'Hello, it's Lady Gaga... can I come in?' Errr, NO! Singer sent packing when she knocks on door of former New York home

'Hello, it's Lady Gaga... can I come in?' Errr, NO! Singer sent packing when she knocks on door of former New York home - Lady Gaga finds fame doesn't always open doors when she goes back to visit her old apartment - and the current resident refuses to let her in.

The pop queen - real name Stefani Germanotta - returned to the New York apartment block where she lived for three years before finding stardom for a U.S. TV special.

But her plans to show host Anderson Cooper and the '60 Minutes' crew around her old pad were dashed by the current occupant.

Kncok, knock: Lady Gaga visits her former New York apartment where she once lived before finding fame in a U.S. TV special

Who's there? But the new occupant would not let her in

Gaga knocked on the door of her former apartment and announced: 'Hi, this is Lady Gaga. I was just wondering if I could say, ''Hi.'"

She did not get the response she was expecting though as the resident told her through the door: 'I'd rather not have any cameras.'

'I just wanted to say hi': But the tenant told her and her camera crew to beat it

Look it's my old flat: But fame clearly doesn't open every door

Instead Gaga had to settle for showing Cooper a box of treasured mementos, including the first song she ever wrote aged four, called 'Dollar Bills'.

The Lady Gaga TV special is set to air in America on February 13.

Also scheduled to be released that day was Lady Gaga's new single Born This Way.

But she took to her official Twitter account yesterday to announce to fans she will be releasing the track two days early.

She wrote: 'Can't wait any longer, single coming Friday'.

Lady Gaga was born in New York City and had musical talent from an early age. She moved out of her parent's up-scale Upper East Side home to a New York University dorm room when she was 17 when she enrolled at the school's Tisch School of the Arts.

Snubbed: The singer chatted to Anderson Cooper for a '60 Minutes' TV special

Archives: Instead Gaga had to settle for showing Cooper a box of treasured mementos, including the first song she ever wrote aged four, called 'Dollar Bills'

She was initially signed by Def Jam Recordings in 2005 at age 19 but was dropped by the label after only three months.

Shortly after that she began producing and recording songs and started her own band.

She later moved into the Lower East Side apartment, that she tried to show Anderson Cooper, which she called home for three years while trying to make it in the music industry.

While living there her neighbours apparently thought she was a hooker.

Home: Lady Gaga lived in this building for three years while plotting her rise to fame in the music industry

One of her former neighbours in the building recalls as he moved his sister in the apartment block he asked: 'Did you know there is a prostitute that lives in the building' after seeing Gaga stumbling home at 4am 'wearing, like, nothing'.

Maureen Gallagher, author of a new Gaga biography 'Poker Face', said the apartment was sparsely furnished with a futon, a queen-sized mattress and a cheap record player.

She had a picture of David Bowie over her bed and she'd sit at her kitchen counter with her keyboard and her laptop, working out songs.

'She had a bare-ass apartment,' says her friend Brendan Sullivan, who would go on to work as her DJ. 'It just had turntables, a synth and a couch. It was like a monk's cell - just for work and study.'

First impression: A former neighbour said he thought she was a prostitute because of her odd hours and provocative clothing

Lady Gaga finally got her big break and was catapulted to stardom on the release of her first studio album The Fame in 2008 which produced hit singles Just Dance and Poker Face.

The album Fame Monster a year later produced two more global chart-toppers with Bad Romance and Telephone.

How times have changed: Lady Gaga now lives in a $25,000-a-month mansion in Bel Air, California

She is currently renting a $25,000-a-month mansion in Bel Air, California where she lives with her on-again off-again boyfriend Luc Carl.

Lady Gaga has been nominated for six Grammys and will perform her new track on the show this Sunday. ( dailymail.co.uk )