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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
RIGHT:
Katy with members of
her family.
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