Lady Gaga: 'I don't know who I'd be without David Bowie'

Lady Gaga has labelled her Grammy Award tribute to David Bowie the most difficult thing she has ever done.

The 29-year-old singer got a standing ovation from the star-studded audience at Los Angeles' Staples Center after her incredible performances of some of the late singer's most famous tracks such as Space Oddity, Heroes and Let's Dance.

Dressed as Bowie's alter ego Ziggy Stardust, Gaga's set was peppered with special effects and props which made it even more visually stunning.

Living up to expectations was something Gaga was somewhat nervous about though, because Bowie, who died last month (Jan16) following a secret battle with cancer, was such a huge inspiration to her both personally and professionally.

"When I was 19 years old... I started to live my life like him," she told The Associated Press prior to the performance. "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.

"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."

In order to further honour Bowie, Gaga decided to get a tattoo of the singer's likeness. While the inking is anything but understated, Gaga said it's something she has been considering for a while, and the Grammy Awards was the perfect opportunity to go under the needle.

"I've been wanting to get one for a long time," she explained. "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.

"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."