Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson(born October 25, 1984), known by her stage name Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Perry was born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson in Santa Barbara, California Perry has Portuguese, German, Irish, and English ancestry. She is the second child of two pastors. She has an older sister named Angela Hudson and younger brother named David Hudson. Perry's mother's aunt and uncle were screenwriter Eleanor Perry and director Frank Perry.
Perry was incorporated into her parents' ministry and sang in their church between the ages of 9 and 17.She grew up listening to gospel music, was not allowed to listen to what her mother called "secular music", and attended Christian schools and camps. As a child, Perry learned how to dance in a recreation building in Santa Barbara. She was taught by seasoned dancers and began with swing, Lindy Hop, and jitterbug. She took her GED after her first year at Dos Pueblos High School and decided to leave school in the pursuit of a career in music. Perry initially started singing "because [she] was at that point in [her] childhood where [she] was copycatting [her] sister and everything she [would do]." Her sister practiced with cassette tapes, while Perry took the tapes herself when her sister was not around. She rehearsed the songs and performed them in front of her parents, who suggested she take vocal coaching. She grabbed the opportunity and began taking lessons at the age of nine and continued until she was sixteen. She later enrolled in at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, and studied Italian opera for a short period of time.
When Perry was 15, her singing in church attracted the attention of rock veterans from Nashville, Tennessee, who brought her there to polish her writing skills. In Nashville, Perry started recording demos and was taught by country music veterans how to craft songs and play guitar. Perry signed to the Christian music label Red Hill, under which she recorded her first album at the age of 15. Performing as Katy Hudson, she released a self-titled gospel rock album in 2001. She supported this album with The Strangely Normal Tour, accompanied by Phil Joel, LaRue, Luna Halo, Earthsuit and V Enna. The album was unsuccessful as the label ceased operations at the end of 2001. She later changed her surname to Perry, her mother's maiden name, because "Katy Hudson" was too close to film actress Kate Hudson.
At the age of 17, Perry left her home for Los Angeles, where she worked with Glen Ballard on an album for Island Records. Growing up listening to mostly gospel music, Perry had few references when she began recording songs. Asked by the producer with whom she would like to collaborate, Perry had no idea. That night, she went with her mother to a hotel. Inside, she turned on VH1 and saw producer Glen Ballard talking about Alanis Morissette; Ballard produced Morissette's Jagged Little Pill, which had a "huge influence" on Perry. She expressed interest in working with Ballard to her initial collaborator, who arranged a meeting for her with Ballard in Los Angeles. Perry presented one of her songs to Ballard. Ballard then helped Perry develop her songwriting over the next few years. The album was due for release in 2005, but Billboard reported it also went nowhere. Perry was dropped by The Island Def Jam Music Group. Some of Perry and Ballard's collaborations included "Box", "Diamonds" and "Long Shot", were posted on her official MySpace page. "Simple", one of the songs she recorded with Ballard, was released on the soundtrack to the 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. "Long Shot" and "I Do Not Hook Up" was later recorded by Kelly Clarkson for her 2009 album All I Ever Wanted.
Perry signed to Columbia Records in 2004. However, the label was not amenable with her vision, not putting her in the "driver's seat".Instead, one of Columbia's ideas was to pair Perry with the record production team The Matrix, who was working on an album, to serve as its female vocalist. Although the album was later shelved, she caught the attention of the music press: Her burgeoning music career led to her being named "The Next Big Thing" in October 2004 by Blender magazine. With no album project ongoing, Perry began recording her own. Eighty percent completed, however, Columbia decided not to finish it and dropped her from the label. While waiting to find another label, she worked in an independent A&R company called Taxi Music. In 2006, Perry was featured in the tail-end of the video to P.O.D.'s single "Goodbye for Now". She made a cameo appearance in Carbon Leaf's video, "Learn to Fly".
