Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known by her stage name Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter and television judge. After singing in church during her childhood, she pursued a career in gospel music as a teenager. Perry signed with Red Hill Records and released her debut studio album Katy Hudson under her birth name in 2001, which was commercially unsuccessful. She moved to Los Angeles the following year to venture into secular music after Red Hill ceased operations and she subsequently began working with producers Glen Ballard, Dr. Luke, and Max Martin. After adopting the stage name Katy Perry and being dropped by The Island Def Jam Music Group and Columbia Records, she signed a recording contract with Capitol Records in 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 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...