Christina Judith Perri (born August 19, 1986) is an American singer and songwriter. After her debut single "

Jar of Hearts "Jar of Hearts" is the debut single by American singer Christina Perri. The song was released onto iTunes September 27, 2010, a week after its debut on ''So You Think You Can Dance (U.S. TV series), So You Think You Can Dance''. The song was incl ...

" was featured on the television series ''

So You Think You Can Dance ''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a franchise of reality television shows in which contestants compete in dance. The first series of the franchise, created by '' Idols'' producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, premiered in July 2005 and has ...

'' in 2010, Perri signed with

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

and released her debut extended play, '' The Ocean Way Sessions''. Her debut studio album, ''

Lovestrong ''Lovestrong'' (stylized as ''lovestrong.'') is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Christina Perri. Following the release of Perri's lead single Jar of Hearts and a record deal with Atlantic Records, ''Lovestrong'' was release ...

'' (2011), followed soon after and has since been certified platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA). Perri also gained recognition for writing and recording " A Thousand Years", the

love theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical appearance for certain software. * Theme (linguistics), topic * Theme (n ...

for the film '' The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2'' (2012), which appears on the accompanying soundtrack. The song went on to sell over 10 million copies in the United States, being certified Diamond, and the official music video reached two billion views on YouTube in December 2021. She later released her second extended play, ''A Very Merry Perri Christmas'' (2012), followed by her second studio album, ''

Head or Heart A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals ...

'' (2014). After recording the

lullaby A lullaby (), or a cradle song, is a soothing song or piece of music that is usually played for (or sung to) children (for adults see music and sleep). The purposes of lullabies vary. In some societies, they are used to pass down cultural knowl ...

albums ''Songs for Carmella'' (2019) and ''Songs for Rosie'' (2021), Perri released her third studio album, ''A Lighter Shade of Blue'' (2022). In 2023, she released the albums ''Songs for Pixie'' and ''Songs for Christmas''.

Early life

Perri was born in

Bensalem, Pennsylvania Bensalem Township is a township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The township borders the northeastern section of Philadelphia and includes the communities of Andalusia, Bensalem, Bridgewater, Cornwells Heights, Eddington, Flush ...

. She is of Italian and Polish descent, and has called her family "very Italian". She has an older brother,

Nick Perri Nicholas Perri (born May 15, 1984) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and producer. He is frontman for Philadelphia rock group Nick Perri & The Underground Thieves, as well as founding member of previous groups Silvertide, Mount Holly, a ...

, who formerly played guitar with

Shinedown Shinedown is an American rock band from Jacksonville, Florida, formed by singer Brent Smith in 2001 after the dissolution of his previous band, Dreve. Smith, still under contract with record label Atlantic Records, recruited the band's original ...

Silvertide Silvertide is an American rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. History Originally named Vertigo, Silvertide was formed in January 2001 in Northeast Philadelphia. At first, the band was signed by J Records, and they released their first EP ...

Perry Farrell Perry Farrell (born Peretz Bernstein; March 29, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician referred to as the " Godfather of Alternative Music". Farrell began his career with Psi Com in the early 1980s, before becoming the frontman ...

and

Matt Sorum Matthew William Sorum (born November 19, 1960) is an American drummer. He is best known as both a former member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he recorded three studio albums, and as a member of the supergroup Velvet Revolver. ...

and cousin Dominic Perri. She graduated from Saint Ephrem Catholic School, and then from

Archbishop Ryan High School Archbishop Ryan High School is a Roman Catholic high school located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its namesake is Patrick John Ryan, who served as the second Archbishop of Philadelphia from 1884 to 1911. Established in 1966, Archbishop Ryan Hi ...

in 2004 and later attended the University of the Arts. She taught herself how to play guitar as a 16-year-old by watching a videotape of

Shannon Hoon Richard Shannon Hoon (September 26, 1967 – October 21, 1995) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He was the lead singer of the band Blind Melon from 1990 until his death in 1995. Early life Hoon was born on September 26, 1967, in ...

from the group

Blind Melon Blind Melon is an American rock band formed in 1990 in Los Angeles, California. The band consists of guitarists Rogers Stevens and Christopher Thorn, drummer Glen Graham, vocalist Travis Warren and bassist Nathan Towne. They are best known ...

performing on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

. In college she majored in communication for a year before dropping out to pursue a music career. She frequently sang and acted in musical theater as a child. Perri claims to have learned to play piano and guitar because she missed hearing music being played in the house when she moved away. According to Perri, whenever she played the guitar or piano, she would sing and "all of a sudden these songs would appear."

