Everybody starts somewhere! 🎤✨ Early Gaga at Trannyshack in SF

Wendy Wiseman

🔥

19d • 🔦 Spotlight

Online or on stage...

Don’t get discouraged by awkward first steps

Practice smooths out rough edges

Even icons can be seen tripping or falling

Remember, every legend was once a beginner stumbling into the spotlight

💁 Here’s a clip from way back when... I was right at the edge of the stage.. no idea who I was watching and, honestly more entertained by Heklina, other performers, and the sweaty crowd than by this act from out of nowhere.

At 2:38 she nearly knocks over a lamp stand... 7:38 she stumbles at the back of the stage.

And yet… look at how her success catapulted from here

"Just Dance" -the lead single- was released on April 8, 2008
Gaga released her debut studio album, The Fame, on August 19, 2008
"Poker Face" follows: The second single, released on September 23, 2008
The Fame was a global smash hit!

Before May 2008, Lady Gaga (aka Stefani Germanotta) was an aspiring artist in my old stomping ground - the downtown NYC club scene - developing her signature performance art style.

✨ Collaboration with performance artist Lady Starlight in 2007 showcased her early glam-rock and theatrical style: The Ultimate Pop Burlesque Rockshow

It’s wild to think that just a year before global superstardom, she was fumbling through shows like so many of us as we stumble into excellence

Your awkward phase doesn’t define you, it propels you!

💥Just don’t let self-doubt or naysayers stop you!

She didn’t quit. She didn’t sell out. She kept showing up

Eventually the world caught on

Who knows what's next 🤩

Enjoy....

🎥 Raw, unpolished, iconic:

Lady Gaga Performing Live at Trannyshack — Promoting “The Fame,” May 27, 2008

PS - If you're a performance artist or involved with the production of drag, burlesque, cabaret or other underground performing arts you'll love the new 👑 Drag King Den 👑

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