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Did Lady Gaga Cop Her Style From Her Dead Friend?
By
Jen Carlson
Published Sep 9, 2010
Modified Sep 9, 2010
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Sep 9, 2010
Modified Sep 9, 2010
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Left to Right: Lina, Gaga, Lina, Gaga
Can we all just agree that Lady Gaga isn't some mind-blowing, game-changing, totally original pop star? She cops her looks from Paris Fashion Week shows and pawns them off as her own, so it wouldn't be surprising if she stole her persona from someone lesser known. Say, from her friend who committed suicide at age 19.
According to the NY Post, Lina Morgana's mother Yana claims that her dead daughter was the inspiration for Gaga's persona. The two did work on songs together (they were introduced by producer Rob Fusari), and Lina's style does look like it transferred over to Gaga at some point. See for yourself in this video Yana put together:
Yana told the paper that she has no plans to file a lawsuit, she simply wants her daughter to get her due; "I'm doing this because I want to keep her spirit alive. Lady Gaga is holding Lina's soul, and I want her soul to be free. Every other word [Gaga] says is from Lina. She talks about having a dark and tragic life, but she had everything she wanted in the world. She went to [the same] high school as Nicky Hilton, her parents were rich. But Lina did have a tough life, and she often talked about her tragic life."
After Fusari's introduction, Lina and Gaga wrote about a dozen songs together all recorded but never commercially released. (One of those songs, Wonderland, is below.) Yana claims that "Lina had that style. Gaga had a different style. She changed dramatically overnight."
Tragically, Lina took her own life by jumping from a hotel on Staten Island, and one month later (then) Stefani Germanotta made her transformation to Lady Gaga. Lina's former boyfriend said the first time he saw the transformation, he was shocked—he told the paper, "It was the same style, the same look, the same music, the same voice, the same jaw line—the way they expressed themselves. It was so, so shocking. It was like looking at a ghost."
UPDATE: The video Yana Morgana created and put up on her daughter's YouTube page has now been made private, but you can see two of Lina's videos below:
Tagged
lady gaga
Lina Morgana
pop music
style
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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