Christina Perri

Christina Perri (born 19.8.1986)

Christina Perri is a Philadelphia-born songwriter and musician. Her career breakthrough came with the popularity of her song 'Jar of Hearts'.

Christina Perri: Childhood

Christina Perri was raised in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, along with her brother Nick Perri, who was a guitarist in the bands Shinedown and Silvertide and with Perry Farrell.

Christina taught herself how to play guitar, mainly by watching tapes of Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon. She attended Archbishop Ryan High School.

Christina Perri: Music Career

Christina Perri moved to Los Angeles on the day that she turned 21. She married, but divorced her husband 18 months later and moved back to Philadelphia. During this period, she wrote 'Jar of Hearts', which would become a hit for her. When she returned to Los Angeles, she spent her days working as a waitress at Melrose Café and spent the evenings recording music.

'Jar of Hearts' was first featured on the US TV talent show So You Think You Can Dance in June 2010. This came about after one of Christina's friends had passed the song to the choreographer Stacey Tookey. Both Christina and her friend were in the audience watching the performance. Following its use in the show, the track sold 48,000 digital copies, debuting at number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100. Within a month, it had sold over 100,000.

Perri then recorded a video for the track, which ended up in the VH1 Top 20 music video countdown. Her live TV debut came in July on CBS' The Early Show. As a result of the attention she had attracted, as well as her online sales, Christina Perri signed a deal with Atlantic Records in July 2010, whilst Roadrunner Records continued to promote 'Jar of Hearts' on US radio.

Christina Perri continued to make a number of high profile TV appearances, including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Conan.

In November 2010, Perri released an EP entitled The Ocean Way Sessions, featuring the tracks 'Bang Bang Bang', 'Black & Blue', 'Daydream' and 'Tragedy', as well 'Jar of Hearts'.

The debut full-length album from Christina Perri, entitled lovestrong, was released in May 2011.The lead single from the album, 'Arms' was released on March 15 2011 and she performed on The Late Show with David Letterman in support of its release.

Another track from Perri, 'A Thousand Years' appeared on the soundtrack to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. Perri is a self-confessed fan of the novel and movie trilogy. In January 2012, she announced that the song had been certified Gold, meaning it had sold 500,000 copies or more.

She performed 'Arms' on the November 1st results show for ABC's Dancing with the Stars. That month, she also performed 'Jar of Hearts' on Strictly Come Dancing.

Christina Perri's image has led to her being featured in tattoo magazine, such as Inked. She has 38 tattoos in total and says that she has been getting tattooed since the age of 15. Her family were reportedly unhappy with them at first but now that she has found success in her music career, they think they are 'cute'.