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Lady Gaga's Bad Business Romance
By
Jen Carlson
Published Mar 19, 2010
Modified Mar 19, 2010
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Mar 19, 2010
Modified Mar 19, 2010
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Songwriter Rob Fusari, aka Lady Gaga's ex-boyfriend, has filed a $30 million lawsuit against the superstar saying he helped create the fame monster formerly known as Stefani Germanotta, according to the Post.
The two met when he had her take a Port Authority bus to Parsippany, NJ—a young Italian "guidette" knocked on his door, and after "the pair worked together seven days a week... [he] realized that Germanotta had star potential. The trick would be coaxing it out of her." And her name? Allegedly when he texted her "Radio Gaga" the spell check defaulted to "Lady Gaga" and the name stuck.
A star was being born, the two fell in love, and yadda yadda yadda, they formed a company with Germanotta's dad called Team Love Child "for the purpose of exclusively professionally exploiting Germanotta and the songs that Fusari co-wrote and or produced." He was promised 20% ownership. But the bad romance was ended by Fusari in 2007 after the two began fighting, and from then on it was strictly business. Soon after he landed her a meeting with Interscope, where she was signed and Fusari was named co-producer on her album "The Fame." The suit also states that he co-wrote her hits "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich" and "Paparazzi."
While he had been receiving royalty checks, the one he got in December had a message on it: this will be the last. Fusari's reply may have come in the form of the introduction to his lawsuit, which begins with a William Congreve quote, "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned/ Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned."
Tagged
lady gaga
lawsuit
Rob Fusari
Stefani Germanotta
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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