Lady Gaga Gives Whitney Houston Grammy Awards Shout-Out

After hatching from her egg and being "Born" onstage, Lady Gaga won the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album for The Fame Monster. Gaga beat out Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Susan Boyle and John Mayer for the big prize.

Taking the stage in a high ponytail, dominatrix-style leather bustier, knee-high boots and sunglasses, Gaga took the trophy from Selena Gomez and her onetime tourmate, New Kid on the Block Donnie Wahlberg.

"Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart to all my fans, all the monsters, watching," she said, clutching her prize. "Thank you to my father, my mother, my beautiful sister, Natalie, I love you."

After thanking family and friends, as well as her managers and record label team, the singer shared a personal message. "I had this dream when I was really young that I could be whoever I wanted to be ... and no matter what I envisioned for myself, that I would do it, no matter who didn't believe in me," she said. "Thank you so much."

Although most of Gaga's acceptance speech was devoted to the people you would imagine, she also had a thank-you for one unexpected person.

"I need to say thank you tonight to Whitney Houston. I wanted to thank Whitney because when I wrote 'Born This Way,' I imagined she was singing it because I wasn't secure enough in myself to imagine I was a superstar. So Whitney, I imagined you were singing 'Born This Way' when I wrote it. Thank you."

Moments before winning the Best Pop Vocal Album Grammy, Gaga performed "Born This Way," the first single off of her May album of the same name. The pop star also took home the prize for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Bad Romance" earlier on Sunday night (February 13).