Katy Perry

American singer, songwriter and actress. Born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson in Santa Barbara, California, to Pentecostal pastors Maurice Keith Hudson and Mary Christine Perry. Her parents are born again Christians, each having turned to God after a "wild youth". From ages 3 to 11, Perry often moved across the country as her parents set up churches before settling again in Santa Barbara. She had limited exposure to secular music during her childhood and pursued a career in gospel music as a teenager. Perry signed with Red Hill Records, and released her debut studio album, Katy Hudson, in 2001. She moved to Los Angeles the following year to venture into secular music. After being dropped by The Island Def Jam Music Group and Columbia Records, she signed a deal with Capitol Records in April 2007. Perry rose to fame in 2008 with the release of the singles "I Kissed a Girl" – which had attention-grabbing and somewhat controversial lyrics – and "Hot n Cold" from her second album, a pop rock record titled One of the Boys. Her third album, Teenage Dream (2010), ventured into disco, and contained the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping singles "California Gurls", "Teenage Dream", "Firework", "E.T.", and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" as well as the number-three single "The One That Got Away". The album became the first by a female artist to produce five number-one Billboard Hot 100 songs, and the second overall after Michael Jackson's album Bad (1987). In March 2012, she reissued the album as Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection, which produced the chart-topping singles "Part of Me" and "Wide Awake". Her fourth album, Prism, was released in 2013, and is influenced by pop and dance. It has spawned the number-one singles "Roar" and "Dark Horse". Her songwriting is mostly done in collaboration with others, especially Dr. Luke and Max Martin, and in songs such as "Firework" and "Roar" she stresses themes of self-empowerment and self-esteem. Perry is known for an idiosyncratic and fun-based sense of personal fashion that incorporates bright colors and food-based themes. Her concert performances feature elaborate stagings and costumings. Perry has also made celebrity endorsements and released several perfumes. In July 2012, she released an autobiographical documentary titled Katy Perry: Part of Me, which concentrated on her life as a touring artist. She married Russell Brand on October 23, 2010, in a traditional Hindu ceremony near the Ranthambhore tiger sanctuary in Rajasthan. Brand announced on December 30, 2011, that they were divorcing after 14 months of marriage. Perry later stated that conflicting career schedules and his desire to have children before she was ready led to the end of their marriage, and that he never spoke to her again after sending a text message that he was divorcing her while Brand asserted that he divorced her due to her commercial success and reluctance to engage in activism. She was initially distraught over their divorce, and said that she contemplated suicide. After the marriage ended in 2012, Perry began a relationship with singer John Mayer that August. Perry began a relationship with Orlando Bloom in early 2016, and the couple got engaged on February 14, 2019. Link to Wikipedia biography