All about Katy Perry
Sassy and savvy, confident and feisty, bright and unpredictable, smart and multi-talented, sarcastic and sensitive, Katy Perry can be different but what is important is that she’s always sincere in everything she does. Katy Perry combines sass and spunk, the cheeky, club-ready pop music of Lily Allen with the commercial pop/rock of Avril Lavigne and Alanis Morissette adding provocative but humorous texts to get what we see topping chart lists everywhere – unique Katy Perry sound. “I don’t care who I’m compared to as long as people listen to the music,” Perry says. Her songs are reflection of her life experience and her emotions, it’s all in there. Love her or hate her, but put music first, that’s all Katy Perry wants.
Before she became famous
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.
International success
Katy Perry’s pop album One of The Boys has smashed charts in the US and the released singles have been topping charts all round the world. Katy Perry is definitely the IT! singer these days meaning she’s busy doing shows, touring in support of her album, and giving interviews. Perry stated once that it’s thanks to successful British singers Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen that more female artists are appearing on the charts. “Usually I find it funny to say I’m like a skinnier version of Lily Allen and a fatter version of Amy Winehouse. It always renders a good chuckle.”
Katy Perry reached the world pop stardom with her 2008 single ‘I Kissed a Girl’ which has become a worldwide hit topping the charts in more than 20 countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and the United States, where it was the 1000th Billboard Hot 100 number 1.
Her second single ‘Hot N Cold’ released September 9, 2008 became Katy’s second top 5 hit in the USA, also reaching number 7 in the UK a month before its physical release, and as of November 2008 the video became the number 2 most viewed video premiere of all time on MySpace. Her album, One of the Boys, became gold in the US, while earlier ‘I Kissed a Girl’ became gold in Germany.
In 2008 Katy has made a series of TV appearances like on March 10, 2008 she appeared as herself on the ABC’s Wildfire (The Life’s Too Short episode), on June 12, 2008 she appeared as herself on The Young and the Restless and on MTV’s Total Request Live. One could also see her on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Last Call with Carson Daly, The View, The Howard Stern Show, So You Think You Can Dance, and others.
In October 2008 she graced the cover of Blender Magazine.
Perry performed at the MTV Latin America “Los Premios Awards”, sang Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin’ at MTV VMA 2008 and hosted and performed at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Liverpool in November 2008.
The same month she performed at the Ondas Awards in Barcelona, dressed up as a flamenco dancer.
Katy also took part in the new adidas promotional ad along David Beckham, Missy Elliot and other celebs to mark the company’s “60 Years of Soles and Stripes.”
On December 1, 2008 Katy Perry showed up at The Ellen Degeneres Show performing her top charts hit ‘Hot N Cold.’
Katy performed songs from her gold certified album One Of The Boys alongside Ludacris and 50 Cent at NBC’s New Year’s Eve with Carson Daly in NYC on December 31, 2008 and then headlined the New Year night performing live right before midnight at Gridlock New Years Eve Party at the Paramount Lot in Hollywood. “It’s gonna be really fun cause I love to party it up on New Years Eve,” Perry told Hollyscoop in early December. In her interview she added she’d already came up with her new year resolutions. “I try to want to be a vegetarian cause I know it would be more of a healthier option for me,” she told. “But I love chicken. I think I am just gonna try and be a healthier person and ya know think about my family more.”
In early 2009 Katy Perry went on her first international headline Hello Katy tour to support her debut record breaking album One of The Boys. The tour kicked off in Seattle on January 23, 2009 and will wrap up in her hometown Santa Barbara in early May. The shows will be held in such venues as The Fillmore in San Francisco, Irving Plaza in New York City, The Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, The Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, Canada, and The Elyseé Montmartre in Paris, France, hitting fifty cities around the world all in all. According to the source, Katy Perry will be joined by Alphabeat on the North American leg of the tour and 3Oh!3 (who she toured with in summer 2008 during the Warped Tour) for all European dates.
Katy Perry performed at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards singing ‘I Kissed A Girl.’ “It’s a little 1940s Folies Bergère/ Rockette [style],” Katy said of her performance. “It’s definitely not [like Britney Spears’ 2001 VMA performance of] ‘I’m a Slave 4 U’ or something like that. No anacondas on my neck.”
Albums
KATY HUDSON (2001)
In 2001 Katy Perry released her debut self-titled Christian music album Katy Hudson. Later she dropped her family named and took her mother’s maiden name Perry in order not to be confused with actress Kate Hudson (Bride Wars).
ONE OF THE BOYS (2008)
The album was released on June 17, 2008. In its first week of release, One of The Boys debuted at number nine on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the United States. It was certifies gold in the US on September 22, 2008 selling 749,000+ copies worldwide. In summer 2008 Katy Perry went on Vans Warped Tour to promote the album.
