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Born on October 25, 1984, in Santa Barbara, CA, Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson grew up in a Christian household as the daughter of two pastors. Though she was not allowed to listen to secular music as a child, she later found herself captivated by Alanis Morissette and Freddie Mercury, having discovered Queen's music during a slumber party. Religious music remained at the forefront and Katy released a self-titled Christian album in 2001 under the name Katy Hudson. She would later abandon the genre in favour of a pop career. In 2003, Katy graduated from Dos Pueblos High School. Upon graduating, she decided to move to Los Angeles.
 

At age 17, the blossoming songwriter began working with hit maker Glen Ballard, who had produced and co-written Alanis Morissette's chart-topping Jagged Little Pill in 1995. Several years later, she teamed up with the Matrix, a Grammy-nominated production/songwriting team whose resume included collaborations with Avril Lavigne, Shakira, and Korn. Katie was tired of producing music for other artists, so the Matrix had plans to record their own album with Perry. The project was ultimately shelved, but not before Perry appeared in a 2004 write-up by Blender magazine, who called her "The Next Big Thing!" and Teen People's "One to Watch." In 2005, her song Simple was featured in the soundtrack of the film the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. She also appeared on the single Goodbye For Now, by the Christian rock band P.O.D.  With the Matrix's unreleased album sitting in the vaults at Sony Records, Perry went back to the drawing board and ultimately signed with Columbia in 2007.

 

Her debut single, UR So Gay, produced by and co-written with Greg Wells, generated a modest buzz with its playful lyrics and accompanying music video. A video for the song debuted in early 2008, and brought Perry to the attention of Madonna, who mentioned her on 104.7 KISS FM's John Jay & Rich morning show in the Phoenix area, stating that UR So Gay was her “favourite song right now” as well as another mention on Ryan Seacrest's Morning Show. UR So Gay has been criticized for apparent homophobia.

However, I Kissed a Girl proved to be her true breakthrough single, topping the charts and pushing its accompanying album, 2008's One of the Boys, into the Top Ten in America. Perry supported her debut by joining the Warped Tour that summer, where she toured alongside boyfriend Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes.

Her songs appeared on the MTV series The Hills (Self-Inflicted and Thinking of You), on Oxygen Network's reality series Girls (Fingerprints - theme song), on the 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Simple), and on the 2008 film Baby Mama (Fingerprints).

As an actress, she has made a cameo appearance on Carbon Leaf's video Learn to Fly and on Gym Class Heroes' video Cupid's Chokehold. On March 10, 2008, she appeared as herself on ABC Family's Wildfire (episode titled "Life's Too Short"). She has appeared in advertisements for Too Faced Cosmetics, and on June 12th 2008, Perry again played herself on the popular daytime soap opera The Young & The Restless.

As 2008 gave way to 2009, Katy Perry had emerged as one of the industry's brightest pop icons, celebrated as much for her outsized behaviour and outrageous fashion sense as the music itself. She is currently on her first worldwide tour.