Katy Perry

**Katheryn Elizabeth "Katy" Hudson** (better known by her stage name, **Katy Perry**) is an American singer-songwriter.

Perry served as a guest judge on the seventh series of The X Factor, in 2010.

Her "yes" vote was the decider that allowed Niall Horan to proceed to bootcamp, where he would eventually be placed into One Direction.

Her name-check also appears in One Direction's debut studio album, *Up All Night*'s fifth track, titled the same.

## Early Life

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson was born in Santa Barbara, California, to Mary Christine (née Perry) and Maurice Keith Hudson. Her parents are Christians. Through her mother, she is a niece of film director Frank Perry. She has a younger brother named David, who is a singer, and an older sister, Angela. From ages 3 to 11, Perry often moved across the country as her parents set up churches before settling again in Santa Barbara. Growing up, she attended religious schools and camps. Her family struggled financially, sometimes using food stamps and eating from the food bank intended to feed the congregation at her parents' church.

Perry primarily listened to gospel music. She discovered popular music through CDs she sneaked from her friends. Following her sister Angela, Perry began singing by practicing with her sister's cassette tapes. She performed the tracks in front of their parents, who suggested she take vocal lessons. She began training at age 9, singing in church from ages 9 to 17. At 13, Perry was given her first guitar for her birthday, and publicly performed songs she wrote. She tried to "be a bit like the typical Californian girl" while growing up, and started rollerskating, skateboarding, and surfing as a teenager.

## Career

Perry left high school at age 15 to pursue a musical career. Her first record label was Red Hill Records, where Perry recorded her debut album, the self titled gospel record, *Katy Hudson*. Perry moved to Los Angeles at age 17 and, in 2003, she briefly performed as Katheryn Perry to avoid confusion with actress Kate Hudson. She later merged her stage name into Katy Perry, based on her mother's maiden name.

In 2004, Perry signed to Java Records. After Java Records was dropped, Perry's mentor introduced her to Tim Devine from Columbia Records who signed her as a solo artist. Perry wrote and recorded material with a host of pop producers including Desmond Child, Greg Wells, Butch Walker, Scott Cutler/Anne Previn, The Matrix, Kara DioGuardi, and Max Martin and Dr. Luke. Unfortunately, Perry was dropped from Columbia in 2006. Perry then moved to an independent A&R company called Taxi Music.

After Columbia, Angelica Cob-Baehler, a publicity executive at the label, took Perry's unfinished demos to Virgin Records chairman Jason Flom. Flom signed Perry to Capitol Records in April 2007. The label arranged for Perry to once again work with Dr. Luke. Perry and Dr. Luke then co-wrote "I Kissed a Girl" and "Hot N Cold" for her second album *One Of The Boys*. "I Kissed A Girl" was a worldwide #1 smash. Perry went on to release two more albums and sell over 100 million records worldwide. Her third album, *Teenage Dream*, is only the second album in history to produce five #1 hits, after Michael Jackson's *Bad*. It is also the first album by a female artist to achieve this. Perry performed at the 2015 Super Bowl XLIX halftime show, alongside Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliott. Her performance garnered 118.5 million US viewers, making it the highest rated show in Super Bowl history.

In 2016, Perry released a promotional single for the Olympics, called "Rise" which reached #1 in Australia.

On February 10, 2017, Perry released "Chained to the Rhythm", the lead single for her fifth album, with Skip Marley. It peaked at number four in the United States. Its second single, "Bon Appétit", featured hip hop group Migos and was released on April 28, 2017. The album, *Witness*, was released on June 9, 2017 to mixed reviews but still debuted at number one in the United States. To accompany the album's release, Perry began the "Katy Perry Live: Witness World Wide" livestream on Youtube, which lasted from June 9 to June 12, concluding with a live concert on the final day.

The live stream showed Perry living in a Big Brother style house, and many famous guests stopped by to interact with her. In one special guest segment, Katy received a therapy session, where she broke down in tears claiming she did not want to be "Katy Perry" anymore. The live stream generated over 49 million views from 190 different countries. Her *Witness: The Tour* ran in North America from September 2017 to February 2018. On June 15, Calvin Harris released a song titled "Feels" featuring Perry, Big Sean, and Pharrell Williams from his album *Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1.*Perry released "Swish Swish" as the third official single from *Witness*. The song features rapper Nicki Minaj and appears to be Perry's response to her ongoing feud with Taylor Swift.

Outside of recording music, Perry appeared as herself in the film *Zoolander 2*, which was released in February 2016. In February 2017, the singer launched a shoe line titled "Katy Perry Collections". The following August, she hosted the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards.Perry was signed for a $25-million salary to serve as a judge on ABC's revival of *American Idol*, which premiered in March 2018. Perry began a relationship with Orlando Bloom in early 2016, and the couple got engaged on February 14, 2019.

## Personal Life

Perry dated Gym Class Heroes lead singer, Travie McCoy from 2006 to 2008, and appeared in the band's video for their hit single "Cupid's Chokehold".

Perry met comedian and presenter, Russell Brand, in 2009, whilst filming a cameo for "Get Him To The Greek". They began dating soon after and were married in 2010. Towards the end of Perry's world tour, Perry becomes more depressed and distraught, due to her failing marriage. On the night of her highest recorded attendance for one Brazilian concert, Perry appeared to have ended her relationship with Brand and is reduced to tears shortly before she is due on stage. In 2011, Brand filed for divorce after 14 months of marriage. He would later claims Perry's mainstream success and reluctance to engage in activism as reasons for his leaving.

Perry has since dated producer Diplo, musician John Mayer, and actor Orlando Bloom.

## Discography

* *Katy Hudson*(2001)
* *One of the Boys*(2008)
* *Teenage Dream*(2010)
* *Prism* (2013)
* *Witness* (2017)

## Filmography

* *The Smurfs* (2011)
* *Katy Perry: Part of Me* (2012)
* *The Smurfs 2* (2013)
* *Brand: A Second Coming* (2015)
* *Katy Perry: The Prismatic World Tour* (2015)
* *Katy Perry: Making of the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show* (2015)
* *Jeremy Scott: The People's Designer* (2015)
* *Zoolander 2* (2016)

## Tours

### Headlining

* *Hello Katy Tour* (2009)
* *California Dreams Tour* (2011–12)
* *The Prismatic World Tour* (2014–15)
* Witness: The Tour (2017–2018)

### Co-headlining

* *Strangely Normal Tour* (2001)
* *Warped Tour* (2008)