A gospel debut that flopped and a teenage dream that did not

Katheryn Hudson was born in Santa Barbara, California, in 1984, to Pentecostal pastors. For years her family moved around the country as her strict parents set up churches, and money was tight enough that they sometimes relied on food stamps and the food bank that also fed the congregation. Her first record reflected that world: at sixteen she released a gospel album, Katy Hudson, in 2001, which was unsuccessful.

She moved to Los Angeles, signed to Capitol Records and changed course. The pop-rock album One of the Boys came out in 2008, and its lead single, “I Kissed a Girl”, topped the Billboard Hot 100. Then came Teenage Dream in 2010, the only album by a woman to produce five US number-one singles: “California Gurls”, “Teenage Dream”, “Firework”, “E.T.” and “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)”. A reissue added another, “Part of Me”, and the dance-inspired Prism followed in 2013 with “Roar” and “Dark Horse”.

Not every record carried the same weight. Witness in 2017, which contained “Feels”, Smile in 2020 and 143 in 2024 met with varied critical and commercial success. Still, by the source's estimate she has sold over 151 million records, holds twenty Guinness World Records, and was the first artist to have multiple videos pass a billion YouTube views. Vogue and Rolling Stone have dubbed her the “Queen of Camp”, a nod to her playful, colourful style.

Her life outside the studio has been just as varied. She released the documentary Katy Perry: Part of Me in 2012, voiced Smurfette in The Smurfs films, and judged American Idol from 2018 to 2024. In 2013 she was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, with her activism focused on children's education and HIV/AIDS awareness. In 2025 she flew into space aboard Blue Origin NS-31. It is quite a distance from a church in a small Californian town, covered by a girl who sang because she had to.