Katy Perry

Biography

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Known for her influence on pop music and her camp style, she has been dubbed the "Queen of Camp" by Vogue and Rolling Stone.

At age 16, Perry released the unsuccessful gospel album Katy Hudson (2001) under Red Hill Records. After moving to Los Angeles, she signed to Capitol Records and rose to fame with the pop rock album One of the Boys (2008). Its lead single, "I Kissed a Girl", topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Perry's disco-influenced pop record Teenage Dream (2010) became the only album by a woman to spawn five U.S. number-one singles: "California Gurls", "Teenage Dream", "Firework", "E.T.", and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)". Its reissue, subtitled The Complete Confection (2012), produced the U.S. number-one single "Part of Me". The dance-inspired Prism (2013) yielded two U.S. number-one singles, "Roar" and "Dark Horse". Perry's subsequent albums, Witness (2017), Smile (2020) and 143 (2024), were met with varied critical and commercial success.

Perry is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 151 million records worldwide. She has seven diamond certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America. The world's highest-paid female musician in 2015 and 2018, she was named by Billboard as the twenty-fifth greatest pop star of the 21st century. Her accolades include 20 Guinness World Records, five Billboard Music Awards, five American Music Awards (including the Special Achievement Award), a Brit Award, a Juno Award, and seven MTV Video Music Awards (including the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award). Perry was the first artist to have multiple videos reach one billion views on YouTube. With an estimated net worth of $360 million, she is among the world's wealthiest musicians.

Outside of music, Perry released an autobiographical documentary titled Katy Perry: Part of Me in 2012, voiced Smurfette in The Smurfs film series (2011–2013), launched her own shoe line Katy Perry Collections in 2017 and flew into space aboard Blue Origin NS-31 in 2025. She served as a judge on American Idol from the sixteenth season in 2018 to the twenty-second season in 2024. She is an advocate for LGBT rights and women's rights, and was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2013. Her philanthropy and activism focus on children's education and HIV/AIDS awareness.

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