Career

Early career

Perri moved to Los Angeles on her 21st birthday. According to Perri, she felt terrified of being over 3,000 miles away from her family, saying that she "cried ereyes out every day." Later that year she married and began to produce music videos for a living. She divorced 18 months later and moved into a small apartment on her own to focus entirely on working on music. She moved back to Philadelphia by the end of 2009; it was during this time that she wrote "

". She later moved back to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, working as a waitress at the Melrose Cafe during the day and recording at night.

2010–2012: ''Lovestrong''

Perri's song "Jar of Hearts" was featured on ''

'' during the show of June 30, 2010 in a performance by Billy Bell and

Kathryn McCormick Kathryn McCormick (born 7 July 1990) is an American actress and dancer, noted for placing third in the sixth season of the American televised dance competition ''So You Think You Can Dance'', in which she had the highest placement for a woman o ...

. Perri's friend

Keltie Knight Keltie Colleen Knight (born January 28, 1982) is a three-time Emmy Award-winning Canadian television personality, podcast host, New York Times bestselling author, and former professional dancer. Formerly, she was the weekend co-host and correspo ...

passed the song to show choreographer

Stacey Tookey Stacey Tookey (born July 10, 1976) is a Canadian choreographer and dancer known for her frequent appearances as a resident choreographer and guest judge on the Canadian and American versions of the dance-competition reality-television show '' ...

, as Perri was unsigned at the time. Perri and Knight watched the performance in the audience. Following its exposure on the show, "Jar of Hearts" sold 48,000 digital copies in its first week, debuting on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at No. 63 and reaching No. 28 on ''Billboard''s

Hot Digital Songs The Digital Song Sales (previously named Digital Songs and Hot Digital Songs) ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Luminate and published by ''Billboard'' magazine. Although it originally started tracking so ...

. Within a month, it had sold more than 100,000 copies. The song peaked at number 17 on the Hot 100. Following the success of "Jar of Hearts", Perri signed a deal with

on July 21, 2010. She recorded an EP titled '' The Ocean Way Sessions'' that was released on November 9, 2010. The second single from Perri's debut album, "

Arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

", was released on March 15, 2011. She released her debut album, ''

'', on May 10, 2011. It debuted at number 4 on the ''Billboard'' 200, with first-week sales of 58,000 copies. In the United Kingdom, ''Lovestrong'' was the thirteenth highest selling debut album of 2011. In July 2011, Perri embarked on her first world tour, the Lovestrong Tour, which lasted for almost exactly a year and consisted of 71 dates. Perri released her single " A Thousand Years", which appeared on the soundtrack of '' The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1'', on October 18, 2011. The song debuted at number 63 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and peaked at number 31, but has been certified 4× platinum with over 4 million sales in the US alone since. The song is Perri's most successful single to date. The album's third and final single, "

Distance Distance is a numerical or occasionally qualitative measurement of how far apart objects, points, people, or ideas are. In physics or everyday usage, distance may refer to a physical length or an estimation based on other criteria (e.g. "two co ...

", was released on March 20, 2012. Perri also announced in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...

during her Lovestrong Tour that she had begun to work on her second studio album. In addition, in late 2012 Perri was the opening act for

Jason Mraz Jason Thomas Mraz ( ; born June 23, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He rose to prominence with the release of his debut studio album, ''Waiting for My Rocket to Come'' (2002), which spawned the single "The Remedy (I Won't Wo ...

's concert tour, the " Love Is a Four Letter Word Tour", across continental North America in 2012. On August 1, 2012, she announced via Facebook that ''A Very Merry Perri Christmas'' EP would be released on October 16, 2012. The album consisted of one original song, "Something About December", which served as the lead single, as well as four covers. Perri re-recorded "A Thousand Years" for '' The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 soundtrack'' with guest vocals from Steve Kazee, titled "A Thousand Years, Pt. 2". On May 14, 2013, she received the BMI award for her song "A Thousand Years" at the 61st annual BMI Pop Awards held in

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hills ...

