Women Who Rock: 40 Facts About Female Musicians

Lady Gaga’s stage name came from Queen’s song “Radio Ga Ga”. “One day when Fusari addressed a cell phone text to Germanotta under the moniker ‘Radio Gaga’ [and] his cell phone’s spellcheck converted ‘Radio’ to ‘Lady.’ Germanotta loved it, and ‘Lady Gaga’ was born.”

27. In 1962, at the University of Texas at Austin, Janis Joplin was voted “ugliest man on campus.”

28. Lady Gaga has been named godmother to Elton John and husband David Furnish’s baby son Elijah. The pop singer is already the godmother to John and Furnish’s 2-year-old, Zachary, and the couple were so impressed with her guidance that they doubled down on Gaga’s godmother duties.

29. Shania Twain divorced her husband after he cheated with her best friend. Later Twain married the ex-husband of that same best friend.

30. Dolly Parton wrote “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” (later covered by Whitney Houston, and one of the bestselling singles of all time) on the same night.

Every single person that Madonna name-checks in the song Vogue is now dead. The song was released on 27 March 1990 by which time seven of the 16 had already died.

32. Katy Perry’s first album, a gospel album released under her given name, Katy Hudson, was a flop and sold less than 200 copies before her record label shut down.

33. The nation of Barbados has a Rihanna Day on February the 22nd to celebrate its most famous celebrity.

34. Aretha Franklin's voice was designated a natural resource by the State of Michigan in 1985.

35. Whitney Houston lip-synced her 1991 Super Bowl rendition of the U.S. National Anthem. The performance is frequently considered one of the best anthems in history but her microphone was turned off and a pre-recorded version was played.

Diana Ross, who famously sang “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, lost her ex-husband to a mountain climbing accident.

37. Barbra Streisand constructed a 19th-century style shopping mall in her basement so that she can go out “shopping” for dolls, sweets, and gowns.

38. Dolly Parton once went to a Dolly Parton lookalike contest and she ended up losing to a man dressed like her.

39. When Adele was shooting the music video for her song “Hello”, she had such a hard time looking into the camera that the camera guy had to dangle a cute stuffed toy above the lens and then she could not help but look at it.

40. The disco hit and gay anthem “It’s Raining Men” was co-written by Paul Schaffer and was originally offered to Diana Ross, Donna Summer, Cher, and Barbra Streisand before being accepted by The Weather Girls.