Free Women's Blog

Lady Gaga (born on March 28, 1986) is a songwriter, performance and recording artist, who started rock music performance in New York City’s Lower East Side. She released her debut album, The Fame, in August 2008 and reached no. 1 in Canada, Ireland, Austria and Germany, also topped the Billboard Top Electronic Albums chart. In 2009 she launched her second studio album The Fame Monster, with the single Bad Romance topping the charts worldwide.

Stefani Germanotta was born in New York City, wrote her first piano ballad at 13 and attended Convent of the Sacred Heart, a Roman Catholic private school. She earned early admission to the New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where she studied music and perfected her songwriting skills, but later on she quit school to pursue her musical career.

Germanotta first signed with Def Jam Recordings at 19, but she was dropped after just three months. She began performing downtown Lower East Side clubs together with bands like Mackin Pulsifier and SGBand. Music producer Rob Fusari helped her to come up with her stage name, Lady Gaga after the Queen song ‘Radio Ga Ga’. Throughout 2007, she worker together with artist Lady Starlight and they performed at downtown clubs such as Mercury Lounge, The Bitter End or Rickwood Music Hall. In August 2007, they were invited to perform at the American Lollapalooza music festival, which was critically acclaimed and were both positively reviewed. She continued to work together with RedOne, working in the studio on her first album, generating hit singles such as ‘Just Dance’ and ‘Poker Face’.

She moved to Los Angeles, working intensely on her debut album The Fame, which was positively reviewed by critics and topped number one in the United Kingdom, Canada and Ireland and the the top five in the United Stated and Australia. The single, ‘Just Dance’ was released in April 2008 topping the charts in six countries and was also nominated for Grammy Award in the Best Dance Recording category. The second single, ‘Poker Face’ released in September 2008, topped number one in almost twenty countries. She started out her first North American tour, The Fame Ball Tour on March 12, 2009, which was critically acclaimed.
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James Todd Smith (born on January 14, 1968), known by his stage name LL Cool J, is an American rap singer and actor. He is a successful hip-hop star who managed to have a lasting career for more then two decades. During his career, he released twelve studio albums as well as a greatest hits album. His latest album is the Exit 13, released in 2008. Most recently he plays in the NCIS: Los Angeles that was introduced to the public with a two part episode, Legend. LL is playing the role of special agent Sam Hanna, a former Navy SEAL who is working for NCIS being a Middle Eastern culture expert. The show stars Chris O’Donnell, Peter Cambor, Daniela Ruah, Linda Hunt, Adam Jamal Craig or Rocky Carroll – playing the role of Director Leon Vance on NCIS.

Born as James Todd Smith in Bay Shore, Long Island, New York he did not have an easy childhood. When he was 4, he witnessed as his father shot his mother and grandfather. Later on, his mother started dating a young therapist who for years abused Todd psychically and verbally. Todd found a way to escape from the abuse, through hip-hop music. At the age of 11, he was already writing lyrics and producing demos with a mixing table purchased by his grandfather. He and his best friends came up with his stage name, LL Cool J – Ladies Love Cool James.

In 1984, at the age of 16, LL released his first single “I Need a Beat” at Def Jam Recordings, which sold in more than 100,000 copies contributing to establish LL as a rapper in the world of music. The success of the single determined LL to quit high school and to record his first album.

In 1984, he released his first album, Radio and the album went to platinum with over 1,500,000 sales. LL continued to release several albums and singles, most of them were commercial success. In September 2009, LL wrote and released a single about the TV series NCIS, and it is available on iTunes. The single is based on his experience playing the role of special agent Sam Hanna.
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