MTV Europe Music Awards 2008

Katy Perry

If Lucille Ball had a secret love child with Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, it would look, sound, and behave like Katy Perry. The L.A-based singer-songwriter’s sassy confidence and feisty confessional songs have already had fans and savvy media singing her praises, even before her debut EP, Ur So Gay, was released in the US by Capitol Records in November of 2007. The middle child of two pastors, Katy Perry grew up listening to gospel music and singing in church in Santa Barbara, CA. But one night during a slumber party, Perry happened upon a Queen record “and the heavens opened and saved me. From then on, they have been my biggest influence,” she says. By the time she was 15, Perry was determined to pursue a path in music. She spent some time in Nashville working with professional songwriters and honing her own songwriting skills. At 17, Perry hooked up with legendary producer and songwriter Glen Ballard, who spent years guiding and developing her talent and songwriting. And now, with its sassy first single “I Kissed a Girl,” Perry’s debut album, One of the Boys, showcases the wit, honesty, and vulnerability of this talented, multi-dimensional artist for the world at large to sit up and notice.