While in the process of being
dropped by Columbia in 2006, the company's publicity executive Angelica
Cob-Baehler enthusiastically recommended Perry to Virgin Records chairman Jason
Flom. At the time Flom was leading a complete revival in fortunes at the label
and looking to crown recent achievements by breaking a global pop act. Despite
mixed reactions from fellow Virgin executives, Flom became convinced that Perry
could be that breakthrough star, and at the start of 2007 extended discussions
with Columbia resulted in Perry signing to the newly created Capitol Music
Group, a merger between Virgin and Capitol. As part of the deal, the label
secured the masters to the unfinished album, recorded while at Columbia, that would
go on to form a significant part of her official mainstream debut album, One
of the Boys.
The Columbia recordings were
seen by Flom as being "very strong but lacking an undeniable smash or two
that would work both at U.S. pop radio and internationally" and so one of
the executive's first actions after completing the signing was to set up a
collaboration between Perry and the writer-producer Dr. Luke. The results were
the songs "I Kissed a Girl" and "Hot n Cold". Establishing
her image was one of the immediate concerns of her management. A campaign was
started in November 2007 with the release of the video to "Ur So
Gay", aimed at introducing her to the music market. A digital EP
led by "Ur So Gay" was later released to create online buzz and press
story. This was a successful move that resulted in bringing Perry to the
attention of Madonna, who mentioned her on KISS FM and KRQ's JohnJay &
Rich morning show in Arizona. On March 10, 2008, she appeared as herself on
the ABC Family television series, Wildfire, on the episode "Life's
Too Short".
In the next step of promoting
the album, Perry undertook a two-month tour of radio stations. The album's official
lead single, "I Kissed a Girl", was released on May 6, 2008.
Perry's A&R, Chris Anokute, told HitQuarters
the song and its controversial theme had met with strong resistance at the
label: "People said, 'This is never going to get played on the radio. How
do we sell this? How’s this going to be played in the bible belt?Anokute said
that they needed the support of one of the label's radio promoters to convince
people to believe in the record; otherwise, Perry would have likely been
dropped again. Capitol's SVP of Promotions, Dennis Reese, saw the vision and
helped push the single on national radio. The first station to pick it up and
take a chance was The River in Nashville, which was ironically located in the
Bible Belt. After playing it for three days they were innundated with
enthusiastic calls. With the song climbing atop the charts, Perry embarked on
the annual Warped Tour music festival, which her management used to "establish
her as a credible performer and make sure she wasn't seen as just a one-hit
wonder." The single was a commercial success, peaking at number one for
seven weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. It has since become a major
worldwide hit, topping charts in 30 countries, including Australia, Canada, and
the United Kingdom. On June 12, 2008, Perry appeared as herself on the daytime
soap opera The Young and the Restless, posing for the cover to the June
2008 issue of the fictional magazine Restless Style. Perry also
performed backing vocals on the song, "Another Night in the Hills"
from Gavin Rossdale's 2008 solo album Wanderlust.
One of the Boys was released on June 17, 2008, to
mixed critical reviews. The album has reached number nine on the Billboard
200, and has been certified platinum by
the Recording Industry Association of America. Perry released her second
single, "Hot n Cold", which became her second top three single in
dozens of countries around the world, including the United States where it
reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as topping the
charts in Germany, Canada, and Denmark. After Perry wrapped up her appearance
at the Warped Tour, she went on tours in Europe. She later launched her first
headlining tour, the Hello Katy Tour, in January 2009. "I Kissed a
Girl" earned Perry a nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at
the 2009 Grammy Awards. Perry was nominated in five categories at the 2008 MTV
Video Music Awards, including Best New Artist and Best Female Video, but lost to
Britney Spears. She won Best New Act at the 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards, which
she co-hosted, and Best International Female Artist at the 2009 BRIT Awards. On
February 9, 2009, both "I Kissed a Girl" and "Hot n
Cold" were certified three-time platinum by Recording Industry Association
of America for individual digital sales of over three million. The Guinness
Book of World Records recognized Perry in its 2010 version as the "Best
Start on the US Digital Chart by a Female Artist," for having her first
two singles sell over two million digital copies.
