Katy Perry Pays Tribute to Angelica Cob-Baehler: ‘One of My Biggest Champions and Realest Friends’

By Jem Aswad

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Six days after veteran music executive Angelica Cob-Baehler passed away after a long battle with cancer , Katy Perry paid tribute to her in a long and heartfelt Instagram post, calling her “one of my biggest champions and realest friends.”

The two met when Cob-Baehler was a VP at Columbia Records and Perry had recorded an album for the label that was never released. Cob-Baehler subsequently took a job at the EMI Music Group and played a major role in bringing the young singer to EMI’s Capitol Records. She contributed significantly to the A&R and creative direction of Perry’s breakthrough album, “One of the Boys,” and its multiplatinum follow-up, “Teenage Dreams.”

At the end of the long post, which also includes several photos of them together and a video of Cob-Baehler talking about her role in bringing the singer to Capitol, Perry asked her 73.7 million followers to make a donation to Cob-Baehler’s favorite charity, Generosity.org .

“We had a lot of wins together for over 10 years, and I am incredibly grateful she was a born fighter/no sh—taker because she practically willed me into existence as a young artist when she ‘stole my files’ from limbo at Columbia Records and brought them to life at Capitol Records,” she wrote. “She was like a big sister to me, showing me the ropes and always having my back. She never became a yes-person and was quick to check me when I needed checking – that was family.”

Perry also explained her delay in paying tribute, writing, “I have procrastinated posting this because it makes it feel a little too final, but I don’t believe people ever really die – she just had to leave that body behind.”

Read Perry’s post below; see Variety’s obituary of Cob-Baehler here .