Linda Perry (born April 15, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. She was the lead singer, primary songwriter, and guitarist of 4 Non Blondes, including their 1993 hit "What's Up?". She has since founded two record labels and composed and produced songs for other artists, which include: "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera; "What You Waiting For?" by Gwen Stefani; and "Get the Party Started" by Pink. Perry also contributed to albums by Adele, Alicia Keys, and Courtney Love, as well as signing and distributing James Blunt in the United States. Perry was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015.
Perry was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on April 15, 1965. Her father was Alfred Xavier Perry, a musician and engineer of Portuguese descent. Her mother is Marluce Martins Perry, a model and designer of Brazilian descent. Growing up in an artistic and musical household, Perry displayed an interest in music from an early age.
She spent her teenage years in San Diego before moving to San Francisco in 1986 at the age of 21.
In San Francisco, Perry lived in a small, windowless room, and played her guitar and sang her own songs on city streets. Third Eye Blind frontman Stephan Jenkins, who at the time was also a musician living in San Francisco, later recalled sitting in a room with Perry, performing their original compositions to one another. Perry, however, denies that this ever happened.
Perry performed solo at Bay Area clubs and coffeehouses, including Nightbreak, Paradise Lounge, DNA Lounge, and The Kennel Club.
Perry composed her first professional song, entitled "Down on Your Face," and was recruited into the band 4 Non Blondes by its founder Christa Hillhouse in the middle of 1989. The band established itself in the San Francisco bar scene, especially lesbian bars, gaining a significant lesbian following. In July 1991, the band was signed to Interscope Records.
In 1992, 4 Non Blondes recorded what would be the band's only album, Bigger, Better, Faster, More!, including the song "What's Up?", written by Perry. Unhappy with a re-worked version of the song insisted upon by the album's producer, Perry and the band re-recorded the song like Perry's original demo, with Perry's re-recorded version being used as the final version for the album. In March 1993, "What's Up" was released as the album's second single, reaching number one in 10 countries and driving the success of the album, which spent 59 weeks on the Billboard 200 and sold 1.5 million copies between 1992 and 1994.
During the recording of their second album in late 1994, 4 Non Blondes disbanded. Perry cited dissatisfaction with the first album and ongoing creative disagreements between herself and the band. She has also explained that her sexuality had a part to play in her tensions with the group.
She then formed a new band named Deep Dark Robot after quitting 4 Non Blondes.
Interscope retained Perry as a solo artist and assembled a production team for her debut album, including Kevin Gilbert, Bill Bottrell, and members of the Tuesday Night Music Club, who had recently produced Sheryl Crow's debut. Released in 1996, In Flight received positive reviews, but was a poor seller. Perry joined Red Fish, Blue Fish for her world tour, supporting such acts as The Who. She promoted her CD with an appearance on The Howard Stern Show, during which she participated in "lesbian dial-a-date" and performed her former band's only hit single, "What's Up?" Perry also hosted the 1997 and 1998 Bay Area Music Awards, or "Bammies".
In 1999, she released her second solo album, After Hours, on Rockstar Records, and performed as an opening act for Bryan Adams.
2000–2013: production and songwriting
Perry had begun acquiring recording equipment, including a TASCAM DA-88 recorder, Neumann U 67 microphone, and Fairchild 670 compressor. Curious about the new musical technology behind music she was hearing on the radio, she asked a friend. Based on their input, Perry purchased an Akai MPC sampler, and Roland and Korg Triton synthesizers, and taught herself to use them, writing her first dance song, "Get the Party Started", in the process. She sent the song to Madonna's manager Guy Oseary, who turned it down.
In 2000, Perry was contacted by pop rock singer Pink, seeking production and songwriting assistance on her second album, Missundaztood.
Perry co-wrote and produced much of the album, including full writing credits for the songs "Lonely Girl" and "Get the Party Started", which was released as the album's lead single and became Pink's biggest hit to date. The album's worldwide commercial and critical success brought Perry back into the spotlight as a music producer and songwriter. The following year, Perry produced for Christina Aguilera another song she had written, "Beautiful", another worldwide commercial success.
In 2003, Perry won two American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers awards for her songwriting, and a Grammy Awards nomination for her song "Beautiful" as a contender for "Song of the Year"; the song received the award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards.
She collaborated with art-dance duo Fischerspooner on a few songs for their sophomore album and ended the year with a few co-writing credits on Gwen Stefani's solo debut, Love. Angel. Music. Baby., including the album's first single, "What You Waiting For?" Additionally, her Atlantic-distributed label, Custard Records, was launched to promote two new acts, Sunshine and James Blunt. She produced and played guitar on the recording of Blunt's song "No Bravery". The year ended with Perry co-writing "Save Me" for the southern California punk rock band Unwritten Law.
In 2005, Perry re-released her solo album In Flight. The same year, she began working with Christina Aguilera on her third studio album, Back to Basics (2006), co-writing with Aguilera every song on the album's second disc. In late 2006 and early 2007, Perry contributed production and songwriting to Vanessa Carlton's third studio album, Heroes and Thieves.