LOS ANGELES (NYTimes) - Three hours after the world learnt that Lady Gaga had been nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her work in A Star Is Born, the singer herself found out.

"I've been trying to get some sleep because I'm on showbiz time," she said.

She was in Los Angeles for a few days before her Las Vegas residency resumed, and instead of waking up at just past 5am when the nominations were read, she simply slept in.

"I woke up around 8.30 and I didn't know anything about it," she added.

The first call she placed was to her manager, who broke the good news, "and I just burst into tears".

Referring to the flood of congratulatory text messages, Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, said: "The ones that mean the most to me are the ones that come from my family. These are not Oscar nominations for me; these are Oscar nominations for the Germanottas.

"I come from an Italian-immigrant family, and this feels like a very big win for them. This film was a lot of hard work, and I wouldn't know that hard work if I didn't know the hard work of the lineage of my family."

How would she celebrate her Oscar nomination?

"Well, tonight, I'm very much looking to see my dear friend Elton John play here in Los Angeles for his farewell tour," she said.