Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, better known by her stage name Katy Perry, is an American singer-songwriter. Born in Santa Barbara, California, and raised by Christian pastor parents, Perry grew up listening to only gospel music and sang in her local church as a child. After earning a GED during her freshman year of high school, she began to pursue a career in music. As Katy Hudson, she released a self-titled gospel album in 2001, which due to the closing of her record label, was deemed unsuccessful. She later recorded an album with production team The Matrix and completed the majority of a solo album from 2004–5; neither of which were released.
Perry was born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson in Santa Barbara, California on October 25, 1984 to Mary (nee Perry), an evangelist who grew up in Southern California and had “a tempestuous first marriage in Zimbabwe”, and Keith Hudson, who was a West Coast scenester in the 1960s. Perry is of German and Portuguese descent on her mother’s side. She is the second child of two pastors. She has an older sister and younger brother. Perry’s mother’s aunt and uncle were screenwriter Eleanor Perry and director Frank Perry.
