Early life

Perry was born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson in Santa Barbara, California^[6] to Keith, a West Coast scenester in the 1960s,^[7] and Mary Hudson (née Perry), an evangelist who grew up in Southern California and had a "tempestuous" first marriage in Zimbabwe.^[7] Perry has German, Portuguese, Irish, and English ancestry.^[8][9] She is the second child of two pastors.^[10] She has an older sister named Angela Hudson and younger brother named David Hudson.^[11] Perry's mother's aunt and uncle were screenwriter Eleanor Perry and director Frank Perry.^[7]
Perry was incorporated into her parents' ministry^[10] and sang in their church between the ages of 9 and 17.^[12] She grew up listening to gospel music,^[13] was not allowed to listen to what her mother called "secular music",^[12][14] and attended Christian schools and camps.^[10] As a child, Perry learned how to dance in a recreation building in Santa Barbara. She was taught by seasoned dancers and began with swing, Lindy Hop, and jitterbug.^[15] She took her GED after her first year at Dos Pueblos High School and decided to leave school in the pursuit of a career in music.^[16] Perry initially started singing "because [she] was at that point in [her] childhood where [she] was copycatting [her] sister and everything she [would do]."^[16] Her sister practiced with cassette tapes, while Perry took the tapes herself when her sister was not around. She rehearsed the songs and performed them in front of her parents, who suggested she take vocal coaching. She grabbed the opportunity and began taking lessons at the age of nine and continued until she was sixteen. She later enrolled in at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, and studied Italian opera for a short period of time.^[16]