What Happened to Katy Hudson (Perry)

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), better known by her stage name Katy Perry, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Perry rose to fame in 2007 with her internet hit “Ur So Gay”, and later scored in 2008 her breakthrough single “I Kissed a Girl”.katy-perry

Hudson was born and raised in Santa Barbara by Christian pastor parents the second child of two pastors, she has an older sister and younger brother. Her Evangelical mother, Mary Hudson, grew up in Southern California and had “a tempestuous first marriage in Zimbabwe“. Her father was a West Coast scenester in the 1960s. Perry’s uncle and aunt were director Frank Perry and screenwriter Eleanor Perry. She grew up listening only to gospel music. After earning a GED during her freshman year of high school, she began to pursue a music career. As Katy Hudson, she released a self-titled gospel album in 2001. In 2004, she recorded an album with production team The Matrix, but it was never released. After signing on with Capitol Music Group in 2007, she took on stage name Katy Perry and released her first mainstream album, One of the Boys.

Baptized a Christian, Perry was incorporated to her parents’ ministry, and she started singing in their church from the age of nine; she continued singing in the church until she was 17. She grew up listening to gospel music and was not allowed to listen to what her mother called secular music. Perry attended Christian schools and camps. As a child, Perry learned how to dance in a rec hall in Santa Barbara. She was taught by seasoned dancers and began with swing, Lindy Hop, and jitterbug. She took her GED after her freshman year of high school and decided to leave school to pursue a career in music. Perry initially started singing “because I was at that point in my childhood where I was copycatting my sister and everything she did”. Her sister practiced with cassette tapes, and Perry took the tapes herself when her sister was not around. She rehearsed the songs and performed it to her parents, who suggested she should take voice lessons. She grabbed the opportunity and began taking lessons at age nine to 16. She enrolled in at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, and studied Italian opera for a short time.

At the age of 15, Perry’s singing in church attracted the attention of rock veterans from Nashville, Tennessee, who brought her there to polish her writing skills. In Nashville, Perry started recording demos and was taught by country music veterans on how to craft songs and play guitar. Perry signed to the Christian music label Red Hill, under which she recorded her first album at the age of 15. Using her real name, Katy Hudson, she released the self-titled Gospel-rock album in 2001. The album was unsuccessful, however, after the label ceased. She later changed her surname to Perry, her mother’s maiden name, because “Katy Hudson” was too close to film actress Kate Hudson. katyhudson_wpAt the age of 17, Perry left her home for Los Angeles where she worked with Glen Ballard on an album for record label Island. The album was due for release in 2005, but Billboard reported it also went nowhere. Perry was dropped by Island Def Jam Music Group. Some of Perry and Ballard’s collaborations included “Box”, “Diamonds” and “Long Shot”, were posted on her official MySpace page. “Simple”, one of the songs she recorded with Ballard, was released on the soundtrack to the 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Perry signed to Columbia Records in 2004. However, the label was not amenable with her vision, not putting her in the “driver’s seat”. Instead, one of Columbia’s ideas was to pair Perry with the record production team The Matrix, who was working on an album, to serve as its female vocalist. Although the album was later shelved, she caught the attention of the music press: Her burgeoning music career led to her being named “The Next Big Thing” in October 2004 by Blender magazine. With no album project ongoing, Perry began recording her own. Eighty percent completed, however, Columbia decided not to finish it and dropped her off the label.

While waiting to find another label, she worked in an independent A&R company called Taxi Music. In 2006, Perry was featured in the tail-end of the video to P.O.D.’s single “Goodbye for Now“. She made a cameo appearance in Carbon Leaf’s video, “Learn to Fly”, and in Gym Class Heroes‘ video, “Cupid’s Chokehold“, playing the eventual love interest of lead singer Travis McCoy. Her songs eventually captured the attention of Virgin Records CEO Jason Flom, then head of Capitol Music Group, who signed her to Capitol Music in early 2007.

Katy Perry’s pal David B. sheds a little bit more light about the reinvention of Katy Perry . Back in 2001, before Katy hit the pop charts, she was known as gospel singer Katy Hudson. David worked with her as one of the producers on her debut album and reached out to me with a little bit more detail about what happened to Katy over the past few years.katy-hudson

He writes ArjanWrites.com that after Katy’s first album was released her Christian record label folded. “I introduced Katy to a fellow producer, who took her out of my hands, who introduced her to Glen Ballard, who took her out of HIS hands,” David writes me. “Katy made several pop records, one that was shelved on Def Jam, one with the Matrix on Sony, part of a solo record on Sony, and now her release on Virgin.”

“Katy’s a great girl,” he adds. “We keep in touch from time to time, and I’ve spent much time with her and her family over the years.”

“I think this is a case of the industry getting it’s hooks into an impressionable, young woman. From experience, the business turns people into something that they didn’t think they could become. For me, I love her the same, will pray for her, hope for success in her career and life.”

I think that she got tired of the religious nuts in this world and decided to go someplace where she would be accepted. Artists like Bob Dylan and Marilyn Manson are just 2 of the ones that I know of that have had a Born again experience and have gone over to the other side because of judgmental christians! If we would be a little more loving and a lot less judgmental we would have a few less superstars in the secular music world and a few more in the Christian market!

What we need today is people who care enough about others that they would actually help them rather than knock them for what they are doing wrong. Let’s make disciples who know the difference between right and wrong and then will make the hard decisions in life! Let us pray for Katy and show her some love instead of coming down on her and pushing her away from the very ones who can help!

Be blessed!