ABC News: Before Kissing Girl, Katy Perry Sang to God

ABC News: Before Kissing Girl, Katy Perry Sang to God

Pastors' Daughter Turns Pseudo-Lesbian Pop Princess
Katy Perry Shunned Christian Circuit for Mainstream Stardom
By SHEILA MARIKAR
June 27, 2008


Such is the contrast between Katy Hudson, Christian singer, and Katy Perry, chart-topper. Same girl, two stage names, two vastly different personas. And fans who loved the Katy who billed herself as the God-loving daughter of two pastors aren't pleased with her new image: Hip-shaking, lingerie-wearing, pseudo-lesbian pop star.

Born Kathryn Hudson, the now name-settled Katy Perry scored the dance song of the summer with "I Kissed a Girl" — not to be confused with Jill Souble's 1995 hit of the same name — currently at No. 2 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. Perry's debut album with Capitol Records, "One of the Boys," dropped June 17 to similar success.

But this isn't her first foray into music. Back in 2001, at the tender age of 16, she released "Katy Hudson" with the now-defunct Christian music label Red Hill Records. Russ Breimeier, who reviewed the album for Christian Music Today, thought she showed promise.
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"That album made our best albums list that year," he said. "She had a very creative sound for Christian music, more outside the box. I thought there was a lot of potential for her to develop into something more."

In his review, Breimeier noted that her lyrics weren't "quite brilliant," though they were "insightful." So goes the third verse to "Faith Won't Fail":

For He'll prevail

In the midst of all my trials and tribulations

And He'll prevail

In the midst of all my sin and temptations

But instead of sticking with Him on the road to righteousness, the newly minted Katy Perry, 23, hopped on the highway to pop stardom. First, she took on a new stage name to avoid confusion with that other Kate Hudson of the big screen.

Then, after picking up on mainstream music she recorded with production team The Matrix and released on her MySpace page, Blender magazine named Perry "the next big thing" in October 2004. In her interview with Blender, Perry confessed she wasn't "a typical Christian" and revealed she had done "lots of bad things" as a teenager.

Perhaps those bad things provided the inspiration for "I Kissed a Girl," which she released in April 2008 after signing with Capitol Records in early 2007.