Katy Perry, The #41 Female Artist of the Rock Era

Katy Hudson was born in Santa Barbara, California.  Katy attended religious schools and camps as a child and began taking vocal lessons at age nine.  She originally wanted a career in gospel music as a teen.  When Katy was 15, her singing in church attracted rock veterans from Nashville, Tennessee, who brought her there to polish her writing skills.  She began recording demos and was taught by music veterans how to write songs and play guitar.

Katy took her GED in her freshman year at Dos Pueblos High School, and left school at age 17 to pursue a career in music.  Katy moved to Los Angeles and worked with Glen Ballard on an album for Island Records.  Ballard helped develop her songwriting over the next two years.   Katy signed with the Christian music label Red Hill, and released her debut album, Katy Hudson, in 2001.  She recorded a second solo album which was never released.  Katy supported the album with a tour, but the album was unsuccessful and the label went out of business later in the year. 

In 2004, Katy signed a recording contract with Columbia Records, but, with an album 80% completed, she was dropped from the label.  Perry sang backing vocals on Mick Jagger's song "Old Habits Die Hard", which won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.    


In 2007, Katy signed a recording contract with Capitol Records and adopted the stage name of Katy Perry.  Capitol set her up with writer-producer Dr. Luke.  Perry used some of the material she was writing for Columbia and added songs written with Luke.  She began a two-month tour of radio stations in the United States to jumpstart her career.  

Perry released the single "I Kissed A Girl" in 2008.  She performed at the annual Warped Tour music festival to promote the song, and released the album One of the Boys in June.  "I Kissed A Girl" was #1 in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Ireland, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Austria.  The single was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the Grammy Awards, but it didn't win.  It did capture the People's Choice Award for Pop Song of the Year--Perry was also nominated for Favorite Pop Artist.

Perry was nominated for World's Best Selling Pop/Rock Female Artist and World's Best Selling New Act at the World Music Awards.  She was also nominated for two MTV Video Music Awards (Best New Artist and Best Female Video for "I Kissed a Girl"). 

The album rose to #9 and has sold over one million copies.  Apparently many fans of her first single (and subsequent ones) didn't like her music enough to commit to the album.  Katy went on a tour of Europe, then released "Hot n' Cold" as the second single.  It rocked up to #1 in Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, and peaked at #3 in the United States and #4 in the U.K.  "Hot n' Cold" also was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the Grammys, and it was nominated for Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards.

  

Perry went on her first headlining tour in 2009 to North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.  She released "Thinking Of You", which was only a "mid-charter", then she rebounded slightly with the fourth single from One of the Boys--"Waking Up In Vegas", which reached #2 in Canada and #9 in the U.S.  

Perry won ASCAP Pop Awards for Most Performed Song for all three singles from One Of The Boys--"I Kissed A Girl", "Hot n' Cold" and "Waking Up In Vegas".

Perry recorded "Starstrukk (sic)" with 3Oh!3, with the single going to #3 in the U.K. and #4 in Australia and Ireland.  She recorded "If We Ever Meet Again" with Timbaland, which hit #1 in New Zealand and #3 in the U.K.  The following year, Perry released the album Teenage Dream, which debuted at #1.  "California Gurls (sic)" was released as the opening single.  It went to #1 for six weeks in the U.S., and also hit #1 in the U.K., Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Ireland.  

"California Gurls (sic)" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, nominated for Best Pop Video and Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards, and won a BMI Award for Award-Winning Songs.  In 2011, Perry won People's Choice Awards for Favorite Female Artist and Favorite Internet Sensation.  She was also nominated for Favorite Pop Artist and "California Gurls (sic)" was nominated for Favorite Song.

 

 Teenage Dream has now sold two million copies in the United States.  The title track was up next as a single, and it gave Perry her third #1 in the U.S. and was also a chart-topper in New Zealand and Ireland.  It was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and it too was cited by BMI for Award-Winning Songs.  The video to "Teenage Dream" was nominated for Favorite Music Video.

"Firework" not only reached #1 in the United States, Canada and New Zealand, but it became one of The Most Important Songs of the Rock Era*.  "Firework" won Video of the Year and was nominated for Best Video with a Message and Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards, and won BMI Awards for Pop Song of the Year and Award-Winning Songs.  

Everything was beginning to steamroll for Katy.   Teenage Dream was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album at the Grammys.  "Firework" was nominated for the prestigious Record of the Year honor and for Best Pop Solo Performance. 

 Perry was nominated for 13 Billboard Awards, winning three for Hot 100 Artist of the Year, Pop Album of the Year and Top Digital Songs Artist, and she was nominated for Pop Artist of the Year, Top Female Artist, Hot 100 Song of the Year, Pop Song of the Year and Top Digital Song (for "California Gurls" (sic)), Pop Song of the Year (nominated for both "Firework" and "Teenage Dream"), Top Radio Songs Artist, Top Dance/Club Artist and Fan Favorite Award.  She was nominated for Artist of the Year, Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist and Favorite Pop/Rock Album at the American Music Awards, and she won a "Special Achievement" award.  

