Her singing caught the attention of rock artists Steve Thomas and Jennifer Knapp from Nashville, Tennessee, who brought her there to improve her writing skills. Perry completed her General Educational Development (GED) requirements early at age 15, during her first year of high school, and left Dos Pueblos High School to pursue a music career. Her brother David described her as a “tomboy” during her adolescence, which Perry talks about on her song “One of the Boys”. She performed the tracks in front of her parents, who let her take vocal lessons like Angela was doing at the time. While not strictly identifying as religious, she has stated, “I pray all the time – for self-control, for humility.” Wanting to be like her sister Angela, Perry began singing by practicing with her sister’s cassette tapes.
Artistry
According to Billboard, she is the 15th most successful dance club artist of all time. She performed at three rallies for Obama, in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Wisconsin, singing a rendition of “Let’s Stay Together” as well as a number of her songs. Following the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in June 2016, Perry and nearly 200 other artists and executives in music signed an open letter organized by Billboard addressed to United States Congress demanding increased gun control in the United States. It stated Perry “did more than just break chart records. She was one of the driving forces behind the sound of pop radio in the 2010s” for her tracks that were “glossy, booming, sugary-sweet, and undeniably catchy”. In August 2019, Josh Kloss, Perry’s co-star in the “Teenage Dream” music video, accused her of sexual misconduct.
Celebrity Relationship Timelines
Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Lando norris leads the alpinestars formula one charge in the american grand prix in texas Lando norris resists oscar piastri to head alpinestars formula one 1-2 in hungary
- A campaign was started with the November 2007 release of the video to “Ur So Gay”, a song aimed at introducing her to the music market.
- When Glaze admitted that he had never kissed a girl (a reference to Perry’s song “I Kissed a Girl”), she gestured for him to come up to her for a kiss on the cheek but then kissed him on the lips.
- Its third single, “Swish Swish”, featured Nicki Minaj and followed the next month.
- Perry’s initial efforts at mainstream stardom were fruitless, with two separate record labels signing and subsequently dropping her before any material was released.
After recording the stripped-down live album MTV Unplugged (2009), Perry returned to the studio. She made a greater splash several months later with the single “I Kissed a Girl,” an assertive ode to sexual curiosity backed by a hard-edged electro-pop beat. Perry’s initial efforts at mainstream stardom were fruitless, with two separate record labels signing and subsequently dropping her before any material was released. By then, however, Hudson had found new musical models in such rock artists as Freddie Mercury and Alanis Morissette, whom she had discovered through friends.
Perry maintained her grip on the mainstream with her next release, Prism (2013), which produced, among other hits, the anthemic “Roar.” Her 2016 single “Rise” was featured in television coverage of that year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Nevertheless, the combination of titillation and polished melodicism helped “I Kissed a Girl” become a number one hit in multiple countries, powering sales for her album One of the Boys (2008). The song quickly stirred controversy, as some critics derided it for promoting same-sex relations and others charged that the racy scenario it depicted catered to male fantasies of female sexuality. She soon moved to Los Angeles to pursue success in the secular music realm, adopting her mother’s maiden name, Perry, to avoid confusion with the actress Kate Hudson.
Outside of recording music, Perry appeared as herself in the film Zoolander 2, which was released in February 2016. The show’s creators Benj Pasek and Justin Paul had requested Perry to cover the song to promote the musical’s national tour. Perry subsequently recorded a cover of the Dear Evan Hansen song “Waving Through a Window” for the deluxe edition of the cast recording, which was released on November 2, 2018. The album, titled Witness, was released on June 9, 2017, to mixed reviews, and debuted at number one in the United States.
2006: Career beginnings, Katy Hudson, and Fingerprints
The dance-inspired Prism (2013) spawned two U.S. number-one singles, “Roar” and “Dark Horse”, with their respective music videos making Perry the first artist to have multiple videos reach one billion views on Vevo and YouTube. Katy ripped the Band-Aid and hard launched her relationship with Trudaddy—the internet’s words, not mine—by sharing an adorable carousel with photos and videos from their recent time together in Tokyo. With its bouncy, sharp-tongued second single, “Hot N Cold,” also proving popular, the album—much of which Perry wrote herself—eventually registered sales of more than three million copies in the United States.
