Биография

Perhaps best known for her collaborations with Lady Gaga, be it through their club nights, costume design, or as her tour DJ and opening act, Lady Starlight also carved out a name for herself on the underground dance scene with no-nonsense, Detroit-inspired techno, as heard on 2017's Untitled EP. Born Colleen Martin in 1975 and raised in upstate New York, Martin had been experimenting with music alongside her older brother and embracing the more eclectic side of punk and dance music since the age of four. After moving to New York City in 2001, she adopted the moniker Lady Starlight -- in reference to the Sweet song of the same name -- and became a regular of the club scene, starting her own parties which paid tribute to '70s glam rock nights in Los Angeles. Her version of English Disco and rock night Heavy Metal Soundhouse became the go-to parties, and in 2007 she met the then-undiscovered Lady Gaga. Hitting it off instantly, the pair collaborated over the next couple of years, putting on musical revues and burlesque shows, such as New York Street Revival and Trash Dance and Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue. Becoming an integral part of Gaga's development as an artist, Starlight became an invaluable source of inspiration, helping design costumes and live shows, while also becoming Gaga's own DJ for tours and shows. Starlight also developed her own hardware-only live techno set which she took on tour in 2014 as the opening act for Gaga's ArtRave tour. With a stop at the Birmingham arena, Starlight performed her opener while also announcing that she was excited to be in the hometown of techno icon Surgeon. By pure coincidence, Surgeon happened to be in the audience. and after a meeting backstage, the pair hit it off and just a couple of weeks later, they performed together at the Paris stop of the tour. At the same time Starlight dropped her first release, "Operator," the digital-only single featured the driving techno that she'd been pushing in her live sets, but it wouldn't be until 2017 that her next single would be released. A move to Berlin, numerous live shows with Surgeon, and an immersion in the underground techno scene saw her connect with Lucy, who put out the Untitled EP on his Stroboscopic Artefacts label. 2018 saw her release the thudding, Detroit-inspired EP Which One of Us Is Me? on Figure while also playing select live dates across Europe, Asia, and the U.S. A second EP for the label, W, appeared in 2019. ~ Rich Wilson, Rovi