While recording the album Katy Perry corroborated with such noted producers like Ballard (Alanis Morissette, No Doubt), Dave Stewart (Eurythmics), Dr. Luke (Kelly Clarkson, Avril Lavigne), Butch Walker (Pink, The Donnas), Sam Hollander & Dave Katz (Gym Class Heroes), Greg Wells (Mika, Natasha Bedingfield, Rufus Wainwright), and Max Martin (Britney Spears). Perry co-wrote every song on the album as well as writing three of the songs on her own.
The album was preceded by a digital EP, Ur So Gay, in late 2007. The video for the song premiered in early 2008. Madonna said in her interview on KISS FM that the song became her “favorite song right now.” ‘Ur So Gay’ has been criticized for alleged homophobia. “[Gay]’s not a negative connotation. It’s not ‘you’re so gay’, like ‘you’re so lame’, but the fact of the matter is that this boy should’ve been gay. I totally understand how it could be misconstrued or whatever… I wasn’t stereotyping anyone in particular, I was talking about ex-boyfriends,” Katy responded to the critical claims.
The single ‘Ur So Gay’ did not chart on the US hot 100, but it reached number 1 on the US Hot Dance Singles Sales, and number 2 on the US Hot Singles Sales.
Generally, One of The Boys was negatively received by critics with only Billboard Magazine stating that “a debut album [is] packed with potential hits.”
The first single, 'I Kissed A Girl' was released May 6, 2008 but it debuted on ITunes on April, 29. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 76, but it reached the top spot just two months later. Generally the song spent most of the summer at the number 1 spot becoming the hit in 20 countries. The single was number 1 for seven weeks that was equal to the record set by the Beatles. ‘I Kissed A Girl’ received five MTV VMA nominations.
The song brought a wave of controversy due to its explicit promotion of homosexuality. “Some people have taken ‘I Kissed A Girl’ the wrong way, but others seem to get the joke. In the UK, it’s been great. The British have a warped sense of humor, just like I do.” Katy Perry said. “I’m not trying to tell people to do things. I’m not campaigning. It’s a song about curiosity. It’s about something that a lot of girls have thought about, but probably not carried through.” “I have kissed a girl, but I’m not a lesbian. I have a boyfriend. I just didn’t want to sing another typical relationship song.”
The second single, ‘Hot N Cold,’ was released September 9, 2008. It reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 just nine days after the release. In a month it was number 5 on the Hot 100 becoming Perry’s second consecutive top 5 single.
The third single, ‘One of The Boys,’ was released November 3, 2008 debuting on an Australian radio show.
Video for ‘Thinking of You’ debuted on Christmas, and ‘Waking Up In Vegas’ was presented in April 2009.
In April 2009 Katy told MTV about her plans for the second album. “I definitely want to make a follow-up pop, fun record. I’m not looking to alienate my fans, but I can’t be that grown-up Shirley Temple girl wearing the stupid strawberry in her hair all the time … because I’d kill myself or someone else would for me,” she said. “So this record will be a very present record for me. It will be me now. It won’t take five years - hopefully. It will be Katy Perry as a young, 25-year-old woman.”
| Track list | Composer |
| One of the Boys | Katy Perry |
| I Kissed a Girl | Max Martin |
| Waking Up In Vegas | Desmond Child |
| Thinking of You | Katy Perry |
| Mannequin | Katy Perry |
| Ur So Gay | Greg Wells |
| Hot N Cold | Max Martin |
| If You Can Afford Me | Dave Katz |
| Lost | Ted Bruner |
| Self Inflicted | Scott Cutler |
| I’m Still Breathing | Dave Stewart |
| Fingerprints | Greg Wells |
Awards
2008
In 2008 Katy Perry’s breakthrough hit ‘I Kissed A Girl’ brought her a number of award nomination and several awards.
In 2008 she won Best New Act at the Europe Music Awards.
She was nominated for Best International New Artist and Song of the Year (‘I Kissed A Girl’) at Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica, though won in neither of the categories. She was also nominated for International Artist at the MTV Video Music Brasil, Choice MySpacer at Teen Choice Awards, and her single ‘I Kissed A Girl’ was nominated for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Female Video, Best New Artist at the MTV Video Music Awards.
She was also nominated for World’s Best Pop/Rock Female Artist and World’s Best New Artist at the World Music Awards.
2009
Katy Perry won Favorite Pop Song for her hit ‘I Kissed A Girl’ at the People’s Choice Award 2009. She was also awarded Best International Album for her hit LP One Of The Boys at the French NRJ Music Awards.
She won International Female Solo Artist at Brit Awards, the most prestigious British awards. “For the moments I was there it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever been to,” Katy wrote on her blog the day after the awards.
