Katy Perry

Katy Perry ( born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson) was born October 25, 1984 in Santa Barbara, CA and grew up with an older sister and younger brother in her parents’ “evangelical, with a heavy Pentecostal flavor” ministry, visiting Christian school, Christian camp and going to church several times a week. Katy wasn’t allowed to listen to “secular music” as her mother put it, when she was a child. Katy’s growing up environment wasn’t typical of a future pop star. “It was kind of an island,” Katy said in her interview for Blender Magazine in October 2008. “We spoke in tongues. We knew there was this one way, and all the other ways were wrong.”

Katy started singing in early age and was singing practically everywhere. “My dad would give me ten dollars, which is a lot of money when you’re nine, to sing at church, on tables at restaurants, at family functions, just about anywhere,” she says.

When growing up, Katy wasn’t “a typical Christian”, mentioning that she had done “lots of bad things” during her adolescence. Katy began going out drinking when she hit her teens. “I started spending Sunday mornings crying and hung over. Because crying is what you do when you’re hung over. So my dad started telling me about when he was my age,” she said in the interview. He actually helped her put her life right, so now Katy is very protective of her parents’ beliefs though she doesn’t share them anymore.

It would have probably taken her much longer to start her musical career if Katy didn’t find a Queen cd at one of the slumber parties. “…and the heavens opened and saved me. From then on, they have been my biggest influence. Their musicality and lyrics were so flamboyant and real. I’d never heard anything like it.”

Among her other music influences Katy Perry names Beach Boys, Heart, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Alanis, Imogen Heap, Gwen S, Rufus Wainwright and “anyone who is heavily influencable.”

Nevertheless, religious music was still a big part of Katy’s life and she even released Katy Hudson, a Christian album, in 2001.


Getting famous

Katy Perry moved to Los Angeles in 2003 right after graduating from high school and turning 18. She decided to pursue a musical career when she was 15. She spent some time in Nashville working with professional songwriters and doing her own first steps in songwriting.

At 17, Perry met legendary producer & songwriter Glen Ballard who helped her develop her talent. “I think people can appreciate a songwriter who shows different sides. The whole angst thing is cool, but if that’s all you’ve got, it’s just boring. Everything I write, whether it’s happy or sad, has a sense of humor to it,” Katy Perry once said.

In 2004 Perry cooperated with the record production team The Matrix who’d previously worked with Avril Lavigne, Hilary Duff, Korn, and other big names. Perry was to be one of the group’s two singers on the Matrix’s album that was due for release in 2005. Perry was writing songs with Glen Ballard, with some of them released on Perry’s official MySpace page. One of the tracks was included into the soundtrack of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005). The album has never been released but it became a launch pad for Katy Perry’s career. In 2004 she appeared in Blender’s write-up being called “The Next Big Thing!” while Teen People dubbed her “One to Watch.”

In 2006, Perry appeared on P.O.D.’s single, ‘Goodbye for Now’. Her songs could be heard on The Hills (‘Self Inflicted’, ‘Waking Up in Vegas’ and ‘Thinking of You’) , Fight Girls and Baby Mama (‘Fingerprints’) in 2008. She did cameos in the video for her boyfriend’s Gym Class Heroes’ ‘Cupid’s Chokehold,’ that has been viewed on YouTube more than 18 million times.
In 2007 she graced ads for Too-Faced Cosmetics’ Spring 2007 line.

Virgin Records CEO Jason Flom, who was the head of Capitol Music Group heard Perry’s songs and liked them, so she signed to Capitol Music Group in early 2007. “I’ve been through a lot of highs and a lot of lows in this business. Last year was tough. I’d write a check for my rent and next to it, I’d write, ‘Please, God, please.’ But I didn’t jump off the Hollywood sign. Everything always works out for the best,” Perry confessed.

Katy’s debut single with the new record company ‘UR So Gay’ generated some online buzz, and her next single from the One of The Boys album, ‘I Kissed a Girl,’ became a breakthrough single, topping the charts in 20 countries with One of the Boys peaking to top ten in America. To support the album that was released on June 17, 2008, Perry joined the Warped Tour that summer and appeared in an episode of The Young and the Restless.

Before hitting big, Katy Perry used to be the opening act for Mika, Puffy AmiYumi, and The Starting as well as having low key acoustic performances in Hotel Café in Hollywood.

“If Avril Lavigne were actually talented, pretty, and had an appealing personality, she’d be Katy Perry. She’s got the whole package!” celeb blogger Perez Hilton wrote of Perry on his website.

“I like to go big! I love pop music, I’m not ashamed, you know? A lot of people are like ‘Ugh, pop music.’ Or major record labels think it’s cool to be indie but my dream as a little girl was to be on the Grammys and to have my record be available to everyone in the whole world,” Katy said in her interview for JustJared.com.