Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984) was born in Santa Barbara, California, United States. She is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. She is professionally known as Katy Perry. Perry's unique campy style and influence on modern pop music have earned her the nickname "Queen of Camp" by Vogue.
At the age of 16, Perry began pursuing a career in gospel music and released her debut album, Katy Hudson, in 2001 under Red Hill Records. However, the album was commercially unsuccessful. Not deterred, Perry moved to Los Angeles at 17 to venture into secular music and adopted her stage name from her mother's maiden name. She recorded an album while signed to Columbia Records but was dropped before signing to Capitol Records.
Perry rose to fame with her second studio album, One of the Boys (2008), which featured her debut single "I Kissed a Girl" and follow-up single "Hot n Cold." These songs topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts and cemented Perry's place as a pop sensation. She has since become one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold over 143 million records worldwide. All of her studio albums released under Capitol have individually surpassed one billion streams on Spotify, totaling six billion streams. Perry has nine U.S. number one singles and three U.S. number one albums.
Aside from her music career, Perry has received various accolades for her work, including a Billboard Spotlight Award, four Guinness World Records, five Billboard Music Awards, five American Music Awards, a Brit Award, and a Juno Award. She has also been included in the annual Forbes lists of highest-earning women in music from 2011 to 2019. In 2015, Perry's Super Bowl halftime show performance became the most watched in history. Perry has also pursued ventures outside of music, such as her autobiographical documentary, Katy Perry: Part of Me (2012), and her shoe line, Katy Perry Collections, which launched in 2017. Additionally, Perry joined the judging panel for American Idol during its sixteenth season in 2018.
Perry's immense popularity is evident in her social media presence. She is the most-followed woman and the third most-followed person on Twitter, with over 100 million followers. Perry's career achievements and cultural impact have cemented her status as one of the most influential pop artists of our time.
