PHOTOS: Happy Birthday, Lady Gaga! Her Road to 'Fame'

As the pop diva celebrates her 26th b-day on March 28, see how she’s morphed into a multiplatinum superstar (18 Photos)

Donna Kaufman on Mar 28, 2012 at 9:30AM

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PHOTOS: Happy Birthday, Lady Gaga! Her Road to 'Fame'

High School Dreams

Lady Gaga may have been "born this way" – but she worked hard to become pop royalty. The pop diva was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta in New York City in 1986. Stefani’s middle-class family made every effort to support their daughter’s artistic side, sending her to the Catholic high school Convent of the Sacred Heart (pictured), signing her up for music lessons, and enrolling her in acting classes. She gave her first piano concert at age 8 ("I did a really good job. I was quite good," she's boasted). As her Sweet 16 party, Stefani passed around her first demo: a collection of love ballads. When she graduated from high school, she enrolled in NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, but dropped out after one year to pursue music full-time.