Katy Perry

Katy Perry (born October 25, 1984) is an American singer most famous for her racy hit single, "I Kissed a Girl." Perry, a pastor's daughter from Santa Barbara, California, has drawn a lot of controversy for her occasionally taboo lyrics. Before hitting it big, Perry sang backup for Miley Cyrus.

It seemed an unlikely pairing, the daughter of an evangelist and a Christian pastor and the notorious womaniser, but when Katy Perry met Russell Brand he swept her off her feet.

She tamed him and he gave up his life as a lothario, now you cannot imagine either of them being with anyone else.

They were married on October 23rd 2010 at the exclusive Arman-I-Khas resort close to the Ranthambore National Park and Tiger Sanctuary in Rajasthan in India in front of 80 of the couple's closest friends and family. His wedding present to her was a female Bengal tiger called Machli and she gave him a baby elephant, both living at the Ranthambore Reserve.

Their traditional Hindu wedding was conducted by a long-time family friend of Perry's family and was completely over the top. It involved 21 camels, elephants and horses, plus dancers and musicians. She wore a sari with henna designs painted on her hands and the trees inside the resort were decorated with white and gold lights and the tents were decorated with flower garlands.

It was all so different from her humble beginnings. Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson was born on October 25th 1984 in Santa Barbara, California where her parents still live. She took her mother's maiden name Perry as her stage name when she began to make her mark in the music industry, because Katy Hudson was too similar to film actress Kate Hudson.

She was incorporated into her parents' Ministry and sang in their church between the ages of nine and seventeen. She grew up only listening to gospel songs as she was not allowed to listen to what her parents called "secular music."

She copied her sister who practised singing to cassette tapes and when she was not around Perry would take the tapes and rehearse the songs.

Her parents suggested she should have vocal coaching and she began to have lessons. When she was 16 she enrolled in the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara.

Her church singing attracted the attention of rock veterans from Nashville and they took her there to polish her writing skills. She started to record demos and was taught by country music veterans to craft songs and play the guitar. She signed with the Christian music label Red Hill and recorded her first album at the age of 15-years-old.

When she was 17-years-old she left the Academy and moved to Los Angeles to work on an album with the Island record label.

She became known for her unconventional style of dress as much as her singing. Her clothes combined bold colours and vintage fashion, and she used fruit-shaped accessories, particularly water melons, as part of her outfits. Her figure-hugging latex costumes soon became her trademark.

It was reported in the Daily Mail that her mother disliked her daughter's music and called it "shameful and disgusting," but Perry said her mother was misquoted.

Her first two singles "You Are So Gay" and "I Kissed a Girl" which topped the International charts, received negative reactions from both the religious and the gay sectors of society. One lot said the songs were homophobic and the others said she was promoting homosexuality.

Perry dated Gym Class Heroes front man Travie McCoy for several years after meeting him in a recording studio in New York. They broke up in 2008, began dating again early the following year but finally split a few months later.

She first met Brand in the summer of 2008 when she had a cameo role in his film "Get Him to the Greek" but they did not become a couple until she met him again at the MTV Video Music Awards in September 2009 when he was the host.