L.A. Reid: 'Dropping Lady Gaga was my biggest mistake'

Music mogul and X Factor judge Antonio 'L.A.' Reid is still sore about dropping Lady Gaga from Island Def Jam.

The record executive insists he hasn't made too many mistakes when it comes to talent, but letting Gaga go is something that continues to nag at him.

Reid says, "Lady Gaga comes into my office, she sits at the piano, she has white go-go boots up to her thighs... and she is unbelievable. She sits there and she plays songs on the piano and sings and she finishes. And I tell her, 'You know what, you are going to change music.'

"About two months later I forgot that I said that and I heard her demo tapes... and I said, 'You know what? This is disgusting and you're disgusting,' and I dropped her... It was the biggest mistake I ever made in my life."

But he's glad Gaga found success with record label rival Jimmy Iovine's Interscope: "Gaga is better off where she is. She’s hugely successful and the truth is, and it may not be the truth but it makes me feel better to think that she probably won’t have been as successful with me."