Lady Gaga working on her latest album

While fans are still enjoying “Telephone” and “Bad Romance,” Lady Gaga is already penning her next project !

Confirming the effort, which she says is already turning out “great,” Gaga told UK sources “I’m working on it now and I’ve already written the core of it so I’m just continuing to travel around the world and make something really great. It’s certainly my best work to date.”

While Gaga is pulling from experiences on the road, it may be some time before we hear the follow up to “The Fame” and “The Fame Monster” as she’ll be on tour for much of the year, including stops in the U.S. and Canada through September.

Lady GaGa's Topless Birthday Photo

Nothing like a communist-red teacup to make for the perfect Birthday gift. Last words are for fools who haven't said enough. Happy Birthday, Lady Gaga!

Fashion's first lady

MELISSA KENT
Anyone who’s heard of Lady Gaga knows the new high priestess of shock doesn’t hold back when it comes to fashion.

She’s met the Queen in a red PVC Elizabethan gimp dress, held press conferences in gigantic shoulder pads that could double as an airline chair, flourished capes made from skinned polar bears, writhed in nude body-stockings with gaffer-taped nipples (fashion is pain, people), sculpted her hair into telephones and, of course, sparked a no-pants craze with her trademark “underwear-as-outerwear” look.

With her bizarre style - masked face, overdone hair and make-up, gridiron shoulders - Gaga has emerged as a surprising muse for both the high street and haute couture.

Her space-age aesthetic has influenced designers such as Giorgio Armani, Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci and Jean Paul Gaultier, while at the other of the scale outlets such as UK internet retailer Asos has attributed a 30 per cent rise in sales to Gaga-inspired lace party frocks, body suits and underwear.

While singers have long spearheaded the fusion of music and fashion, in just 15 months Gaga has in equal measure rocked the pop and fashion worlds in a way many have compared to pop’s original fashion wild child - Madonna.

In fact, she’s been been compared to the Material Girl so many times that she and Madonna did a skit together on Saturday Night Live: Gaga’s opening line was “Madonna? I’m totally hotter than you.” Madonna has said: “I see myself in her.”

Perhaps the Wall Street Journal nailed Gaga’s influence on pop and fashion when it said: “Gaga ... really understands
spectacle, fashion, shock, choreography - all the things Madonna and Michael Jackson were masters of in the 1980s.”

It’s fitting then, that Lady Gaga’s Melbourne show this week coincides with an exhibition of Madonna’s most iconic costumes as part of the Melbourne Fashion Festival.

The 30-piece collection at Chadstone includes the pink dress worn in the Material Girl video clip and the infamous gold conical bustier designed by Jean Paul Gaultier and worn by Madonna during her provocative 1990 Blonde Ambition tour.

“As stand-alone pieces, each of those costumes makes a comment on either class, gender, sexuality, race or just the power of the individual,” says Antonino Tati, editor of Cream magazine and self-confessed Madonna aficionado.

“These are really iconic because they’re so ingrained in the public’s mind and stand for so much in pop culture.”

Like Madonna, Gaga’s ambition is well-documented and she exerts a vice-like control over her image. While her outfits are largely the work of a team she calls “The Haus of Gaga”, she remains the creative force behind her aesthetic.

“I’m this way all the time,” she has said.

“I’m always dressed the way you see me in my videos and my performances. I live and breathe fashion, art and music. I was the girl who used to be made fun of in school because I was wearing some crazy outfit. For me, it’s not a costume; it’s not a look. Lady Gaga is me.”

It was only a matter of time before Gaga-inspired trends filtered down the high street, in admittedly diluted forms - no telephone hairpieces or polar bear capes - but rather in structured shoulders, lace body suits and leggings.

“She was the first one to really embrace those strong shapes, particularly those kind of Cube-esque shoulder pads. I see big shoulder pads and straight away I think, ooh very Gaga,” says Melbourne singer and designer Lee Lee from the
band Dirty Laundry.

“I see her as the love child of Bette Midler and Madonna, but even more out there. I like that her look is not just about being the beauty queen. It’s visually stimulating.”

Melbourne designer Alexi Freeman sees Gaga as a pop star of post-modern relevance.

“Like David Bowie in the ’70s, like Madonna in the ’80s, Lady Gaga is a real icon of fashion and where things are going,” he says.

“Admittedly, she does seem kind of insane, but I think she’s on a very creative journey. She is really on her own trip - in the beginning anyway, when she made her own outfits and did her own make-up, she was pursuing her own aesthetic. She’s genuinely expressing her own vision of what’s relevant now.”

Lady Gaga performs at Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday and Wednesday, and April 9, as part of her Monster’s Ball tour.

Source: theage.com.au

Pop superstar Lady Gaga sued by former boyfriend for £20m

LADY GAGA is being sued for more than s20million by an ex-boyfriend who claims he co-wrote some of her hits.

Music producer Rob Fusari says the Bad Romance singer axed him after he helped to create the flamboyant persona that made her famous.

He alleges he came up with the name Lady Gaga and helped write Paparazzi and Disco Heaven.

Robert Meloni, a law yer for Fusari, said: "It's an age-old story in the music business. You become famous and you turn on the person who discovered you."

Fusari filed the suit in Manhattan Supreme Court, New York, this week. He claims a talent scout pal introduced Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, to him in March 2006.

He says he was initially disappointed when the singer arrived at his 150 Studios in New Jersey.

The suit reads: "Fusari was expecting someone a little more grunge-rocker than the young Italian girl 'guidette' who arrived at his doorstep and was worried that he had made a mistake."

But when he asked her to play one of her songs on the studio piano, he realised "within seconds" that Germanotta had star potential.

The suit continues: "The trick would be coaxing it out of her."

