English singer-songwriter and television personality best known as a member of girl group Atomic Kitten from 1998 until her first departure in 2001 and again from 2012 until her second departure in 2017.
Katona was the winner of the third series of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! in 2004, making her the first queen of the jungle, and was runner-up of Celebrity Big Brother 8 in 2011.
As a child she was placed in care and brought up by four sets of foster parents and attended eight different schools. She left school at sixteen to become a lap dancer, then joined a dance troupe that toured Europe.
In 1999, 18-year-old Katona rose to fame as a member of Atomic Kitten, an all-female pop trio created by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark frontman Andy McCluskey. The other original members were Natasha Hamilton and Liz McClarnon. Their debut single, “Right Now”, was released in late November 1999 and reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart. Their second single, “See Ya”, followed in March 2000 and was an even bigger success, reaching number six.
The single, “Whole Again”, became their first number one hit in the United Kingdom and stayed at the top for four consecutive weeks. Due to this success, “Whole Again” was released globally and reached number one in 18 other countries, including six weeks in Germany and New Zealand. The song and video for “Whole Again” originally featured Kerry Katona but she left the group several days before the single’s release because she was pregnant. Former Precious singer Jenny Frost replaced Katona in the lineup and the single was re-recorded.
After marrying Brian McFadden and taking his surname, Katona moved into television work, appearing on and presenting a mix of light-entertainment programmes such as Britain’s Sexiest…, Loose Women, and elimiDATE. In February 2004, she won the third series of the British reality TV show I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!.
On separating from McFadden in September 2004 she reverted to her maiden name.
Between 2007 and 2009, Katona was the subject of three MTV reality shows: Kerry Katona: Crazy in Love, Kerry Katona: Whole Again, and Kerry Katona: What’s the Problem? From a peak audience of 500,000 for Kerry Katona: Crazy in Love, viewership for Kerry Katona: What’s the Problem?, a series about Katona’s bipolar disorder, slumped to just 19,000 and MTV dropped her in August 2009.
Katona was the first housemate to enter the Big Brother House for the 2011 series of Celebrity Big Brother alongside Amy Childs and Tara Reid and others. She was voted the runner-up in the final after Paddy Doherty on 8 September 2011.
Katona has five children from three marriages. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2005 and has been campaigning to increase awareness of mental health problems. Katona also has dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Link to Wikipedia biography