Lady Gaga sued for $30 million
Lady Gaga has been slapped with a $30 million lawsuit, a man who says he “discovered” her has filed papers claiming he turned Stefani Germanotta into who she is today.
Rob Fusari is seeking the money from Gaga’s Team Love Child and Mermaid Music because he says he even thought of her alias Lady Gaga for her. His lawyer Robert Meloni tells the NY Daily News, “It is an age-old story in the music business. You become famous and you turn on the person who discovered you.”
Gaga was linked up with Fusari in March of 2006 after being discovered by Wendy Starland at the Cutting Room in New York City. The lawsuit states, “Starland knew that Fusari had been searching for months for a dynamic female rock-n-roller with garage band chops to front an all-girl version of The Strokes. Starland was blown away by Germanotta´s performance & immediately called Fusari and told him she had found his girl.”
Fusari, who has produced “Bootylicious” for Destiny’s Child & “Wild Wild West” for Will Smith, says he got the name Lady Gaga from the Queen song “Radio Gaga.” “One day when Fusari addressed a cell phone text to Germanotta under the moniker “Radio Gaga” his cell phone’s spell check converted “Radio” to “Lady”,” the suit says. “Germanotta loved it and Lady Gaga was born.”