaga to the conclusion that they are an artistic representation of her inner inspirational light and part of the "performance piece" that is her musical persona: an inevitability of her becoming who she now is.

Towards the end of 2008, comparisons were made between the fashions of 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." Gaga released a statement in which she welcomed the comparisons due to the attention providing useful publicity, saying, "She's such a huge star and if anything I should send her flowers, because a lot of people in America didn't know who I was until that whole thing happened. It really put me on the map in a way." When interviewed by Barbara Walters for her annual ABC News special ''10 Most Fascinating People'' in 2009, Gaga dismissed the claim that she is intersex as an urban legend. Responding to a question on this issue, she stated, "At first it was very strange and everyone sorta said, 'That's really quite a story!' But in a sense, I portray myself in a very androgynous way, and I love androgyny." In addition to Aguilera's statement, comparisons continued into 2010, when Aguilera released the music video of her single "Not Myself Tonight". Critics noted similarities between the song and its accompanying music video with Gaga's video for "Bad Romance". There have also been similar comparisons made between 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. ''Time Magazine'' placed Gaga on their "All-Time 100 Fashion Icons List" amongst some of Gaga's inspirations such as Micheal Jackson, Madonna, and the The Beatles, stating: "Lady Gaga is just as notorious for her outrageous style as she is for her pop hits. After all, Gaga, born Stefani Germanotta, has sported outfits made from plastic bubbles, Kermit the Frog dolls, and raw meat."

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

HIV and AIDS

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

Born This Way Foundation

As a humanitarian, she has launched her own non-profit organization, the Born This Way Foundation, which focuses on youth empowerment and issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring, and career development. "My mother and I have initiated a passion project. We call it the Born This Way Foundation," Gaga said in a statement about the foundation, which takes its name from the 2011 single and album. "Together we hope to establish a standard of Bravery and Kindness, as well as a community worldwide that protects and nurtures others in the face of bullying and abandonment." The foundation will work with a number of partners, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The California Endowment and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. She also jumped into the debate surrounding SB 1070, Arizona's recently-enacted anti-immigration law, after premiering her ''Born This Way'' song "Americano" on the Guadalajara stop of The Monster Ball Tour in Mexico, telling the local press that she could not "stand by many of the unjust immigration laws" in the US. A devoted advocate for the LGBT community, Gaga is also an outspoken activist for LGBT rights worldwide. On February 29, 2012, Gaga and Oprah Winfrey visited Harvard University to launch her Born This Way Foundation.

LGBT advocacy

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

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

Gaga attended the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards accompanied by four service members of the United States Armed Forces (Mike Almy, David Hall, Katie Miller and Stacy Vasquez), all of whom, under the United States military's "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) policy, had been prohibited from serving openly because of their sexuality. In addition, Gaga wore a meat dress to the ceremony which was supplemented by boots, a purse and a hat that were all fabricated from the flesh of a dead animal. Partly awarded in recognition of the dress, Vogue.com UK named her one of the Best Dressed people of 2010 while ''Time'' magazine's named the dress the Fashion Statement of 2010, it received divided opinions – evoking the attention of worldwide media but invoking the fury of animal rights organization PETA. She denied any intention of causing disrespect to any person or organization and wished for the dress to be interpreted as a statement of human rights with focus upon those in the LGBT community, adding that "If we don't stand up for what we believe in and if we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our own bones."

She later released three videos on YouTube urging her fans to contact their Senators in an effort to overturn the policy. In late September 2010 she spoke at the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network's "4the14K" Rally in Deering Oaks Park in Portland, Maine. The name of the rally signified the number – an estimated 14,000 – of service members discharged under the DADT policy at the time. During her remarks, she urged members of the U.S. Senate (and in particular, moderate Republican Senators from Maine, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins) to vote in favor of legislation that would repeal the DADT policy. Following this event, editors of ''The Advocate'' commented that she had become "the real fierce advocate" for gays and lesbians, one that Barack Obama had promised to be.

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

Discography

''The Fame'' (2008)

''The Fame Monster'' (2009)

''Born This Way'' (2011)

Filmography

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

''A Very Gaga Thanksgiving'' (2011)

Concert tours

The Fame Ball Tour (2009)

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

The Monster Ball Tour (2009–11)

The Born This Way Ball Tour (2012–13)

See also

List of awards and nominations received by Lady Gaga

Honorific nicknames in popular music

List of best-selling music artists

References

Further reading

Monster Anthems (2011) by Robert Christgau

External links

Slide show ''Vanity Fair''

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