Fusari claims he was responsible for "radically reshaping her approach" over several months - and convincing her to add dance beats to her songs.

He said he came up with the name Lady Gaga after playing Queen's Radio Ga Ga for her every day when she entered the studio.

"One day, when Fusari addressed a text message to Germanotta under the moniker 'Radio Gaga', his phone's spell check converted 'Radio' to 'Lady'," the suit says. "Germanotta loved it and 'Lady Gaga' was born."

Fusari, who has producing credits on Destiny Child's Bootylicious, is seeking a 20 per cent cut from a 2006 contract he says he signed with Gaga's two companies, Team Love Child and Mermaid Music.

He claims to have received just one cheque, for about s140,000.

Fusari and Germanotta, 23, were at one time romantically linked but broke up in January 2007, the suit says.

In the introduction to the court papers, Fusari portrays Lady Gaga as "a woman scorned".

The suit says: "All business is personal. When those personal relationships evolve into romantic entanglements, any corresponding business relationship usually follows the same trajectory - so that when one crashes, they all burn."

The singer, who is currently in Australia, has previously said: "I was Gaga from the time that I was 19 through my first record deal.

"I always dressed like that before people knew me as Lady Gaga. I was always that way - I stuck out like a sore thumb."

--------------------------------------------
Lady Gaga's lawyer said that an agreement at the heart of the legal battle was "unlawful".

Song writer and music producer Rob Fusari claims that he and the Grammy Award-winning performer formed a business partnership, in which he was entitled to 20 per cent of the business.

He is claiming $30.5 million (£20.3 million) from the singer.

The lawsuit said they co-wrote songs such as "Paparazzi" and "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich."

Mr Fusari also said he came up with the 23-year-old's stage name and helped get her record deal.

He said his protégé and former girlfriend, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, abandoned him and their partnership Team Love LLC as her career soared.

Mr Fusari claims that their business partnership entitles him to 20 per cent of her record deal.

He acknowledges that he has received $611,000 from her but says it is not his full share.

But Lady Gaga's lawyer Charles Ortner told that court that the agreement between the singer and the producer was "unlawful".

He said that Mr Fusari and his company violated statutes that prohibited them from "acting as employment agents without a license and charging Lady Gaga an unlawful fee for their purported services."

Mr Fusari's lawyer, Robert S. Meloni, called the claim "ludicrous".

"Fusari is a PARTNER in the Team Love LLC with Gag," Mr Meloni wrote.

"Rob was no more of an 'agent' for her than she is a Roman Catholic nun."

Lady Gaga won two Grammys in January: best dance recording, for "Poker Face," and best electronic or dance album for "The Fame."

A spokesman for Lady Gaga, who is on tour in Australia, declined to comment on the suit.

Lady Gaga and Beyoncé's Telephone music video 'to become one of YouTube's most watched'

The nine minute promo debuted on Thursday night and has already been viewed 12,170,080 times.

Directed by Jonas Akerlund and inspired by Quentin Tarantino films, Lady Gaga strips naked, kisses a woman, swears like a trouper and goes on the run with her "honey bee" Beyoncé in the outrageous video.



YouTube user vansrockz raved: "12,170,080 views! Just in 3 days, thats amazing! I love the details in this videos like the costumes, cameos, dancing, and Lady GaGa's raw facial expressions!"

Another Hayeslad06 said: "It's great to see an artist finally taking the time out to actually make interesting video's instead of the boring repetitive dancing to a white background shit we see of late!"

"Lady GaGa is showing the world that the music video is not dead, and I wish more artists would take note."

"Its a shame the likes of Madonna, who once revolutionized the music video, have now resorted to making cheap crap and just expect their fans to be happy with it! What happened to artists taking pride in their work? "

Susan Boyle's Britain's Got Talent performance is one of YouTube's most watched music clips with 89 million views since last year while OK Go's Here it Goes Again has had 50 million views over the past three years.

LADY GAGA Finished?

Lady Gaga is gone? As quickly as she rose to fame, it seems she is on the brink of total collapse.

LADY GaGa is on the brink of a Britney Spears-style meltdown, it is feared.

The triple Brit Award winner admits the stress of her success is causing “blinding headaches and blurred vision”.

She was forced to cancel gigs on the US leg of her Monster Ball tour after collapsing with severe breathing problems backstage.

And paramedics in West Lafayette, Indiana, warned her she could be suffering respiratory problems that require urgent attention.

The 23-year-old brushed aside their concerns, declaring: “I’ve resigned myself to this ridiculous schedule because I feel it is my destiny to provide for my fans.”

But close pals of the wacky singer – real name Stefani Germanotta – believe the pressures of fame are drastically affecting her off-stage behaviour.

And experts believe the strain of constantly playing to the cameras could be unsettling her mentally.

Los Angeles psychotherapist Jane Martinez said: “No one can put on an act 24/7. The almost inevitable result of this action is a mental and physical breakdown somewhere down the line.”

Before flying to London to accept her Brit Awards last month, she strolled into trendy Desmond’s Tavern in New York wearing an outfit too revealing even for her outrageous stage show.

Tavern owner Hugh Connolly said: “She was in fishnet stockings and a top – but had no pants.”

Before that, GaGa – who appeared on Jonathan Ross’ show on Friday night – fired several members of her staff after her dress almost fell off during a performance on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

She has also issued bizarre personal demands of Monster Ball tour promoters.

In Dublin, her backstage rider demanded a spiritualist, a tarot card reader and a “non-smelly cheese on ice”.

Pals say she’s been “close to the edge” after her father had open heart surgery last October.

Weeks later, she split from long-time boyfriend, a 31-year-old US millionaire known simply as Speedy, amidst claims of cheating.