Katy Perry

Katy Perry (real name Katherine Elizabeth Hudson; born October 25, 1984) is an American singer and songwriter.

She became known for her single "Ur So Gay", released in 2007, and the worldwide hit "I Kissed a Girl", which topped the charts in many countries, including the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia and Ireland.

Biography

Katy Perry was born in Santa Barbara to two pastors. She is the middle child in the family. Katy graduated from Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, California in 2003 and immediately moved to Los Angeles at the age of 19. As a teenager, she changed her last name to Perry because "Katy Hudson" was too similar to Kate Hudson. Perry was her mother's maiden name. Katy Perry's music was heavily influenced by bands: Queen, Nirvana, Alanis Morissette, Heart, Joni Mitchell, Incubus and others.

Career

After Steve Thomas and Jennifer Knapp signed Perry to their Red Hill Records label, she released her first Katy Hudson CD in 2001, in the Christian gospel genre. In 2004, Katy teamed up with "The Matrix," a Grammy-nominated group whose resume included collaborations with Avril Lavigne, Shakira and Korn. "The Matrix" made plans to make a record of their own with Perry. The project was eventually shelved as Perry appeared in a 2004 review by Blender magazine, which described her as "The Next Big Thing!" In an interview, Katy stated that she was not a "typical Christian," mentioning that she did "a lot of bad things" during her youth. With an unreleased album with Matrix, Perry eventually signed with Columbia in 2007. Her debut single, "Ur So Gay," with its lyrics and video, was accused of alleged homophobia. Katy Perry's first full-length album, One of the Boys, was released in the United States on June 17, 2008. On April 29, 2008, her first official single from "One of the Boys," "I Kissed a Girl," debuted on the iTunes Store. The song started at No. 76 on the Billboard Hot 100, climbing to No. 1 on June 25, 2008. The music video for "I Kissed a Girl" was featured on MySpace on May 21, 2008. Perry released the single "Hot n Cold" on September 9, 2008. It became Katy's second top 5 hit single in the US, also reaching #7 in the UK a month before its actual release.

In addition to music, Kathy's immediate plans include movies and creating her own line of perfumes. She will be the voice of Smurfette in a feature-length version of the animated film The Smurfs, which will be released next year.

Personal life

Katy Perry dated American Gym Class Heroes vocalist Travis McCoy, but broke up with him in late 2008. She also appeared in the video for the band's song "Cupid's Chokehold". In 2009, the singer began dating British comedian Russell Brand. The engagement with Russell Brand took place in India on New Year's Eve. The couple's wedding was also held in India on October 23, 2010. December 30, 2011, Russell Brand filed for divorce, stating the reason for the "insurmountable differences. It also became known that Kathy's ex-husband did not claim half of his ex-wife's property. Officially, the divorce process was completed on July 14, 2012.