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."
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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.
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