On February 10, 2017, Perry released the album’s lead single “Chained to the Rhythm” featuring Skip Marley. Perry released a mobile app titled Katy Perry Pop in December 2015 through Glu Mobile where her character helps players become famous musicians. Perry also made a cameo appearance in the music video for Madonna’s song “Bitch I’m Madonna” in June 2015. On November 23, 2015, Perry starred in H&M’s holiday advertising campaign, for which she wrote and recorded a song titled “Every Day Is a Holiday”. Prior to ending her relationship with Mayer in 2014, she recorded and co-wrote a duet with him titled “Who You Love” for his album Paradise Valley. “Dark Horse” with Juicy J was released as the album’s third single in December, and became her ninth U.S. number-one single the following month.
She recorded background vocals on P.O.D.’s single “Goodbye for Now”, was featured at the end of its music video in 2006, and performed it with them on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. One of the songs she had recorded for her album with Ballard, “Simple”, was featured on the soundtrack to the 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Perry signed with Red Hill Records and recorded her debut album, a contemporary Christian record titled Katy Hudson, which was released on March 6, 2001.
What are some of Katy Perry’s popular singles?
In one photo, the couple smiled for an outdoor selfie. “During his time as prime minister, we met multiple times as fellow leaders, and when I visited Canada, we worked together to strengthen bilateral relations, including formulating the ‘Japan-Canada Action Plan,’ sweating it out side by side,” he continued. Perry and Trudeau posed with former Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife in a photo posted to social media on Thursday by the former Japanese leader. A source told People on Nov. 19 that the couple is seriously enjoying their time together. “Former Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau visited Japan with his partner and joined my wife and me for lunch,” Kishida captioned a group photo of him and his wife with Katy and Justin. As if we needed more proof of their relationship at this point, Katy also included a video of Justin lovingly gazing at her while trying a piece of sushi at a restaurant.
Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom making daughter a ‘priority’ amid split: Reps
The track was also streamed over three million times on Spotify within 24 hours, breaking the music streaming service’s record at the time for the highest first-day streaming for a single track by a female artist. While critics often disparaged Perry’s songs as vapid, the music industry was generally kinder, rewarding her with several Grammy Award nominations, including album of the year for Teenage Dream. In Brazil, Perry has 15 songs certified Diamond or higher by Pro-Música Brasil (PMB), and in Italy, the Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI) listed her as the 98th most certified music artist since the certification database became available in 2009. According to RIAA, Perry is the thirteenth top digital singles artist in the United States, with 121.5 million certified song units in the country including on-demand streams and also has 19 million certified album units, totaling 140.5 million certified units in the United States. With more than 151 million records sold worldwide, Perry is one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
In 2022, Elle dubbed her as “the kitsch-loving pop star renowned for her uniquely experimental style”, while Vogue described her style as “synonymous with outrageous, eye-catching ensembles that lean towards the theatrical”. Perry was placed at number one on the Maxim Hot 100 in 2010 as the “most beautiful woman in the world”, with editor Joe Levy describing her as a “triple – no quadruple – kind of hot”. As of September 2025, she was the second-most followed woman on the site, with over 104 million Twitter followers, and the sixth most followed musician across social media with a combined total of over 377 million followers across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Keith Caulfield of Billboard stated that Perry is “the rare celebrity who seems to have enormous popularity but genuine ground-level interaction with her adoring KatyCats”. She received a Guinness record for most Twitter followers, and became the first person to gain 100 million followers on the site in June 2017. Darren Harvey of musicOMH compared Perry’s vocals on One of the Boys to Alanis Morissette’s, both possessing a “perky voice shifting octaves mid-syllable”.
