VIDEO VAULT: Did Lady Gaga Murder Lina Morgana? Or Did She Rip-Off Her Life (Or Both)?

"I guess she finally ran out of Lina material to steal," quipped pop music wags when Lady Gaga swiftly transitioned from being a full-time pop star to being a part-time actress and Tony Bennett's pall bearer. This was just after Gaga's disastrous 2013 "ArtPop" album, which seriously threatened to halt her booming pop music future. 

Yet the road ahead was already paved with "Cheek to Cheek," her collaborative album of jazz standards with Bennett released in 2014, and her first major acting role in "American Horror Story," which started production in 2014. No longer did she have to rely on being an "It Girl" pop star - a precarious occupation for anyone, no matter their talent - while a whole new revenue stream was opened up with acting. 

Canny career moves? Sure, but also creepily pre-meditated insist many early-2000, NYC scenesters, who assert that Gaga's early pop success was heavily reliant on the talent, songwriting skills, and even persona, of Lina Morgana, pictured above, who died in a tragic accident (or committed suicide) (or was murdered) in 2008, right before Gaga's star rose that very same year with the release of her album, "The Fame." 

Of course, Lady Gaga's early career was rife with grabby steals, from Madonna to Grace Jones and more, so it shouldn't be such a huge surprise to anyone to learn that she stole from a close friend after her death. Yet why has Gaga been blocking the release of Morgana's complete music catalog (for years now), which both she and Gaga worked on together? Why is she so curiously mute when reporters have asked her about Morgana and their work together? 

Before Lina's untimely death at only 19 years old, Gaga - formerly Stephanie Germanotto, a plump-ish, early-twenties songwriter and cafe singer who grew up with wealthy NYC parents and went to high school with Nicky Hilton - was hired to help pen songs for Lina. Gaga reportedly idolized Lina and stood in awe on the sidelines as the comparably more beautiful Lina was groomed by record executives for her big break. Then it all ended with that fateful fall, or jump, from the ten-story building. Though not for Gaga. 

Wait, it keeps getting stranger. Lina's name is nowhere to be found on Wikipedia - the site allegedly pulled Lina's bio given constant hacks from Gaga's "Little Monsters" - and, in fact, it's difficult to find any credible information about Lina's life before her death, even on her since shuttered fan website. But wait - no, really - it gets even more bizarre. To this day, Gaga has flat-out refused to allow Lina's recordings written with Gaga to be publicly released (though snippets of some have found their way to YouTube, many of which were written by a trio of writers, including Lina and Gaga), even though Lina's mother has long pleaded with her to do so. Gaga has also never once uttered Lina's name in public. Not once. What is she afraid of?

To be fair, countless artists and pop stars have appropriated the works of other artists, like Madonna, who copied verbatim the looks of Monroe and Dietrich and plenty more (and allegedly stole credit from a host of song writers). The difference, at least between Madonna and Gaga, is that when Madonna appropriates something, she re-jiggers it, and in the process, gives it her own Michigan tough-grrl spin; you'll never mistake Madonna for anyone else, but you might, in many recordings, mistake Gaga for Lina. 

Maybe a case can actually be made that Gaga's very abrupt creative decline was due to the fact that she simply ran out of Lina material to exploit. Or maybe all that appropriating, of Lina, Grace Jones, David Bowie, et al, has finally revealed what many have long suspected, that there really is no there there with Gaga, just smoke and mirrors. In truth, I've enjoyed a lot of Gaga's work, but she lost me on "Artpop," and after learning about Lina, she lost me for good. 

Whatever the true story is about Gaga and Lina - witnesses to Lina's death variously describe her dancing or exercising on the roof before her death, and possibly being "emotionally disturbed" - Lina still cuts a powerful figure. After you sweep away all of the rumors, the scandal and the tall tales concocted by conspiracy-minded whackadoodles (such as "Gaga murdered Lina!" and "Gaga is into devil worship and Lina was her blood sacrifice!"), one very telling fact remains: Lina Morgana was a terrific singer and songwriter, as evidenced by "My Angel," a haunting, beautiful ballad which she wrote without Gaga. Lina deserves to heard - and Gaga should grant the release of the rest of her catalog. But so far, crickets. 

Photo Credits: Instagram, AP, Lina Morgana Fan Facebook