Echo (trademarked ECHO in capitals) is a German music award granted every year by the Deutsche Phono-Akademie (an association of recording companies). Each year's winner is determined by the previous year's sales. The Echo Deutscher Musikpreis is the successor to the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis (German Record Awards).

The winners in the pop category are announced in March; the winners in the classical category in October.

First held with 350 people in the Flora in Cologne in 1992, the award ceremony in Frankfurt was televised and the classical awards were moved to a separate event, Echo Klassik, in Cologne in 1994. Until 1995, only invited guests could attend the ceremony. It was held in Munich, and in 2001, the venue was moved from Hamburg to Berlin because of subsidies of up to 20 million euros, although a return in 2004 was considered. In 2009, the venue in Berlin was moved to O2 World.

The trophy was designed by Oliver Renelt when he was a student at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg. It is stainless steel, and is 40 centimetres (16 in) tall and weighs 2 kilograms (4.4 lb). It depicts half a disc with notes flowing into it from a globe, and the design was the winner of a competition held for that purpose.

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known by her stage name Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Perry grew up with gospel music, and during her first year of high school she pursued a music career as Katy Hudson, releasing her first studio album called Katy Hudson which failed to chart. She recorded a solo album later, which was never released. After signing with Capitol Music Group in 2007, her fourth record label in seven years, she adopted the stage name Katy Perry.

She first gained recognition with the release of her first mainstream album, One of the Boys in 2008, which spawned three Billboard Hot 100 top-ten songs—"I Kissed A Girl", "Hot n Cold" and "Waking Up In Vegas". Perry supported the album with her Hello Katy Tour. In 2010, her third studio album, Teenage Dream (2010), which topped the Billboard 200 chart, and spawned five number one singles—"California Gurls", "Teenage Dream", "Firework", "E.T." and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)"—Teenage Dream was the only album (after Michael Jackson's Bad)—to do so, and the first female in history to achieve this milestone. She embarked on the California Dreams Tour, which grossed nearly $60 million worldwide. Perry re-released the album under the name of Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection on March 26, 2012, and the re-release has already spawned the number-one single "Part of Me".

Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1986), better known by her stage name Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Raised in upstate New York, Del Rey moved to New York City at age eighteen, where she attended college and began writing music and performing in clubs.

In 2008, Del Rey contracted with an independent label and recorded a self-titled debut album which was briefly available on iTunes in 2010; Del Rey ultimately bought back the rights to the album and it was withdrawn soon after.

In June 2011, she released the song "Video Games" on the Internet, accompanied by a self-made music video that went viral in the following months. The song was later released as a single in October, leading up to Del Rey's major-label debut album, Born to Die, which was released on January 31, 2012 through Interscope Records. Born to Die debuted at number one in seven countries, including the United Kingdom and Australia. The album has spawned two worldwide top 10 hits: "Video Games" and "Born to Die".

Marilyn Manson (born Brian Hugh Warner; January 5, 1969) is an American musician, artist and former music journalist known for his controversial stage persona and image as the lead singer of the eponymous band Marilyn Manson. His stage name was formed from juxtaposing the names of two 1960s American cultural icons, namely actress Marilyn Monroe and convicted multiple murder convictCharles Manson as a critical and, simultaneously, laudatory appraisal of America and its peculiar culture. The seemingly outrageous styles for which he models and the controversy surrounding his lyrics have led to his public appeal.

Marilyn Manson was born in Canton, Ohio. He is the only child of Barbra Warner (maiden name Wyer) and Hugh Warner. Manson is of Polish and German descent on his father's side, and is a fourth cousin twice removed of Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan. In his autobiography The Long Hard Road Out of Hell, he detailed his grandfather's sexual fetishes (including bestiality and sadomasochism) which led to the forming of Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids.