Chicks Who Rock

Musical Career

Perry signed to the independent Christian music label Red Hill, under which she recorded her first album at age 15. Using her real name, Katy Hudson, she released the self-titled Gospel-rock album in 2001. Perry wrote four of the ten tracks herself, including "Trust in Me" which was the lead single and co-wrote the remaining six songs. However neither the album or single proved to be a success and Red Hill disbanded shortly after. At age 17, Perry left her family home for Los Angeles where she met Glen Ballard, a veteran songwriter and record producer, best known as the producer of Alanis Morissette's sixteen times platinum album Jagged Little Pill. Along with Ballard she began work on a second album for record label Island Def Jam. The album was due for release in 2005 but Perry was dropped before she finished work on the album. However, "Simple", one of the songs she recorded with Ballard, was released on the soundtrack to the 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. This led to her being signed to Columbia Records, where she briefly worked with the record production team "The Matrix", but was again dropped before a second album could be released.

Perry got her big break when her songs eventually came to the attention of Jason Flom, then head of Capitol Music Group, who signed her in early 2007. She began recording tracks for her official mainstream debut album, One of the Boys, throughout the summer before releasing the her first single, "Ur So Gay", in November 2007. A digital EP led by "Ur So Gay" was later released and although it failed to chart received praise in the music press and was even noted by Madonna in a number of interviews. The album's official lead single, "I Kissed a Girl", was released on May 6, 2008. The song has since become a major worldwide hit, and along with the United States, where it has been certified 3x Platinum, it has topped the charts in more than 22 countries, including Australia, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom. One of the Boys was finally released in June, 2008 and debuted at # 9 on the US Billboard 200. In the United Kingdom, the album debuted and peaked at # 11 on the UK Albums Chart. Perry then embarked on the annual Warped Tour music festival as part of the albums promotion and was widely touted as the tours highlight act. Perry released her third single, "Hot N Cold", which gave her a second top five single in the United States and the UK as well as topping the charts in Germany, Canada and Denmark. The fourth single from the album, "Thinking of You", was released in the US in February 2009 and peaked at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100. As of March 2009 the album has sold over 2 million copies worldwide.