She was also nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at Grammy Awards 2009 for her hit song ‘I Kissed A Girl’
She won the Breakthrough Act at MTV Australia Awards.
Inspiration comes from….
Katy Perry’s life, and her personal life experience play a significant role for her as a songwriter. They stand behind her smashing hits like ‘Ur So Gay’ or ‘I Kissed A Girl.’
Katy Perry is often described as a very easy-going person, a “loudmouth” and “delightful company.”
Katy is known for her unconventional style of dress, often humoristic, bright in color and reminiscent of different decades, as well as her frequent use of fruit-shaped accessories as part of her outfits. In one of the recent interviews she confessed she likes makeup, clothes and likes having everyone’s attention. She loves big displays of sequins and color.
Katy adds she loves the 1940s’ style for being “unique”.”Everybody had their own kind of deal, it wasn’t like walking robots wearing one label or having to wear one thing because it was the coolest, trendiest thing. I think that’s why I make so many daring choices with my style, because it goes to show that you don’t have to be like everybody else,” she explains.
“I like experimenting and I’m totally OK with ending up in the ‘worst dressed.’ It’s happened many, many times, but I’m proud of those outfits,” the singer told Women’s Health about her fashion choises.
When she was a teenager, Katy would sneak into Universal Studios in Los Angeles, posing as a stylist, she said in the interview for Blender’s October 2008 issue. “I’d try on all the clothes, all these vintage gowns, and hope nobody would bust me. I was a glamour ninja.” Katy is a big collector of all kind of vintage stuff.
Katy’s older sister Angela is a designer helping hand for her when on tour. “She [takes care of] my schedule, works out what outfits I need for photo shoots,” Katy says. “She’s like, ‘Drink your juice, take your multivitamin!’—she’s kind of like my mother on tour,” Perry said in the interview for Page Six.
Katy adds she makes sure to wear a different outfit every night while on tour, giving the castoffs to her girlfriends afterward. “I’m running out of options now. I don’t ever want to wear just jeans and tee shirts. I like to have fun with fashion.”
As to her personal life, once she was very close to her Gym Class Heroes’ boyfriend Travis McCoy. Perry and Travis first met while recording a song in New York. She says she prefers to date people in her own industry because they understand the level of dedication needed to succeed. “My boyfriend travels just as much so he gets the hard, tough lifestyle,” she says. “I’ve learned a lot about self-control.”
In early November 2008 the rumor had it she was going to go down the aisle with him soon. “I’m in love and haven’t been this head-over-heels for anyone since the third grade!” Travis told OK! on November 4, 2008. But in the beginning of January 2009 it was reported the couple split. “It hurts right now,” Katy said at one of her gigs in January. “When you breakup with someone you move on. You don’t really want to move on … but you have to because they don’t give you any choice.”
“I am not going to be celibate,” Perry said responding to the buzz her joke about not kissing anyone for a year awoke. “Please, celibacy for the whole year? I’d rather die. I guess I am just going to be looking for the right one,” she said.
In February 2009 there was a rumor Katy was dating Benji Madden who previously dated Paris Hilton. The two were seen dancing and cuddling around in Las Vegas on Valentine’s Day. Katy then denied reports writing this on her blog: “It’s two pseudo famous people sitting next to each other… doesn’t mean we were bumping uglies! You know I don’t just do that with anyone! I was there celebrating a really fun show and a boozy valentines with all my good friends. We were like a group of 25! Benji is a nice young fellow, but my heart really belongs to kitty purry/markus molinari.”
In the end of March 2009 the rumor had it Katy was dating singer Josh Groban, though neither of them confirmed the reports.
“I have a soft spot for musicians. If a man could ride this roller coaster with me and come out alive, then I guess we’d deserve each other’s company. But I don’t really have the right energy to be with somebody right now, because when I love somebody, I love somebody. Like, I want to marry them. I don’t date around. I haven’t been on a date,” Katy Perry told in her interview for Esquire’s April 2009 issue.
“I love being in love, I love the idea of marriage and making babies — but not yet. Not until I’m thirty. I basically chew my birth control tablets — I chew them like vitamin C, I’m like nomnomnom,” Katy told Paper Mag in April 2009. “It’s one of those things where I have no energy left to give to anybody. I give it all away on tour and when I’m meeting people.”
“I don’t like being single,” she told Britain’s Cosmopolitan magazine in May 2009. “I live a fantastic life, full of magical things, and at the end of the day all I want to do is share it with someone.” “I’ll probably end up with someone who’s a bit older and a few steps ahead of me — I want someone I can learn from,” she added stating she’s “so picky” when it comes to boyfriends. “If I go to dinner with a guy, people automatically think we’re dating. And then when you do start dating it becomes a race to the altar.”