2013–2019: ''Head or Heart'', ''Songs for Carmella''

In 2013, Perri began regularly tweeting and posting pictures on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

regarding her second studio album's progress using the

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...

"#albumtwo". In February, Perri partnered with the non-profit organization

To Write Love on Her Arms To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA) is an American nonprofit organization that aims to present hope for people struggling with addiction, depression, self-injury and thoughts of suicide, while also investing in treatment and recovery. Based in M ...

on a three-stop tour to raise money for the charity and debuted a brand new song from her second studio album, titled "I Believe", at the shows. On June 21, Perri tweeted announcing that the second album was coming together. On November 11, 2013, Perri announced that her first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from her new album is called "

Human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

". The song was released on November 18, 2013, on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

. Perri performed the song on ''

The Queen Latifah Show ''The Queen Latifah Show'' is an American television talk show hosted by Queen Latifah. The original ''The Queen Latifah Show'' ran from September 13, 1999, to August 31, 2001. The revamped ''The Queen Latifah Show'' ran from September 16, 2013, ...

'' the same day. On November 28, 2013, Perri revealed that her second studio album would be titled ''

'' and it was released on April 1, 2014. On May 29, it was announced that she would open

Demi Lovato Demetria Devonne "Demi" Lovato ( ; born August 20, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. After appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), she starred in the Disney Channel short series ...

's new North American World Tour's dates. Perri later announced that her second concert tour would be titled the Head or Heart Tour, which began in April 2014. On June 9, she released the second single from her second album, " Burning Gold". with the video released on August 1. On December 19, 2014, Perri performed in the annual "Christmas in Washington" holiday concert. In June 2016, it was announced that Perri would feature on the title track of

Lindsey Stirling Lindsey Stirling (born September 21, 1986) is an American violinist, songwriter and dancer. She presents choreographed violin performances, in live and music videos found on her official YouTube channel, which she created in 2007. Stirling per ...

's third studio album, ''

Brave Enough ''Brave Enough'' is the third studio album by American electronic musician Lindsey Stirling, released independently on the imprint Lindseystomp Records on August 19, 2016. The album features guest vocalists Christina Perri, Carah Faye, Dan + Sh ...

,'' which came out on August 19, 2016. Later, on December 14, 2018, she revealed her first lullaby album, ''Songs for Carmella: Lullabies & Sing-a-Longs'', dedicated to her daughter and released on Carmella's first birthday, January 17, 2019. On November 22, 2019, Perri also launched a deluxe version of her 2012 Christmas EP, titled ''A Very Merry Perri Christmas (Extra Presents)'', featuring additional covers of "

I'll Be Home For Christmas "I'll Be Home for Christmas" is a Christmas song written by the lyricist Kim Gannon and composer Walter Kent and recorded in 1943 by Bing Crosby, who scored a top ten hit with the song. Originally written to honor soldiers overseas who longed ...

" and "

Let It Snow "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", also known as simply "Let It Snow", is a song written by lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne in July 1945 in Hollywood, California, during a heatwave as Cahn and Styne imagined cooler conditions. ...

2021–present: ''Songs for Rosie'', ''A Lighter Shade of Blue'', and ''Songs for Pixie''

Perri released her second lullaby album, titled ''Songs for Rosie''. This album serves as a tribute to her late daughter, Rosie, and acts as a companion to ''Songs for Carmella''. It was released on November 24, 2021, coinciding with what would have been Rosie's first birthday. In March 2022, Perri released the single "Evergone" as the lead single from her forthcoming third studio album. Speaking to Philip Logan of ''ClebMix'' about the single, Perri discussed waiting a year between writing the song and its actual release, stating, "I needed to put an oxygen mask on myself first before I could then venture back out into the world to try to help others breathe a little easier too." Describing the timeline of the album's conception, Perri reveals that writing sessions actually began in 2017 but mentions that she felt there was "something missing." In the interview, Perri discusses her experience working with British singer-songwriter

Luke Sital-Singh Luke Sital-Singh is a British singer-songwriter. About He is of Indo-Jamaican descent. His first EP, entitled ''Fail for You'', was released in 2012. On 18 July 2012 Sital-Singh was the featured artist on ''The Guardians "New band of the ...

