CYN

It's not every day that the girl-next-door winds up being signed by one of the world's biggest pop stars, but that once-in-a-lifetime scenario is exactly what happened to Cynthia Nabozny when Katy Perry fell head over heels in love with her voice after a chance encounter. Nabozny – who has since adopted the artist name CYN – grew up in Michigan, outside Detroit. After her parents' divorce, CYN, her younger sister and her mom moved to a small house near the lake, a few miles from her dad. CYN's suburban life encouraged her to be a good student, embarking on a path to getting a decent steady job that pays the bills. Certainly something a career in songwriting could not guarantee. “I wanted the typical American life,” she says today. “I didn't know I'd have certain opportunities back then.”