Singer calls for gag order in ongoing court battle between two of her former collaborators
Lady Gaga has attempted to block the release of "sensitive, private and personal information" as part of an ongoing court battle between two of the singer's former collaborators.
According to website TMZ, Gaga has filed a legal request to seal certain details of the ongoing litigation between the talent scout Wendy Starland and Gaga's former producer, Rob Fusari. If certain information were released, her lawyers claimed, it would "inflict significant personal and professional harm upon" the Poker Face star.
Starland and Fusari have been battling in court since 2010, when Starland filed a lawsuit claiming she was owed money from the early part of Gaga's career. In Starland's version of events, Fusari was searching for a "unique female singer, under the age of 25, who could be the female equivalent of the lead singer of the band the Strokes". If Starland found a potential star, Fusari said, they would co-operate on her career and share equally in the revenues.
Starland introduced Fusari to Lady Gaga, then Stefani Germanotta, in 2005. Over the next two years, Fusari and Gaga began dating, wrote songs together and allegedly invented the singer's pop persona. Although they split before Gaga became a superstar, Fusari is believed to have collected a payout – in 2010, they settled a pair of duellingmultimillion-dollar lawsuits. Starland claims she received nothing.
Apparently a judge has yet to rule on Gaga's request to seal court documents. The 27-year-old recently topped Forbes' World's Most Powerful Musicians list, which is based on earnings, social media and press mentions, and is currently completing work on her third studio album, Artpop, while Starland is trying to build her own pop career.