With "Firework", Perry became the first female artist in 11 years to have three #1 songs from an album.  Katy released her first fragrance, Purr, in November.  The following year, Perry embarked on an extensive world tour in support of her album that included 124 shows in Europe, Australia, Asia, North America and South America.  Perry released a remixed version of "E.T." with Kanye West as the fourth single from Teenage Dream.  Amazingly, "E.T." went to #1 as well for five weeks in the United States, and also topped the charts in Canada and New Zealand.  It gave Perry two more MTV Video Music Awards (Best Collaboration and Best Special Effects).

Billboard continued their love affair with Perry, giving her 10 nominations in 2012, making an unprecedented 23 from her work on Teenage Dream.  She won the Billboard Spotlight Award to recognize her for five #1's from the album.  Katy was also nominated for Artist of the Year, Hot 100 Artist of the Year, Pop Artist of the Year, Female Artist of the Year, Pop Song of the Year, Hot 100 Song of the Year and Top Digital Song (for "E.T."), Top Radio Songs Artist and Top Digital Songs Artist.

Perry was nominated for Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist at the American Music Awards in both 2010 and 2011.  In May of 2011, she became the first artist to spend 52 consecutive weeks in the Top 10, an incredible achievement.  She eventually extended that streak to 69 straight weeks, which is still a Rock Era record.  

With the single "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)", Teenage Dream became the first album by a female artist to contain five number-one songs, and just the second album in music history to do so (Michael Jackson's album Bad was the other.)   The single hit #1 in the U.S. and Canada, #2 in Ireland, #4 in New Zealand, #5 in Australia and #9 in the U.K., won a BMI Award for Award-Winning Songs, and was nominated for Best Pop Video at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Perry made her acting debut in the 3D movie The Smurfs.  Later in the year, she performed at the Rock in Rio festival.  Katy tried for a sixth #1 from Teenage Dream, but fell short at #3 in the U.S. with "The One That Got Away".  It peaked at #2 in Canada. 

Perry captured five People's Choice Awards in 2012--Favorite Female Artist, Favorite Tour Headliner, Favorite Song of the Year (for "E.T."), Favorite Music Video (for "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)", and Favorite TV Guest Star (for How I Met your Mother).  She was nominated for Favorite Pop Artist and Favorite Animated Movie Voice (for The Smurfs).

Later in the year, Perry released her second fragrance called Meow.  She released "Part Of Me" as the seventh single, and it indeed became her sixth #1 from the album, not only in the U.S. but in the U.K., Canada and New Zealand.  "Part Of Me" was nominated for Best Female Video at the MTV Video Awards.

Perry finally won the American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist in 2012.  The success continued with an eighth single, "Wide Awake", which hit #1 in Canada and New Zealand and hit #2 in the United States.  It was nominated for the Grammy for Best Solo Pop Performance and was nominated for Best Pop Video at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Teenage Dream is the first album since Carole King's landmark Tapestry to be on the Album chart for 200 consecutive weeks  (Tapestry was on the chart for over seven years.)  Of course, she is far, far away from the all-time mark set by Pink Floyd for their epic album Dark Side of the Moon (and eons away in terms of sales).

Perry won three People's Choice Awards in 2013--Favorite Pop Artist, Favorite Female Artist and Favorite Music Video (for "Part of Me").  Just as she had from her album One of the Boys, all the singles on Teenage Dream (all eight of them) won ASCAP Pop Awards for Most Performed Song.  In 2012, Perry's autobiographical documentary Katy Perry:  Part of Me was released in theaters and grossed $30 million worldwide.  Katy was named Woman of the Year at Billboard's Women in Music event in November. 

Perry reprised her role in The Smurfs 2, released in 2013.  She released a third fragrance, Killer Queen, in August.  She co-wrote and recorded a duet with John Mayer called "Who You Love" for his album Paradise Valley.   

Katy performed "Roar" live at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, and released it as the lead single from her album Prism.  "Roar" became the eighth #1 song of her short career; it was #1 in every major country except Germany and the Netherlands (where it was #2 in each) and Switzerland, where it peaked at #3.

    

Perry won People's Choice Awards for Favorite Song and Favorite Music Video (both for "Roar").  She missed the Top 10 with the follow-ups "Unconditionally" and "Dark Horse".  Prism has nonetheless gone Gold.

Perry is nominated for five World Music Awards at this year's ceremony:  World's Best Female Artist, World's Best Album (for Teenage Dream), World's Best Entertainer of the Year, World's Best Song (for "Wide Awake" and World's Best Video (for "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)".

Perry has sold 12 million albums worldwide, low for this range of the countdown, but she has been magic with her singles:  16 hits, with a sensational 13 of those reaching the Top 10 and eight #1 songs.  She has won two American Music Awards and five Billboard Music Awards.