A former Christian artist, Katy Perry rebranded herself as a
larger-than-life pop star and rose to prominence during the summer of 2008.
Before she topped the charts with songs like "I Kissed a Girl" and
"California Gurls," though, she spent the better part of a decade
recording music under a different name. Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (or Katy
Hudson, as she billed herself on her 2001 gospel album) was born on October 25,
1984, in Santa Barbara, California. Raised in a religious household as the
daughter of two pastors, she was forbidden to listen to secular bands as a
child, although a childhood slumber party introduced her to the music of Alanis
Morissette and Freddie Mercury. Religious music remained at the forefront,
however, and Katy released a self-titled Christian album in 2001 under her
original name. She would later abandon the genre (and her given surname) in
favor of a pop career.
With the Matrix's unreleased album sitting in the vaults at
Sony Records, Perry went back to the drawing board and began working on a solo
album for Columbia. The project was eventually canceled, although two of its
songs were later given to Kelly Clarkson, who scored a Top 40 hit with "I
Do Not Hook Up" several years later. Perry (who, by this point, had shed
her original surname due to its similarity to actress Kate Hudson) then signed
with Capitol, who encouraged their new client to write her own music and helped
establish her image as a boisterous, tongue-in-cheek pop star.
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