Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson(born October 25, 1984), known professionally asKaty Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television judge. After singing in church during her childhood, she pursued a career ingospel musicas a teenager. Perry signed withRed Hill Recordsand released her debut studio albumKaty Hudsonunder her birth name in 2001, which was commercially unsuccessful. She moved toLos Angelesthe following year to venture intosecularmusic after Red Hill ceased operations and she subsequently began working with producersGlen Ballard,Dr. Luke, andMax Martin. After adopting the stage name Katy Perry and being dropped byThe Island Def Jam Music GroupandColumbia Records, she signed arecording contractwithCapitol Recordsin April 2007.
Perry rose to fame in 2008 with her second album, One of the Boys, a pop rock record containing the singles "I Kissed a Girl" and "Hot n Cold". The former track also sparked controversy for its themes of lesbianism. Her third album, Teenage Dream (2010), ventured into disco, and was her first record to top the U.S. Billboard 200. It peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with the singles "California Gurls", "Teenage Dream", "Firework", "E.T.", and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)", while "The One That Got Away" reached number three on the chart. The album became the first by a female artist to produce five number one songs in the U.S., and the second overall after Michael Jackson's album Bad. In 2012, Perry re-issued the album as Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection, which produced the songs "Part of Me" and "Wide Awake". Her next record was Prism (2013), which became her second to top the U.S. charts. It is influenced by pop and dance, and she became the first artist with multiple videos to reach one billion views on Vevo with the videos for its songs "Roar" and "Dark Horse". She followed this with 2017's Witness, which delved into electropop and became her third album to chart at number one in the U.S. "Chained to the Rhythm" was the album's most successful single, breaking Spotify's record at the time for most first-day streams for a song by a female artist.