Perry’s music has been described by Out as having a “lasting legacy”, with American singers Fletcher sampling “I Kissed a Girl” and Olivia Rodrigo referencing Teenage Dream on “Brutal”. He also said her management prevented him from speaking about his time with the singer. When Glaze admitted that he had never kissed a girl (a reference to Perry’s song “I Kissed a Girl”), she gestured for him to come up to her for a kiss on the cheek but then kissed him on the lips.
- With more than 151 million records sold worldwide, Perry is one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
- On January 5, 2012, Perry was named the sixth best-selling digital artist in the United States, with sales of 37.6 million units according to Nielsen SoundScan.
- The carousel also featured a video of the couple eating together — and looking into each other’s eyes.
- The family struggled financially, sometimes using food stamps and eating food from the food bank which also fed the congregation at her parents’ church.
The Guinness World Records recognized her in its 2010 edition as the “Best Start on the U.S. Digital Chart by a Female Artist”, for digital single sales of over two million copies. Perry embarked on her first headlining world tour, the Hello Katy Tour, from January to November 2009 to support One of the Boys. That September, a limited-edition Katy Perry doll was produced by Integrity Toys in response to her growing popularity. As a symbol of their commitment to one another, he gave her a diamond promise ring before pin up casino the tour, and he wore a ring with “Katy” inscribed on it.
As a teenager, she learned to play the guitar and sought a musical career in Nashville with a Christian record label, but her debut album, the gospel-influenced Katy Hudson (2001), sold poorly. Katy Perry (born October 25, 1984, Santa Barbara, California, U.S.) is an American pop singer who gained fame for a string of anthemic and often sexually suggestive hit songs, as well as for a playfully cartoonish sense of style. In addition, Perry is the only artist to have three songs selling six million digital downloads, with “Firework” selling 7 million, “Roar” at 6.11 million, and “Dark Horse” at 6.08 million according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Early life and debut album
Her popular singles include “I Kissed a Girl,” “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” “Roar,” and “Rise.” Katy Perry’s popular singles include “I Kissed a Girl,” “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” “Roar,” and “Rise.” Perry is among the wealthiest musical artists; during September 2023, Forbes surmised her net worth was $340 million. In Canada, Teenage Dream was the eighth best-selling album of the 2010s, and it was certified Diamond by Music Canada, along with seven of her singles. Elsewhere, “Roar” has become Australia’s fourth most certified single of all time (22-times Platinum) according to the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Her new certification for “Roar” joined her previously Diamond-certified songs “Dark Horse” and “Firework”.
Perry collaborated with the tech company Apple Inc. starring in advertisements for their GarageBand music software where users could have “Remix Sessions” featuring her song, “Harleys in Hawaii”. Four months later, she released a new single, “Electric”, a collaboration with Pokémon as part of its 25th anniversary. Additionally she collaborated with various artists to create two remixes of Smile album tracks. In June 2019, Perry appeared in the music video of Taylor Swift’s “You Need to Calm Down”. She also recorded the song “Immortal Flame” for the game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, and had a playable character modeled after her.
She’s trying to keep it low-key, and they’ve spent a lot of private time together,” a second source told Us in October, after the pair celebrated Perry’s birthday in Paris. “They wereplanning on making the Westcott home their family home but plans have changed” and “have been living apart since Katy has been on tour.” Katy is of course upset but is relieved to not have to go through another divorce, as that was the worst time in her life.” “Katy and Orlando have split but are amicable,” a source close to the pair exclusively told Us Weekly at the time.
From May 2010 to September 2011, the singer spent a record-breaking 69 consecutive weeks in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. Abbott had dialed in to a talkback segment on Sydney radio station 2Day FM to ask Perry when she would return to Australia for a full tour. Perry identifies as a feminist, and appeared in April 2013 in a video clip for the “Chime for Change” campaign that aimed to spread female empowerment. In June 2014, she teamed up with Staples Inc. for a project entitled “Make Roar Happen” which donated $1 million to DonorsChoose, an organization that supports teachers and funds classroom resources in public schools.
