Source link : https://las-vegas-news.com/4-pop-stars-who-were-rejected-by-record-labels/
Every chart-topping career has a version of itself that almost didn’t happen. Before the sold-out arenas and platinum plaques, plenty of now-famous names sat across a desk from an executive who said no. Some of those rejections came quietly, others became industry legend, but each one shaped the artist who eventually broke through.
Lady Gaga and her three months at Def Jam
In 2006, a then-unknown singer named Stefani Germanotta signed a solo deal with Def Jam Recordings after record executive L.A. Reid was ready to sign her on the spot after she auditioned accompanying herself on piano. The excitement didn’t last. L.A. Reid was the chairman of Def Jam Records in 2006 when Gaga was signed to the label, but she was dropped just three months later.
Gaga later described the experience in painfully personal terms. She said that after he signed her, he never met with her, and she used to wait outside his office for hours hoping he’d take meetings about her songs, but it never happened, and he eventually dropped her after three months. She has called it one of the worst days of her life, and years later even said that the music video for one of her singles was about the day she was dropped by her first label, Island Def Jam. Reid himself later admitted it was tough dropping Lady Gaga and then watching her become a wildly successful, iconic figure who changed the course of music. Within a couple of…
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Author : Matthias Binder
Publish date : 2026-08-13 08:31:00
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