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Los Angeles - Lady Gaga stole the show at the Grammy Awards on Monday with an extravagant, multimedia David Bowie tribute that befitted the flamboyant rock legend, who died last month.
She blazed through the singer's era-defining hits including Space Oddity, Changes, and Ziggy Stardust, accompanied on guitar by Nile Rodgers, who co-produced Bowie's biggest selling album, Let's Dance.
Gaga set the chaotic tone from the start, appearing in a bright orange wig with the trademark "Aladdin Sane" flash on her face, and affected an odd English accent as a huge spider was projected onto her face.
The singer, known for her brash outfits and sexual candor, is among the contemporary artists most obviously inspired by Bowie, the pioneer of glam rock.
She performed Suffragette City, Rebel Rebel, Fashion, Fame, Under Pressure, and Let's Dance in front of a large LED wall, sporting pink eye shadow and a sparkly jumpsuit.
Gaga, born as Stefani Germanotta, won the longest ovation of the night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles as she finished the medley with Heroes, one of Bowie's best-known songs.
The performance featured special effects provided by chip-maker Intel, including "digital make-up" projected onto her face that enabled her to take on a number of Bowie's iconic looks without leaving the stage.
The company also provided a hologram of Bowie and a gold-colored piano with three robot arms that danced along to Gaga's playing.
Lady Gaga says paying tribute to the late David Bowie at the Grammys is probably the most challenging thing she's done in her career because the icon influenced her greatly and helped shape her identity.
Days before the performance, she said in an interview with The Associated Press that performing in his honour was a bittersweet way to say goodbye to one of her inspirations.
"When I was 19 years old ... I started to live my life like him. I began to consume art and fashion and art history and a combination of those things, performance technique ... and I only hung out with people that were artists and that was the way that he was and I learned that from him," she said.
"What I'm trying to say is there's people that love David Bowie, and then there's David Bowie fans, and there's Bowie kids, who live like him ...and I can't express to you, I don't know who I'd be if I didn't have (him as) a figure in my life. I don't know what my identity would be."
The pop star was already set to perform at the Grammys, but asked to sing in tribute of Bowie after he died. And days before the Grammys, she got a large tattoo of Bowie's face on the side of her body.
"I've been wanting to get one for a long time. I was thinking about how there's a lot of my fans that have Lady Gaga tattoos, some of them are really covered, and I always thought it was so badass the way that they were so committed to my music," she said.
"I have a lot of ink already on my body, different sort of artistic prayers and thoughts and things that mean something to me, but I always wanted to get a tattoo of somebody that changed my life. And he really did."
Watch Lady Gaga's iconic performance here:
