Katy Perry - (A) Katy Perry (2005)

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, a.k.a. Katy Perry, started her career in music at a very early age, briefly having music lessons in facilities rented from the Music Academy of the West, where her singing caught the attention of rock artists Steve Thomas and Jennifer Knapp from Nashville, Tennessee. They took her to Nashville to improve her writing skills, and it was there that she started recording demos, while learning how to write songs and play guitar. She signed with Red Hill Records and recorded her debut album, a contemporary Christian record titled 'Katy Hudson', which was released on 6 March 2001. The album received mixed reviews from critics and was commercially unsuccessful, selling an estimated 200 copies before the label ceased operations in December, so Perry transitioned from gospel to secular music, and started working with producer Glen Ballard, moving to Los Angeles at age 17. In 2003 she briefly performed as Katheryn Perry, to avoid confusion with actress Kate Hudson, and later adopted the stage name 'Katy Perry', using her mother's maiden name. In 2004, she signed to Ballard's label, Java Records, which was then affiliated with The Island Def Jam Music Group, and she began work on a solo record due for release in March 2005, under the working title of '(A) Katy Perry'. The music was to have been much more "rock" than her first album, but the record was shelved after Ballard severed ties with the parent company. He then introduced Perry to Tim Devine, an A&R executive at Columbia Records, and she was signed as a solo artist writing and recording material over the next two years for her Columbia debut. She worked with songwriters including Desmond Child, Greg Wells, Butch Walker, Scott Cutler/Anne Previn, The Matrix, Kara DioGuardi, and Max Martin and Dr. Luke, and the song 'Simple' was used on the official soundtrack for the 2005 film 'Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants', but was not included on her debut album 'One Of The Boys' when it eventually appeared in 2008, even though it had the publicity of being used in a film. This means that none of these recordings from 2005 have officially seen the light of day since they were recorded, and so this can be viewed as a brand new, real debut 'rock' album from the singer, from a time before she 'kissed a girl'.  

Track listing

01 Agree To Disagree
02 Diamonds 
03 Hook Up 
04 Nothing Like The 1st Time 
05 Speed Diallin'
06 Long Shot
07 It's OK To Believe 
08 In Between 
09 Simple 
10 Takes One To Know One 
11 Wish You The Worst
12 The Better Half Of Me 
13 Weigh Me Down