American singer-songwriter and actress Stefani Germanotta, better known by her stage persona Lady Gaga, was BOTD in 1986. Born in New York City to an Italian-American family, she showed an early interest in music, performing in nightclubs by her teens. After two years studying music at the Tisch School of the Arts, she dropped out to pursue her career. Drawing inspiration from Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie, the New York Dolls and Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, she fashioned a new persona as “Lady Gaga” (named in honour of Queen’s song Radio Ga Ga), combining upbeat dance music with edgy theatrical performances and extravagant costumes. Her first solo album, The Fame, was released in 2008, producing four No 1 singles including the international hit Poker Face. Her 2009 sophomore album The Fame Monster was a global hit, spawning a second batch of No 1 singles including Bad Romance. Her 2011 album Born This Way brazenly mixed sexual and religious imagery and was squarely aimed at her loyal LGBTQ fanbase, drawing extensive comparisons with Madonna. Seeking to diversify her career, she recorded a popular album of American standards with crooner Tony Bennett, and turned heads (and stomachs) as an aristocratic vampire in Ryan Murphy‘s 2015 horror series American Horror Story: Hotel, before returning to hi-energy pop with the albums Chromatica and Mayhem. One of the most successful and garlanded American musical performers in history, she has won 14 Grammy Awards and sold over 170 million records worldwide. She made a stunning feature film debut as an ambitious ingenue in the 2019 remake of A Star is Born, co-writing and performing the film’s songs with her co-star/director Bradley Cooper. A critical and commercial juggernaut, the film earned her an Oscar for co-writing the song Shallow and an Oscar nomination for best actress. Her subsequent film roles in The House of Gucci and Joker: Folie à Deux were less well-received. Openly bisexual since forever, she has been a prominent activist for LGBTQ rights and same-sex marriage, and established the Born This Way Foundation to support mental health in queer youth. Her work and persona draws on many aspects of camp and queer culture (notably the performance artist Leigh Bowery), establishing her as a ready-made torch-song diva for the Millennial era. She has been in a relationship with entrepreneur Michael Polansky since 2020, announcing their engagement after her performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony.