A former Christian artist, Katy Perry rebranded herself as a larger-than-life pop star and rose to prominence during the summer of 2008. Before she topped the charts with songs like "I Kissed a Girl" and "California Gurls," though, she spent the better part of a decade recording music under a different name. Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (or Katy Hudson, as she billed herself on her 2001 gospel album) was born on October 25, 1984, in Santa Barbara, California.
