A still-grieving mom says her late daughter inspired Lady Gaga on her path to superstardom, and wants the "Poker Face" pop icon to give the tragic teen her due.
Yana Morgana is seeking the rights to release the dozen or so songs her daughter, Lina, recorded with Gaga -- then Stefani Germanotta -- before Lina committed suicide at age 19.
And she wants the "Paparazzi" princess to acknowledge it was Lina Morgana's dark, edgy style that helped create Lady Gaga.
"I'm doing this because I want to keep her spirit alive," Yana, 41, told The Post. "Lady Gaga is holding Lina's soul, and I want her soul to be free."
Music producer Rob Fusari introduced the pair at his New Jersey studio in early 2007, in the hope Germanotta's songwriting and Morgana's singing would generate hits.
At the time, Lina was a songbird from Staten Island, whose Russian-immigrant parents would later separate. Germanotta was a privileged Manhattan girl trying to make it in the music world.
"Lina had a hard life because we emigrated from Russia. People would make fun of her because she was different, her mom was a single mom," said Yana, who claims Gaga even adopted the dark aspects of Lina's persona.
"Every other word she 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," Yana said.
What they had in common was a svengali -- Fusari.
A music industry-insider close to all three said, "When Rob originally brought Stefani into the recording studio to meet Lina, he introduced her as a songwriter who would potentially co-write songs for Morgana's first album."
Gaga helped write a few songs for Lina, who recorded them, said the tragic teen's ex-manager.
Later, Gaga and Lina recorded about a dozen songs together at Fusari's studio, the manager said; none was released commercially. Some, such as "Wunderland," nevertheless made it to YouTube and MySpace.
It was perhaps during these collaborations, Lina's mother believes, that her daughter's fashion style, performance techniques and dramatic stagecraft influenced Gaga.
To make her point, the mom produced pictures of Lina taken to promote her career, including a mock album cover shot.
In them, Lina strikes poses and wears bikinis, lingerie, outlandish wigs and thigh-high boots -- all later replicated in Gaga's racy publicity photos, the mom believes.
"Lina had that style. Gaga had a different style. She changed dramatically overnight," Yana said.
Within a year of their collaboration, Lina jumped to her death from the roof of a 10-story hotel on Staten Island. About a month after the October 2008 suicide, Germanotta became Lady Gaga, took the music industry by storm and spawned an army of fans she dubbed her "little monsters."
Tyler Schwab, Lina's ex-boyfriend, said he was stunned the first time he saw a Gaga video.
"It was the same style, the same look, the same music, the same voice, the same jaw line -- the way they expressed themselves," said Schwab. "And I was like, 'Is that Lina?' It was so, so shocking. It was like looking at a ghost."
Dennis Dennehy, a spokesman at Interscope Records, declined to comment for Gaga on Yana Morgana's assertions.
Fusari, through his business manager, Sandy Linzer, also declined comment.
"I'm not looking to file a lawsuit," Yana said. "I just want them to acknowledge Lina as an artist and release her music."
In March, Fusari made his own claims against Gaga, 24, filing a $30 million suit that claims he helped turn her into a superstar.
Industry insiders said Lina, too, could have been huge.
"She had a fantastic voice, a great tone and quality -- a little bit dark," said songwriter Deborah Ferrara, who co-wrote a song with Lina. "I think that she would have had a great career."
Read more & check out Lina's music video below: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/gaga_owes_my_kid_for_fame_NyfPkmLNGBjhWSj6WHXaNL#ixzz0z37PdN1Q
No comments:
Post a Comment