Life and careerChildhood and youth:
Kesha was born in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles to Pebe Sebert, a singer and songwriter. Her mother, a single parent, looked after infant Kesha onstage while performing. Pebe was struggling financially while supporting Kesha and her older brother, Lagan, at the time and they had to rely on welfare payments and supplemental nutrition assistance to get by. Pebe moved the family to Nashville, Tennessee in 1991 after securing a publishing deal. She often brought Kesha and her brothers, Lagan and Louis, along to recording studios and encouraged Kesha to sing. Pebe also taught Kesha how to write songs and they would often write songs together when she returned home from high school.
The Sebert family was featured in an episode of The Simple Life in 2005. Kesha was already working on her music and giving out demos by then. She described herself in an interview as being "very studious" in high school; she would often drive to Belmont University to listen to Cold War history classes after school and achieved near perfect SAT scores. However, she dropped out at the age of seventeen, after being convinced by Dr. Luke and Max Martin to return to Los Angeles and pursue a music career. She independently earned her high-school diploma. Dr. Luke and Martin had come across her demos and were so impressed that they began flying her to New York and Los Angeles to record music and to sign her to Dr. Luke's label and music publishing company.
Career beginnings: 2005-2009While in Los Angeles, Kesha had the opportunity to sing background vocals for Paris Hilton's single, "Nothing in This World," which led to a later incident in which she vomited in Hilton's closet. Dr. Luke and Kesha later became estranged, with Kesha eventually signing with David Sonenberg's management company, DAS. She worked with several top writers and producers while at the company and credits the creation of her beat-driven sound to a co-writing session with Greg Wells. She also co-wrote The Veronicas' single, "This Love" with Toby Gad. She had wanted Prince to produce her music, so she located and trespassed into his Beverly Hills home. Once discovered, she was thrown out, but not before she left her demo with Prince, who did not contact her afterward. She later remarked that, "I felt it was harmless at the time, but looking back it was pretty psychotic."
Kesha survived on a low income; she moonlighted as a waitress and a telemarketer to make ends meet while furthering her music career in the studio. DAS was shopping a label for her and attracted the attention of Kara Dioguardi, who wanted to sign her to Warner. The deal fell through due to Kesha's existing contract with Dr. Luke's label. She soon left DAS and reunited with Dr. Luke. She later sang background vocals for Britney Spears' song "Lace and Leather" and appeared in the video for Katy Perry's single, "I Kissed a Girl." Her appearance in the video arose due to her friendship with Perry; they met frequently as aspiring pop singers in Los Angeles and shared many musical collaborators.
Kesha gained exposure in the mainstream media in early 2009 after appearing on Flo Rida's number one single, "Right Round." The collaboration was called "an accident" by Kesha; she had walked into a recording session with Flo Rida and Dr. Luke, who was producing the song. Flo Rida had wanted a female voice for the song, Kesha was then suggested for the part by Dr. Luke. Flo Rida liked the end result so much that they did two more songs. Kesha is not credited for her feature on "Right Round"and did not collect any money for the part. She also refused to appear in the video because she knew it would not sync with her own image; she explained in an interview that, "[i]f you want to be a legitimate artist, it’s more important what you say no to. I knew he would want me to be some sexpot, shake my booty, and whatever." The song soon achieved success worldwide while Kesha continued to live on a meager income, which inspired the dollar sign in her stage name. She states that it was meant to be ironic, in that she "actually [stood] for the opposite of putting a lot of emphasis on money."
Animal: 2009–presentSoon after, it was announced that Kesha had signed with RCA Records through Dr. Luke, after being sought after by many major labels, and was working on her debut album. On March 27, 2009, she appeared onstage alongside 3OH!3 at a concert at Avalon Hollywood to perform their duet, "My First Kiss". She later made her official stage debut at that year's Lollapalooza as part of the BMI Stage, with Time Out Chicago saying that the set was "cheap, extremely short, and left the audience wanting more. Just like crack." Her debut single, "Tik Tok", had been released digitally in the US in early August, and was sent to radio two months later in October. By then, Kesha had co-written the title song for Miley Cyrus' The Time of Our Lives EP, made appearances on Pitbull and Taio Cruz's albums, and appeared on the cover of Women's Wear Daily.
A number one placing in New Zealand for "Tik Tok" gave Kesha her first number one; this was followed by number one positions ten other countries. It also reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first number one of the decade, and reached top five in several countries. For its second week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, "Tik Tok" set the female download record and became the second best-selling single in a week, after "Right Round", for shifting 610,000 copies. At its fifth week at the top, it broke the record for the highest weekly plays on the radio airplay chart. Spending eight weeks at number one, the song became the longest running number one debut single by a female artist since Debby Boone's 1977 single "You Light Up My Life".
Kesha had earlier supported Calvin Harris on tour in the UK and toured with Mickey Avalon in the US. She also performed at Madison Square Garden on December 11, 2009 for the Z100 Jingle Ball. Her debut album, Animal, was released on January 5, 2010 in the US to mixed reviews from music critics. Rolling Stone called the album "repulsive, obnoxious and ridiculously catchy." The album sold 152,000 copies in its first week in the US, debuting at number one. She was announced as one of the acts for the revival of Lilith Fair and presented with singer Justin Bieber at the 52nd Grammy Awards. Second single, "Blah Blah Blah" managed to debut on the charts in the US, Canada and Ireland before being announced as the next single due to strong digital sales following the release of the album. Kesha will make her debut Saturday Night Live appearance on April 17, 2010 as the musical guest.
