Perry was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. Growing up in an artistic and musical household, Perry displayed musical talent and interest from an early age. Despite struggling with kidney disease and then drug addiction, she still focused on music. Her mother is Brazilian (Marluce Martins Perry) and her father was Portuguese (Alfred Xavier Perry).\n', '

In early 1986, at the age of 21, Perry moved to San Francisco. As a teenager in San Diego, she had pursued an interest in music, playing the guitar and auditioning for all-girl cover bands. Her arrival in San Francisco would mark the beginning of a career in music, though not before waiting tables, working coat-check, and working at a pizzeria.[citation needed] In San Francisco, Perry lived in a small, windowless room, and would play her guitar and sing her own songs on city streets. \n', '

After some time spent performing solo at Bay Area (San Francisco) clubs and coffeehouses, Perry composed her first professional song, called "Down On Your Face," and was recruited into the band 4 Non Blondes by its founder Christa Hillhouse in the middle of 1989. After several years of playing locally and negotiating with various record companies, the band finally signed with Interscope Records and released its debut album, Bigger, Better, Faster, More! on October 9, 1992. The album, featuring Perry as lead singer and dominated by her compositions, was an immediate success and spawned a hit single, the Perry-penned "What\'s Up?" (often erroneously called "What\'s Going On?" after its prominent chorus lyric).\n', '

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