9781422286616

RIGHT: Katy with members of her family.

revival meeting along with a few thousand people. The preacher came up to her and told her she would sing a hymn – and she did. But that was far from all. She found she had invented her own songs, “ditties that went round in my head,” and she’d sing them in the shower or while she was walking along the road. Something out of the ordinary was definitely happening. Both parents recognized their wayward daughter’s talents, even if her behavior wasn’t always what they hoped for. Her mother recently confirmed that she is proud of her daughter’s success, telling Vanity Fair magazine that it was meant to be. “The Lord told us when I was pregnant with her that she would do this.” In fact, it was Mary who first suggested her younger daughter took music lessons to develop her obvious talent. Her understandably proud father also encouraged her to sing at every opportunity. “My dad would give me $10, which is a lot of money when you’re nine, to sing at church, on tables at restaurants, at family functions, just about anywhere.” She’d started singing because “I was at that point in my childhood where I was copying my sister and everything she did.” When Angela went out Katy would borrow the cassette tapes her sister sang along to and practice every song until she was word- and note-perfect – an early example of the perfectionist nature that has helped get her to the top of the pop tree. Impressive as that was, copying Angela was still a long way from the revelation 13-year- old Katy underwent at a friend’s

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