Katy Perry Bio

Jun 06, 2010

Birthdate: October 25, 1984
Birthplace: Santa Barbara, CA

Who knew that Katy Perry's I Kissed a Girl would be the hottest track of the summer of 2009? Kidzworld takes a look at the singer whose name is still on everyone's lips.

Santa Baby

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson was born in Santa Barbara, California. As the middle child of two church pastors, she grew up listening to a lot of gospel music and singing in church. In 2001 Katy was signed to Red Hill Records and released her first CD, a collection of Christian gospel songs called simply, Katy Hudson.

Slow Start

Once she was in music industry, Katy became an in-house vocalist for The Matrix, a production team who had worked with Avril Lavigne, and Britney Spears, among others. She also began working on a debut mainstream album, writing with Glen Ballard, and the buzz surrounded her was so big that she was named The Next Big Thing in Blender Magazine in October of 2004. Katy managed to get a song on the soundtrack to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but Katy’s label wasn’t sure how to market her, and the project hung in limbo.

Katy Perry "California Gurl"

Here Come the Hits

Katy’s songs captured the attention of Jason Flom of Capitol Music Group, and she signed on with them. Then she started her solo album fresh, working with Dr. Luke, Max Martin and other big-time pop producers. Riding the sassy lyrics of Ur So Gay, and I Kissed a Girl, Katy released One of the Boys on June 17, 2008. Then, she began promoting the album on the Vans Warped Tour, MTV’s TRL, numerous talk shows, and even an episode of The Young & the Restless. Now Katy's songs and music videos are dominating the airwaves as she continues to tour.

California Gurl

After scoring four smash singles off her five-million-selling debut album One of the Boys, the two-time Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter returns to set airwaves ablaze with a scorching brand-new single, California Gurls, which ignited radio with a surprise release on May 7, 2010. An irresistible call to throw on your Daisy Dukes and bikini top, Katy says California Gurls will “melt your popsicle.” The sizzling track is the follow-up to her back-to-back-to-back No. 1 chart-toppers I Kissed A Girl, Hot N Cold and Waking Up In Vegas. Check out this 30-second sneak peek of the video for the song:

Katy says she was inspired to write California Gurls as she watched her friends go crazy at a party listening to Jay-Z/Alicia Keys’s salute to New York, Empire State of Mind: “Everybody was holding their drinks in the air and dancing, and I thought, ‘We’re not in New York, we’re in Los Angeles! What about California? What about all the homies, the swaying palm trees, the sun-kissed skin 24-7??? I decided that we needed to make a response. I want people to want to book a ticket to California the first time they hear it!”

Teen Dream

California Gurls is just a taste of what’s to come when Katy unleashes her new album Teenage Dream at the end of August 2010. Besides music, Katy's been busy appearing on the covers of 12 national magazines (including Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Nylon, Complex, Paper, Lucky, Out, and Billboard), doing the talk show circuit and gracing the stages of reality TV shows like American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. She has also presented awards (and gotten slimed) at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, performed at the Grammy Awards and been named one of People Magazine’s Most Beautiful People of 2010, one of Entertainment Weekly’s Entertainers of the Year and one of Esquire’s Women We Love. Can you say BUSY?!

Did U Know?

Katy changed her name because she didn’t want to be confused with Kate Hudson, the actress.
I Kissed a Girl has been number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for 6 weeks.
Her cat’s name is Kitty Purry.
Katy lists Queen, the Beach Boys, Alanis Morissette and Gwen Stefani as influences.

Katy Says...

"I like to have fun, I like to pull pranks, and I’m a big class clown."