In April 2009 Travis told the press that he and Katy were rekindling their romance. “The break-up sucked. We’re back together now - you’re the first person I’ve told that to,” Travis told The Sun. “I keep thinking about if I had to go through it again and how s****y it would be. We were moving way too fast. I was being juvenile about the entire thing. Now it’s easy breezy. I’m happy and in love.” They were first seen together again at People’s bash on May 6, 2009.
Leading a high profile life, Katy keeps quite down-to-earth and earnest about the whole media fame thing. “It’s become about who’s showing up at what party, who’s dating whom, and what plastic surgery they’ve had,” she says. “I want to bring it all back to the music. Pop stars are hard to relate to because they are so scared of being vulnerable or real and afraid that people will exploit their flaws. I on the other hand, celebrate my flaws and actually welcome them. Flaws give us character and at the end of the day, I want people to see me as that girl they can relate to, talk to, and have a good laugh with.” “I’m not obsessed with getting my picture taken. You know, there’s just so much taken out of context. There’s so much nit-picking. I turned my data alerts off,” she told Esquire in 2009.
“As much as I am cheeky and full of opinions, essentially I know what I’m doing,” Katy Perry told Page Six. “I don’t censor myself, but I do think about everything. And I feel I’ve got a good head on my shoulders.”
Ten things you must know about Katy Perry
1. Perry has a Jesus tattoo on her left wrist she got when she was 18. “I see it every time I’m playing guitar. It’s looking back up at me. That’s where I come from, and probably where I’m going back to.” “I got that when I was eighteen, on the Sunset Strip. I was with my boyfriend, and I just wanted to get something so I would always remember where I came from. My dad has four tattoos, and they all say “Jesus,” Katy said in her interview for Esquire’s April 2009 issue.
2. Katy’s 88 year old grandma took part in her ‘Waking Up In Vegas’ video. “If you look at the opening scene, which is kind of the way we ended as well, you will see a little old lady to the left with like an oxygen tank on. If you are on the outskirts of Vegas, it can get really depressing. You’ll see old people with their gambling carts and you’ll be like ‘Ew, you need the Lord!’ That little old lady is my 88-year-old grandma! She lives in Las Vegas and she was dying to be in the video,” Perry explained.
3. She likes garage sales, estate sale, the rose bowl, flea market and Thrift stores. She calls it “treasure hunting” and adds that when she’s back home in Santa Barbara her dad still wakes her up at 7am to go to garage sales.
4. She loves everything Japanese.
5. Katy Perry used to take swing dancing for three years. She got a lot of her “1940’s style education” there.
6. Katy can play both acoustic and electric guitars.
7. Katy names rollerskating, minature golf and ice skating as her favorite kinds of sport. She is also a big fan of weekend trips by car. She drives a hybrid.
8. Perry says the most dangerous thing she’s ever done was driving for the first time on the 405 in 5 lanes of traffic, at night. “First time, in my first car, a black Jetta.”
9. The rumor has it, Scarlett Johansson’s lips inspired Katty Perry to pen ‘I Kissed A Girl.’ Katy also says she had plenty of experience making out with women when writing the hit tune. “[I've done it] many times, in several different situations,” she said. “I was living with my best friend for awhile, and we were drunk and made out.” “I love a beautiful woman,” she adds, “I’m not afraid to say it.”
10. Katy Perry’s breasts are all natural. The songstress was furious with reports her chest is not natural, and insists she has far more important things to spend her money on than cosmetic surgery. “How could people think these are fake? Look at them. Ask them! They are as real as real can be. One hundred per cent genuine and untouched… well sort of. I would never spend money on fake boobs. Shoes, maybe. A handbag, maybe. But plastic t**s - no way!”
Upcoming Projects
About her plans for 2009 Katy Perry said she would keep her supporters guessing in the upcoming twelve months. “You’re gonna see me with all kinds of different things,” she told the Daily Star. “Maybe you won’t expect it, but that’s what I like to do - keep people on their toes.”
Katy reveaked she eyes collaboration with John Legend. “I really admire John Legend,” she said. “He’s fantastic. I’ve bought all his records. Even this year I’ve just become a big fan, I would love to make some music with him or Calvin Harris, who is in the UK as well.”
It was also reported that Katy has her sights set on a summer 2009 collaboration with DJ Calvin Harris - as she’s allegedly begged for his help.“There are some murmurings about (working with) Katy Perry. She sent me a big long email comparing me to Phil Spector, which I found incredible,” Harris told the BBC. “We’re possibly doing something. There are a bunch of people that I could be doing stuff with. I’m a massive fan of Katy Perry. She wants to do, like, a fun album, like a dance album but obviously still pop. I kind of fit that bill so I guess that’s why she thought of me.”
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