Katy Perry

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known by her stage name Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Perry grew up around gospel music. During her first year of high school, she pursued a music career as Katy Hudson, releasing her first studio album, called Katy Hudson, which failed to chart. She recorded a solo album later, which was never released. After signing with Capitol Music Group in 2007, her fourth record label in seven years, she adopted the stage name Katy Perry. She first gained recognition with the release of her first mainstream album, One of the Boys in 2008, which spawned three Billboard Hot 100 top-ten songs—I Kissed A Girl, Hot n Cold and Waking Up In Vegas. Perry supported the album with her Hello Katy Tour. In 2010, Perry released her third studio album, Teenage Dream (2010), which topped the Billboard 200 chart, and spawned five number one singles—California Gurls, Teenage Dream, Firework, E.T. and Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F. ). Teenage Dream became the first and so far only album—to do so, and Perry became the first female in history to achieve this milestone. She embarked on the California Dreams Tour, which grossed nearly $60 million worldwide. Perry re-released the album under the name of Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection on March 26, 2012, and the re-release has already spawned the number-one single Part of Me and top two single Wide Awake. Perry is the only artist to spend over 52 consecutive weeks in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100, and has since extended this to 69 weeks. As of 2012, Perry has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year (Teenage Dream) and Record of the Year (Firework). She was named 2011's Artist of the Year by MTV. She has sold 37.6 million digital tracks in the United States and 11 million albums worldwide, and sold over 74.6 million digital tracks worldwide. Perry was a guest judge on the seventh series of The X Factor UK and the ninth season of American Idol. She has released fragrances Purr and Meow. She ventured into film, voicing Smurfette in the 2011 film The Smurfs and being spotlighted in the 3D biopic-concert film Katy Perry: Part of Me. Perry was married to British comedian Russell Brand from 2010 to 2012. In 2012, Perry was ranked at number fourteenth on Billboard's list of top moneymakers of 2011, grossing more than $11 million.