On May 16, 2009, Perry performed at
the opening ceremony of the annual Life Ball in Vienna, Austria. In June 2009,
lawyers acting for Perry opposed the then-recent trademark of Australian
fashion designer Katie Perry, who uses her own name to market loungewear. Some
media outlets reported this as a lawsuit, which Perry denied on her blog. Katie
Perry reported on her blog that at a hearing with IP Australia on July 10,
2009, the singer's lawyers withdrew their opposition to the trademark. During
the summer of 2009 Perry filmed a cameo appearance for Get Him to the Greek;
her scene, in which she kisses her future fiancé Russell Brand was cut, and
does not appear in the final film. Discussing the issue with MTV, Perry
hypothesized there may have been some fear that seeing the two make out would
have taken viewers out of the experience. In 2009, Perry was featured on two
singles: in August, a remix of Colorado-based band 3OH!3's song "Starstrukk" and, thereafter, in December, on "If We Ever Meet Again", the
fourth single from Timbaland's album Shock Value II. In October 2009,
MTV Unplugged revealed that Perry was one of the artists to perform for
them, and that she would be releasing a live album of the performance,
including two new tracks, "Brick by Brick" and Fountains of Wayne
cover "Hackensack". The album, released on November 17, included both
a CD and a DVD, and debuted at No. 168 on the US Billboard 200 chart.
Perry is known for her unconventional style of dress. It is often humorous,
bright in color, and reminiscent of different decades, and she frequently uses
fruit-shaped accessories, mainly watermelon, as part of her outfits. Perry's
transformation into an artist began with fashion, inspired by American film
actress Dominique Swain's portrayal in the 1997 film Lolita. She defines her fashion style as "a
bit of a concoction of different things".Her fashion has caught the
attention of designers. In June 2008, a publicity photo that showed Perry
posing with a switchblade was criticized. The picture was
defended as only an effort to give Perry a "sexy, harder edge". The
criticism leveled at her was mocked by Perry who subsequently posed with a
spoon instead. She was ranked 7th in Rolling Stone's
global Queen of Pop
poll in July 2011. Perry is also a gay activist.
According to Dosomething.org, Perry had stated "I am a gay activist and I
say that proudly. I voted no on Prop 8
(California’s Nov. 4, 2008, amendment declaring that marriage is defined as a
union solely between a man and a woman), of course.
Perry has had relationships
with Gym Class Heroes frontman Travie McCoy,
whom she met in a recording studio in New York, breaking up in December 2008; Relient K
frontman Matt Thiessen, with whom she worked on her
album Teenage Dream and
British comedian Russell Brand.
Perry first met Brand in the
summer of 2008 when she filmed a cameo appearance for Brand's film Get Him to the Greek. Although the
cameo ultimately did not make it into the final cut of the movie, Perry later
noted that the "scene called for me to make out with him...And on the way down
the stairs after the scene, I was hopping like a bunny. I hop like a bunny when
I'm happy".Perry and Brand began dating after meeting again in September
2009 at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, where Brand,
as host, remarked, "Katy Perry didn't win an award and she's staying at
the same hotel as me, so she's gonna need a shoulder to cry on. So in a way,
I'm the real winner tonight." The couple became engaged in December 2009
while vacationing in India. At the time, Perry stated that she had plans to
take dual British citizenship. "One of the first
things I'll do is apply for dual
citizenship. I'm not too sure if I have to take a test as I've not
had time to look into it. But England is like my second home".In an August
2010 interview with Rolling Stone, Perry also noted that, "I am
sensitive to Russell taking the Lord's name in vain and to Lady Gaga putting a rosary in her
mouth. I think when you put sex and spirituality in the same bottle and shake
it up, bad things happen." Perry and Brand married on October 23, 2010, in
a traditional Hindu
ceremony
near the Ranthambhore tiger sanctuary in Rajasthan,
India, the same location where Brand proposed.
After 14 months of marriage,
Brand filed for divorce from Perry on December 30, 2011, in Los Angeles, citing
irreconcilable differences. The
announcement of the divorce followed media speculation that the couple was
having marital problems, including an Us Weekly
report that they had got into a "massive fight" and spent Christmas
2011 on opposite sides of the globe, with Perry in Hawaii and Brand in London,
both without their wedding rings. After Perry and Brand reached an agreement on
financial issues, a judge granted the divorce request in February 2012. The
divorce became effective in July 2012 following a mandatory six-month waiting
period.
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