Katy Perry (originally Katy Hudson) is an incredibly successful modern pop star. She has had several popular and chart-topping albums which have spawned countless popular singles.
Katy began her career as a gospel singer under her birth name Katy Hudson. After releasing an album under the name, she decided to change her stage name to “Katy Perry” to avoid confusion with the actress Kate Hudson.
Shredding most of her gospel roots, Katy released her second album One of the Boys under her new name. The album included the singles “I Kissed a Girl,” “Hot n Cold,” “Waking Up in Vegas,” and “Thinking of You” – all of which attained substantial success commercially. Katy Perry quickly attracted fans with her carefree, catchy music and her archaic, kooky, and sexualized image and fashion.
Katy’s third album, Teenage Dream, fared just as well as her first, boasting smash hit singles such as “California Gurls” (featuring Snoop Dogg), “Teenage Dream,” “Firework,” “E.T.” (featuring Kanye West), “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” and the non-album single “Part of Me.”
Katy Perry’s fourth album, Prism, is also a successful project. She released five singles from the album, that includes the lead hit single “Roar,” “Unconditionally,” “Dark Horse,” (featuring Juicy J), “Birthday,” and “This Is How We Do.”
Albums
Katy Hudson (2001)
One of the Boys (2008)
Teenage Dream (2010)
Prism (2013)
Witness (2017)
Smile (2020)
Achievements
Katy Perry became the first female artist to have five number-one Billboard singles from one album (Teenage Dream) and the second artist to do so with the first being Michael Jackson’s album Bad.
Katy Perry is also the first female artist to have a music video reach 1 billion views on Vevo (“Dark Horse”). The next month, “Roar” reached 1 billion views on Vevo as well. This makes her the first artist to have multiple videos with 1 billion views on YouTube.
She has also ventured into acting in films such as The Smurfs and TV shows like How I Met Your Mother and a live-action appearance in The Simpsons. She also starred in her own concert film/documentary entitled Katy Perry: Part of Me.
In comics, Katy Perry is featured (alongside Lady Gaga and Rihanna) as students at St. Hadrians School in Grant Morrison‘s Batman, Inc.: Leviathan Strikes. A comic based on her career and rise to success entitled Fame: Katy Perry was published by Bluewater Comics.