, crediting him with the album's artistic direction. She states, "We ended up writing this song called ‘Blue,’ and as soon as it was finished, my artistic instinct kicked in, and I saw the whole vision for how I wanted the record to be." The album, ''A Lighter Shade of Blue'', was released by

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

on July 15, 2022. In August of 2024, Perri announced that she was in the process of writing a children's book based on her 2011 song, "A Thousand Years". Speaking to ''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

'' about the book, Perri noted, "I decided to make lullaby albums because that's what I'm singing to my girls, and so I make a lullaby version of 'A Thousand Years', and now everybody's playing that on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

." She added, "People played the original to their kids long before I decided to sing it to my own kids... It just happened so naturally..." Ultimately, she concluded, "...It kind of felt like the most natural thing to do to make it a kid's book." The book is scheduled for release on April 1, 2025.

Personal life

Perri and Paul Costabile became engaged in June 2017 and were married on December 12, 2017. In August 2017, Perri announced she was pregnant with their first child. Perri gave birth to their daughter Carmella Stanley in January 2018. In January 2020, Perri said she was "completely heartbroken" after suffering a miscarriage at 11 weeks. In July, Perri announced she was pregnant for a third time. On November 10, 2020, Perri said she was experiencing pregnancy complications, and two weeks later, Perri revealed that her daughter was

stillborn Stillbirth is typically defined as fetal death at or after 20 or 28 weeks of pregnancy, depending on the source. It results in a baby born without signs of life. A stillbirth can often result in the feeling of guilt or grief in the mother. T ...

, stating: "She is at peace now and will live forever in our hearts." In May 2022, Perri announced she was pregnant for a fourth time. Perri gave birth to their daughter Pixie Rose in October 2022.

Bibliography

* ''A Thousand Years'' (2025)

Discography

*''

'' (2011) *''

'' (2014) *''Songs for Carmella: Lullabies & Sing-a-Longs'' (2019) *''Songs for Rosie'' (2021) *''A Lighter Shade of Blue'' (2022) *''Songs for Pixie'' (2023) *''Songs for Christmas'' (2023)

Awards and nominations

{, class=wikitable , - ! Year !! Awards !! Work !! Category !! Result , - , rowspan=2, 2011 , MP3 Music Awards , rowspan=2, "

" , The BNC Award , , - , 4Music Video Honours , Best Video , , - , rowspan=3, 2013 , BMI Pop Awards , rowspan=2, " A Thousand Years" , Award-Winning Song , , - , rowspan=2, Musicnotes.com Song of the Year Awards , Song of the Year , , - , Herself , Publisher of the Year ,

Concert tours

;Headlining * Lovestrong Tour (2011–2012) * Head or Heart Tour (2014) ;Co-Headlining * Girls Night Out, Boys Can Come Too Tour (with

Colbie Caillat Colbie Marie Caillat ( ; born May 28, 1985) is an American singer-songwriter. She rose to fame on the social networking website Myspace in 2005. She signed with Universal Republic Records to release her debut studio album, '' Coco'' (2007), w ...

and

Rachel Platten Rachel Ashley Platten (born May 20, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter and author. After releasing two albums independently in 2003 and 2011, she signed with Columbia Records in 2015 and released her mainstream debut single, "Fight Song (Ra ...

) (2015) ;Opening act *Love Is a Four Letter Word Tour (2012) *

Demi World Tour The Demi World Tour was the fourth headlining concert tour and second worldwide tour by American singer Demi Lovato. It was her second tour in support of her fourth studio album ''Demi'' (2013), following The Neon Lights Tour. During most of the ...

(2014) *

Native Tour The Native Tour (also known as the Native Summer Tour in North America or as the Native Fall Tour in Europe) is the third headlining concert tour by American Pop rock band OneRepublic, in support of their third studio album ''Native'' (2013). One ...

(2014) * x Tour (2015) *Billy Joel @ Citizen Bank Park (2016) *Ed Sheeran Tour (2016)

References

Notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perri, Christina 1986 births Living people American women singer-songwriters American people of Polish descent American people of Italian descent Atlantic Records artists Singers from Philadelphia People from Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania Singer-songwriters from Pennsylvania 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American women singers