Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, known professionally as Katy Perry (born October 25, 1984, in Santa Barbara, CA), is an American singer, songwriter, and television judge. The story of someone who was born into a Christian environment and who, years later, would become a pop music star. Muse of those who feel different or excluded, Katy Perry got her first guitar (from the church) at the age of thirteen and dreamed of it, as many young people do. The difference is that she did it. She broke free from the shackles of faith (without ever losing it) and set out to live through songs about her experiences. The result? Aside from Michael Jackson, only she was able to place five songs from the same album at the top of the charts.
After singing in church during her childhood, she pursued a career in gospel music as a teenager. Perry signed with Red Hill Records and released her debut studio album, Katy Hudson, under her birth name in 2001, which was commercially unsuccessful. She moved to Los Angeles the following year to venture into secular music after Red Hill ceased operations, and she subsequently began working with producers Glen Ballard, Dr. Luke, and Max Martin. After adopting the stage name 'Katy Perry' and being dropped by The Island Def Jam Music Group and Columbia Records, she signed a recording contract with Capitol Records in April 2007.
Perry rose to fame in 2008 with her second album, One of the Boys, a pop-rock record that contained the controversial U.S. number one song "I Kissed a Girl" and "Hot n Cold". Three subsequent albums have topped the U.S. Billboard 200. The disco-influenced Teenage Dream (2010) spawned five chart-topping U.S.