Christina Perri

Christina Perri first captured widespread attention in 2010 through the soulful Top 20 single “Jar of Hearts,” which showcased her knack for embedding instantly memorable choruses within acoustic, story-driven verses. That approach positioned her between the intimate folk-pop terrain occupied by Jewel and Norah Jones and the polished, mainstream sparkle of Katy Perry and Sara Bareilles. Her debut full-length, Lovestrong, reached the upper tier of the Billboard 200 in 2011, and she repeated the feat three years later with Head or Heart. The 2019 release songs for carmella: lullabies & sing-a-longs coincided with her daughter’s first birthday, while songs for rosie, issued in 2021, paid tribute to the daughter she lost before birth. Perri returned to adult-oriented material the next year with her third studio album, A Lighter Shade of Blue.

Raised in the Philadelphia suburbs, she immersed herself in musical theater during childhood and picked up guitar and piano as a teenager. Her older brother, Nick Perri, has performed guitar with Shinedown, Silvertide, and Perry Farrell. After one year of college she left to focus on music, moved to Los Angeles, and took work producing music videos. A short-lived marriage ended before she returned to Philadelphia in 2009, the period when she composed “Jar of Hearts.”

Once back in Los Angeles she was waiting tables when a friend passed the song to choreographer Stacey Tookey, who featured it on a June 2010 episode of So You Think You Can Dance. The piano ballad entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 63 and climbed to number 17. Within weeks Atlantic Records signed her, and The Ocean Way Sessions appeared that November, spending one week at number 144 on the Billboard 200. Lovestrong arrived in May 2011, peaked at number four in the United States, and reached the Top Ten in the U.K., Australia, and Germany. During this stretch she toured alongside James Blunt. “A Thousand Years,” recorded for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Pt. 1 soundtrack, entered the Top 40 that October.

In 2012 she issued the holiday EP A Very Merry Perri Christmas, which charted at number 98. She then worked with producers Martin Johnson, Jake Gosling, John Hill, and Butch Walker on her sophomore album. Lead single “Human” reached the Top 40, and Head or Heart debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 and number eight in the U.K. in April 2014 while she supported Demi Lovato on the road. Perri co-headlined dates with Colbie Caillat and Rachel Platten in 2015 and joined Lindsey Stirling on the title track of Brave Enough the following year. She married Paul Costabile in December 2017. songs for carmella: lullabies & sing-a-longs appeared in January 2019 and was dedicated to her daughter, then one year old. After enduring multiple pregnancy complications, songs for rosie arrived in late 2021. A Lighter Shade of Blue, her third studio album, followed in 2022.