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- Profile:
Katy Pery was born in 1984 in Santa Barbara, California, and raised in a conservative household. Katy Perry initially attempted to break into the music business with a gospel album. Her image radically changed by the time of her 2008 smash single “I Kissed a Girl,” from One of the Boys, and she went on to top the charts with the follow-up albums Teenage Dream, Prism and Witness. Perry is also known for her performance during the 2015 Super Bowl halftime show, her marriage to comedian Russell Brand and her selection as a judge for American Idol.
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- Albums and Top Singles:
‘One of the Boys’
Following the November 2007 release of the single “Ur So Gay,” which caught the attention of Madonna, the song “I Kissed a Girl.” hit the top of the charts in the summer of 2008, propelling Perry’s album, One of the Boys, into the Billboard Top 10.
A follow-up single, “Hot n Cold,” also charted highly.
Along with earning a Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Grammy nomination, Perry became famous for her theatricality.
In 2009, Perry appeared in her own acoustic special on MTV. The soundtrack from the show, Katy Perry: MTV Unplugged, was released around the same time.
‘Teenage Dream’
Perry released a new single with Snoop Dogg, “California Gurls,” in May 2010. The single shot to the top of the charts, paving the way for its accompanying studio album, Teenage Dream, to do the same.
Perry’s follow-up singles, “Teenage Dream,” “Firework,” “E.T.” and “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” all followed the path of “California Gurls,” making Perry just the second artist, after Michael Jackson, to have five No. 1 hits from a single album.
In 2012, she released a new edition of her hit album, called Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection. The record had several new tracks, including the successful singles “Part of Me” and “Wide Awake.”
‘Prism’
Perry continued to dominate the music charts with 2013’s Prism. It has sold more than 12.5 million adjusted albums worldwide. With the singles Roar, Firework, and Dark Horse each surpassing the 10 million threshold including song sales and streams, Katy is the only artist to earn three RIAA Digital Single Diamond Awards.
The album’s fifth and final single, “This Is How We Do,” featuring Riff Raff, also performed well.
‘Witness’
Katy Perry’s fourth studio album, Witness, debuted in June at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200. The lead single, Chained To The Rhythm set the record for the biggest first day Spotify streams by a female artist, and is now certified Platinum, with over 1 billion streams worldwide.
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- Movies and Other Endeavors:
The artist was the subject of the autobiographical documentary Katy Perry: Part of Me (2012), which featured behind-the-scenes footage and clips of young Katy along with her dazzling concert performances. She also voiced the character of Smurfette for The Smurfs (2011) and The Smurfs 2 (2013), and made a cameo as herself in Zoolander 2 (2016).
In 2014, Perry also launched her own music label, Metamorphosis Music, as a subsidiary of Capitol. The label changed its name to Unsub Records in 2016.
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- Other charity work:
Aside from being one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, Katy is an active advocate of many philanthropic causes.
In 2013, Katy was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador as a result of her commitment to improving the lives of children worldwide.
From traveling to Vietnam and Madagascar to highlight the needs of some of the world’s most vulnerable children, to recording PSAs about the importance of empowering girls and supporting adolescents living with HIV/AIDS, as well as raising awareness for UNICEF’s emergency relief efforts, Katy has used her powerful voice to advocate for children and support UNICEF’s mission to ensure every child’s right to health, education, equality, and protection. She was awarded with the Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award in 2016.
Katy has also been a champion for LGBTQ+ equality. She has received numerous awards for her work, including the Trevor Project’s Hero Award in 2012, the Human Rights Campaign’s National Equality Award in 2017, and amfAR’s Award of Courage in 2018. She has also performed at various events to raise funds for the fight against HIV/AIDS, including 2009’s Life Ball and 2016’s amfAR Cannes Gala.
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- Records:
In her 10 years with Capitol, she has racked up a cumulative 18+ billion streams alongside worldwide sales of more than 40+ million adjusted albums and 125+ million tracks. She is the most-followed person globally on Twitter, and the first to surpass 100 million followers.
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- Upcominng plans:
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- 16/11/2019: OnePlus Music Festival 2019 (D.Y.Patil Stadium, Mumbai, India)
- 06 – 07/12/2019: Katy Perry with Sam Smith, Halsey, and 7 others (The Forum, Inglewood, CA, US)
- 09/12/2019: Katy Perry – iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2019 (Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN, US)
- Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom will get married at the end of 2019.
