One of her first big TV appearances was as a singer with Christian band P.O.D. on The Tonight Show in 2006.
Footage of that performance has been making the rounds online (watch below), and has been presented by some as P.O.D. with Perry as a 'back-up singer' - a description the band disputes. As guitarist Marcos Curiel said in a statement to Rolling Stone:
"This is revisionist history and disrespectful to our girl Katy who was NEVER a backup singer...We invited her to participate on our record as she was and is still is one of the few pop artists with strong musicianship roots."
The story about Katy Perry & P.O.D. has recently gone viral, but she had another notable interaction with Christian music. In the early 2000s, Katy dated Matthew Thiessen of Relient K.
Perry even made an appearance on stage with the group a few times, such as in her stage diving at a 2003 concert:
Thiessen also found his way into her music. He appears in the demo video for her song "Longshot," playing guitar.
h/t Billboard & New Release Today
