From rags to riches: the humble NY apartment Lady Gaga lived in before making it big (and relocating to a Bel-Air mansion)

By Daily Mail Reporter

Old home: Before she was Lady Gaga rich, a singer named Stefani Germanotta lived in this humble NYC apartment


What a difference four years makes in the music industry.

This is the simple lower East Side apartment building in which the aspiring singer named Stefani Germanotta resided.

Four years later, this same singer, now going by the name Lady Gaga, is shelling out $25,000 (£16,400) a month in rent for a stunning Bel-Air mansion.

While the Poker Face singer is a world apart from her previous NY apartment, neighbours recall Gaga's recall the humble abode on edgy Stanton Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

'She had a bare-ass apartment,' says her friend Brendan Sullivan.

A new Gaga biography claims the apartment was sparsely furnished with a futon, a queen-sized mattress and a cheap record player.


House fit for a Lady: Gaga is reported to be renting this stunning $5million Bel Air mansion for $25,000 a month


She had a picture of David Bowie over her bed and she'd sit at her kitchen counter with her keyboard and her laptop, working out songs.

Gaga made an instant impression on one local who asked, 'Did you know there is a prostitute that lives in the building' after seeing Gaga stumbling home at 4am 'wearing, like, nothing.'

The provocative outfits have not changed, as Gaga proved at the video music awards Sunday night where she won eight awards and accepted one in a dress made fully of meat. But the scenery sure has.

The 24-year-old pop star is said snapped up the $5million (£3.28m) Los Angeles mansion to rent in July.


Location, location: The property boasts stunning views of the Pacific Ocean and across Hollywood


Her latest place has plenty of room to place her increased awards and comes complete with one acre of grounds and a huge, pristine swimming pool.

The property also boasts stunning views across Hollywood and the Pacific Ocean. Bel Air is an affluent community in the hills of the Westside of the city.

Together with Beverly Hills and Holmby Hills it forms the Platinum Triangle of Los Angeles neighbourhoods.

Bel Air was also the location of the Nineties sitcom The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air, starring Will Smith.

But with Lady Gaga currently on a world tour until next April, it's unlikely she'll get to spend much time at the house for a good while yet.


Award winner: Lady Gaga was the toast of the MTV VMAs last night in Los Angeles, scooping up an amazing eight awards in total


source: dailymail