Linda Perry

Linda Perry(born April 15, 1965) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. She is the lead singer and primary songwriter of4 Non Blondes, including their 1993 hit "What's Up?". She has since founded two record labels and composed and produced songs for other artists, which include: "Beautiful" byChristina Aguilera; "What You Waiting For?" byGwen Stefani; and "Get the Party Started" byPink. Perry also contributed to albums byAdele,Alicia Keys, andCourtney Love, as well as signing and distributingJames Bluntin the United States. Perry was inducted into theSongwriters Hall of Famein 2015.
Perry was born inSpringfield, Massachusettson April 15, 1965.Her father was Alfred Xavier Perry, a musician and engineer ofPortuguese descent. Her mother is Marluce Martins Perry, a model and designer ofBraziliandescent. Growing up in an artistic and musical household, Perry displayed an interest in music from an early age.
She spent her teenage years inSan Diegobefore moving toSan Franciscoin 1986 at the age of 21.
In San Francisco, Perry lived in a small, windowless room, and would play her guitar and sing her own songs on city streets.Third Eye BlindfrontmanStephan Jenkins, who at the time was also a struggling musician living in San Francisco, later recalled sitting in a room with Perry, who worked as a waitress down the street, performing their original compositions to one another. The two played each other early versions of "Semi-Charmed Life" and "What's Up?", both of which would become massive hits for their respective bands. It would be decades later that Jenkins realized the songs performed in that private session would sell a combined 17 million records.
Perry performed solo atBay Areaclubs and coffeehouses, includingNightbreak,Paradise Lounge,DNA Lounge, andThe Kennel Club.
Perry composed her first professional song, entitled "Down On Your Face," and was recruited into the band4 Non Blondesby its founderChrista Hillhousein the middle of 1989.The band established itself in the San Francisco bar scene, especially lesbian bars, gaining a significant lesbian following.In July 1991, the band was signed toInterscope Records.
In 1992, 4 Non Blondes recorded what would be the band's only album,Bigger, Better, Faster, More!, including the song "What's Up?", written by Perry. Unhappy with a re-worked version of the song insisted upon by the album's producer, Perry and the band re-recorded the song like Perry's original demo, with Perry's re-recorded version being used as the final version for the album.In March 1993, "What's Up" was released as the album's second single, reaching number one in 10 countriesand driving the success of the album, which spent 59 weeks on theBillboard200and sold 1.5 million copies between 1992 and 1994.
During the recording of their second album in late 1994, 4 Non Blondes disbanded. Perry cited dissatisfaction with the first albumand ongoing creative disagreements between herself and the band.She has also explained that her sexuality had a part to play in her tensions with the group.
Interscope retained Perry as a solo artist and assembled a production team for her debut album, includingKevin Gilbert,Bill Bottrell, and members of theTuesday Night Music Club, who had recently producedSheryl Crow's debut. Released in 1996,In Flightreceived positive reviews, but was a poor seller. Perry joined Red Fish, Blue Fish for her world tour, supporting such acts as The Who.She promoted her CD with an appearance onThe Howard Stern Show, during which she participated in "lesbiandial-a-date" and performed her former band's only hit single, "What's Up?" Perry also hosted the 1997and 1998Bay Area Music Awards, or "Bammies".
In 1999, she released her second solo album,After Hours, on Rockstar Records, and performed as an opening act forBryan Adams.
Perry had begun acquiring recording equipment, including aTASCAMDA-88recorder,Neumann U 67microphone, andFairchild 670compressor. Curious about the new musical technology behind music she was hearing on the radio, she asked a friend. Based on their input, Perry purchased anAkai MPCsampler, andRolandandKorg Tritonsynthesizers, and taught herself to use them, writing her firstdancesong, "Get the Party Started", in the process. She sent the song toMadonna's managerGuy Oseary, who turned it down.
In 2000, Perry was contacted by pop rock singerPink, seeking production and songwriting assistance on her second album,Missundaztood.Perry co-wrote and produced much of the album, including full writing credits for the songs "Lonely Girl" and "Get the Party Started", which was released as the album'slead singleand became Pink's biggest hit to date. The album's worldwide commercial and critical success brought Perry back into the spotlight as a music producer and songwriter. The following year, Perry produced forChristina Aguileraanother song she had written, "Beautiful", another worldwide commercial success.
In 2003, Perry won twoAmerican Society of Composers, Authors and Publishersawards for her songwriting, and aGrammy Awardsnomination for her song "Beautiful" as a contender for "Song of the Year"; the song received the award forBest Female Pop Vocal Performanceat the46th Annual Grammy Awards.
She collaborated with art-dance duoFischerspooneron a few songs for theirsophomore albumand ended the year with a few co-writing credits on Gwen Stefani's solo debut,Love. Angel. Music. Baby., including the album's first single, "What You Waiting For?" Additionally, herAtlantic-distributed label,Custard Records, was launched to promote two new acts, Sunshine andJames Blunt. She produced and played guitar on the recording of Blunt's song "No Bravery".The year ended with Perry co-writing "Save Me" for the southern California punk rock bandUnwritten Law.
