There are many things that separate Lady Gaga from everyone else and make her completely unique. Does she also happen to be a part of 10% of the population who are left-handed?
Lady Gaga is left-handed. She’s been repeatedly spotted signing autographs and holding microphones with her left hand. Despite her left-handedness, the “Poker Face” singer learned how to play a right-handed guitar.
Keep reading to learn more about Lady Gaga’s life as a leftie and how it impacted her musical career.
Left-Handed Life
If you’re looking for proof that Lady Gaga is left-handed, you won’t have any trouble finding it. The singer always uses her left hand while signing autographs and holding a microphone, and her Instagram even features several photos that show her applying makeup with her left hand.
Her left-handedness didn’t stop her from learning to play a regular guitar since this instrument requires the use of both hands. Left-handed guitars are available on the market, but they usually come with a higher price tag, and there’s no evidence that Lady Gaga ever owned one.
Lady Gaga’s fans also noticed that the majority of her tattoos are located on the left side of her body. She told The Rolling Stone that this decision has nothing to do with her left-handedness but with a promise she made to her father.
“All of my tattoos are on one side of my body, per my father’s request. He asked that I remain, on one side, slightly normal, so I only have tattoos on my life side. He sees the right as my Marilyn Monroe side and the left as my Iggy Pop side,” explained Lady Gaga.
The singer ended up breaking her promise on several occasions – most notably with her “La Vie En Rose” tattoo. This ink runs the length of her spine, so let’s hope her dad let it slides since it’s located right in the middle of her back.
Lady Gaga’s Handwriting
Lady Gaga’s left-handedness makes her quite unique, and so does her handwriting. The Missing Ink author Philip Hensher analyzed her penmanship for The Guardian and described her as “a massive showbiz star” because she took up an entire page of an autograph book.
Massive loops on certain letters also prompted Hensher to describe the singer as “sexual dynamite” and someone who’s visually creative. He called her handwriting “warmly disorganized” and made an assumption that it belonged to “a good American school student”.
Struggles of Left-Handed Musicians
Lady Gaga never openly discussed her left-handedness and how it impacted her musical aspirations, but some other singers did.
Miley Cyrus is another left-handed pop star who learned how to play the guitar right-handed in her youth. Her father Billy Ray Cyrus, who’s also left-handed, trained her to use her right hand because he didn’t want her to “learn the word backward” and struggle like him.
One of Lady Gaga’s biggest heroes, David Bowie, was also a leftie who played a right-handed guitar. Her style was heavily influenced by the “Space Oddity” singer, and she once told NPR that she feels her “whole career is a tribute to David Bowie.”
Not all famous southpaws in the music industry went down the same road and fully embraced right-handed guitars. Some of the biggest stars in rock history made their mark by playing their biggest hits on left-handed models.
Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, and Paul McCartney were all lefties and often performed on custom left-handed guitars. McCartney said that being a southpaw even came in handy during his time with the Beatles because he could easily access the microphone without being in anyone’s way.
The international success of these musicians proves that being left-handed can be a useful trait. Lefties still face many obstacles when learning to play string instruments, because their left-handed versions aren’t easily available and usually cost more.