Katy Perry - Joe Pugliese Photoshoot for The Hollywood Reporter 2012

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984) known by her stage name Katy Perry, is an American recording artist, songwriter, and actress. Perry was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California. Her conservative parents forbade her to listen to mainstream pop music. As a teen, she pursued a career in gospel music under the name her birth name and released her debut self-titled studio album. She also recorded a second solo album which never received release. In 2007, she signed with Capitol Records and adopted her current stage name.

Perry's commercial breakthrough came once she released her first mainstream studio album One of the Boys (2008). This was preceded by the release of her first single "I Kissed a Girl". Several successful singles followed, including "Hot n Cold", "Thinking of You" and "Waking Up in Vegas". Perry embarked on the Hello Katy Tour in support of the album. She followed this up with her second studio effort Teenage Dream which was an instant commercial success, topping the album charts in several countries. It spawned five number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100—"California Gurls", "Teenage Dream", "Firework", "E.T." and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)". It became the first album in history recorded by a female artist to achieve this, and the second after Michael Jackson's Bad (1987). In support of the album, she embarked on the California Dreams Tour.[2] Teenage Dream was followed by a re-release entitled The Complete Confection that spawned an additional number one, "Part of Me".

Perry has received multiple accolades; she has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards and was named by Billboard as 2012's Woman of the Year.[3] She has sold 11 million albums and 75 million digital tracks worldwide.[4][5] Perry remains the only artist to spend 69 consecutive weeks in the top ten of the Hot 100.[6] Perry has ventured into celebrity endorsement and released her signature fragrance Purr. She has also made her film debut, voicing Smurfette in The Smurfs (2011). Perry was ranked at number fourteen on Billboard's list of top moneymakers of 2011, grossing more than $11 million.[7] She was spotlighted in her own 3D biopic-concert film Part of Me (2012), which concentrated on her life as a touring artist and the breakdown of her one-year marriage to British comedian Russell Brand.