In 2005, Perry re-released her solo albumIn Flight. The same year, she began working with Christina Aguilera on her third studio album,Back to Basics(2006), co-writing with Aguilera every song on the album's second disc. In late 2006 and early 2007, Perry contributed production and songwriting toVanessa Carlton's third studio album,Heroes and Thieves.
Perry won an award from the San Francisco chapter of the Recording Academy for her contribution to the world of music.
Perry signed the groupLittle Fishto her label in 2008 and began producing its album,Baffled and Beat,which was released in August 2010.Also in that same year, she collaborated withDaniel Powterto produce his third studio albumUnder the Radar.
She wrote and produced "A Loaded Smile" forAdam Lambert's debut studio albumFor Your Entertainment(2009). Aguilera's sixth studio album,Bionic, released in 2010, included "Lift Me Up", written and produced solely by Perry.
On November 5, 2010, Perry appeared live in San Francisco with 4 Non Blondes guitar player Roger Rocha at TwentyFifty (formerly CELLSpace). The appearance celebrated the release of Rocha's album with his band The Golden Hearts. Perry performed a solo set of cover tunes, includingRadiohead's "Creep" andSoundgarden's "Black Hole Sun". Perry and Roger Rocha performed one song together, Led Zeppelin's "Since I've Been Loving You".
In June 2010, Perry announced on her Facebook and Twitter profiles that she was "going to make an album" with her new bandDeep Dark Robot, which she founded with Tony Tornay.The album,8 Songs About a Girl, was promoted with the single "Won't You Be My Girl?" Perry imagined the name Deep Dark Robot as part of an ad-libbed song lyric—"deep dark robot falling in love"—and decided to hang onto the name for her next musical project.The band released the album in March 2011 and began touring.
In July 2011, Perry started to publish a set of acoustic cover songs that she recorded with her iPhone, including "Mad World" byTears for Fears, "Just What I Needed" bythe Cars, and "Creep" byRadiohead, among many others. On herFacebookaccount, she wrote: "iPhonesessions are me sitting at my piano an recording song into iPhone voice memo. Then I post it. Very simple enjoy :)"
In 2014, Perry appeared in theVH1reality television showMake or Break: The Linda Perry Project, in which she worked with up-and-coming musicians, likeVanJessand winner Hemming.
Perry was scheduled to appear as thehouse bandin a special series of late night editions ofThe Talkairing the week of January 12, 2015 in the 12:34 am time slot ofThe Late Late Show.
Perry co-wrote a song withAdelefor her 2015 album25titled "Can't Let Go" which was included as a bonus track on theTargetand Japanese editions. Perry played piano, produced and engineered the track.She also wrote the theme song for the filmFreeheldtitled "Hands of Love," performed byMiley Cyrus.
In June 2015, Perry was inducted into theSongwriters Hall of Fameat a ceremony in New York.
In 2018, Perry collaborated withDolly Parton, writing the Golden Globe-nominated "Girl In The Movies" for the Netflix filmDumplin'.
In 2020, Perry co-wrote "A Beautiful Noise" with seven other female writers -Alicia Keys,Brandi Carlile,Brandy Clark,Hillary Lindsey,Lori McKenna,Hailey WhittersandRuby Amanfu- and the song was performed byAlicia KeysandBrandi Carlilewith the purpose of inspiring American voters to vote in the2020 Presidential Election.
In 2017, Perry partnered withKerry Brownto launchWe Are Hear, arecord label,music publisher, andartist management companybased inLos Angeles.Under their leadership, the company has signedrecording artistsNatasha Bedingfield,Imogen Heap,Dorothy, and Willa Amai among others, and collaborated with artistKii Arens.Perry has also co-curated events with We Are Hear such as One Love Malibu festival in 2018, which raised $1 million in relief funds for damage caused by theWoolsey Fire, andThe Art of Elysiumfundraiser Heaven Is Rock & Roll in 2020, featuring the surviving members ofNirvana(Dave Grohl,Pat Smear, andKrist Novoselic) performing alongsideBeckandSt. Vincent, in addition to performances fromCheap Trick,L7, andMarilyn Manson.
Perry moved from San Diego to San Francisco and lived there until 1997, moving toSherman Oaks,Los Angeles.
Perry is alesbian. In 1995, she told a journalist fromThe Advocate, "All my life I've loved women, and that's it. I've never been any other way."Earlier at the 1994 Billboard Music Awards she displayed the slang word "dyke" on her guitar for a performance with 4 Non Blondes.
Perry was in a relationship with actressClementine Fordfrom 2009 to 2010.
Perry began a relationship with actressSara Gilbertin 2011.They announced their engagement in April 2013 and married on March 30, 2014.Gilbert gave birth to their son on February 28, 2015. Perry was the stepmother of Gilbert's son and daughter from a previous relationship with television producerAli Adler.In December 2019, Gilbert filed for legal separation from Perry.
Singles produced or written by Linda Perry