Nicole Prescovia Elikolani Valiente Scherzinger[1] (also known as Nicole Kea; born June 29, 1978) is an American pop singer, songwriter, dancer, model, and occasional actress best known as the lead vocalist for the Pussycat Dolls.[1] She took the surname Scherzinger when she was adopted by her stepfather.
Early life
Scherzinger was born in Honolulu to a Filipino father and an Hawaiian/Russian mother.[2] Her mother Rosemary was eighteen at the time of Scherzinger's birth and lived in an inner city neighborhood and separated from her father when she was a baby. The family moved to Louisville, Kentucky when she was six years old,[3][4] with her sister Ke'ala and her German-American stepfather Gary Scherzinger.[4] She stated she had a "conservative Catholic" upbringing.[5] Scherzinger began her life as a performer in Louisville, attending the Youth Performing Arts School at duPont Manual High School and performing with Actors Theatre of Louisville.[4] As a teenager, she was the first runner-up at the 1996 Kentucky State Fair's Coca-Cola Talent Classic contest.[6] Scherzinger majored in theater arts at Wright State University but put her studies on hold in 1999 to sing backing vocals for the rock band Days of the New.[7]
Early career
Scherzinger appeared on the second album by Days of the New, released in 1999. She also recorded two songs with Barry Drake's F.O.B, which were released in 2001. In 2001, Scherzinger competed in the premiere season of The WB's television show Popstars, on which she earned a spot in the all-girl pop group Eden's Crush. She became one of the main vocalists for the group. The group's 2001 single "Get Over Yourself (Goodbye)" peaked at number one in sales and hit the top ten on Billboard Hot 100. "Love This Way" was the second single chosen from the Popstars album; however, their record company, London-Sire Records, folded and the group eventually disbanded. Songwriter Kara DioGuardi contributed one track to the album, and later went on to co-write with Scherzinger for PCD, Doll Domination and Her Name Is Nicole.
In November 2007, Scherzinger spoke of her time in Eden's Crush
| “ | ...It was hell... I was in a band with five other girls and every day was torture for me. We were on TV all the time and the atmosphere was awful.... Every day I was in that band I cried my eyes out. The band was meant to be fun and frivolous but the reality was that it was miserable.... I was too sensitive back then, but I got toughened up. I couldn't have gone into the Dolls without my experience in Crush.[8] | ” |
After the disbanding of Eden's Crush, Scherzinger made a few promotional solo appearances under the stage name of Nicole Kea, including covering "Breakfast in Bed" for the soundtrack to 50 First Dates in 2003. This track was produced by Nick Hexum who was her boyfriend for three years.[9]
Scherzinger worked with Yoshiki of Japanese rock band X Japan on in his Violet UK project. She sang the English version of "I'll Be Your Love" live with the Tokyo Symphonic Orchestra. The track also appeared on the 2003 Various Artists album Exposition of Global Harmony.
Pussycat Dolls
In May 2003, Scherzinger joined the Pussycat Dolls burlesque troupe, who were being re-cast as recording artists. She had first seen them performing on The Late Show with David Letterman in November 2002, where Carmen Electra sang "Big Spender" from the Bob Fosse musical Sweet Charity. In 2006, Scherzinger said "It caught my eye because I’d played Velma Kelly in [Fosse's] Chicago in college."[10] The Pussycat Dolls now have worldwide status as a popular singing group, with "Don't Cha", "Buttons", "Stickwitu" and "When I Grow Up" as Top 10 hits in the U.S.. The album PCD went double-platinum in 2006. Scherzinger sang nearly all lead vocals on the album, with Carmit Bachar and Melody Thornton also contributing.
Scherzinger is the only group member with songwriting credits on PCD; she co-wrote "I Don't Need a Man" with Kara DioGuardi and producer Rich Harrison, and co-wrote "Buttons" with producer Sean Garrett. Another collaboration with DioGuardi, "Flirt", became a B-side to "Stickwitu" and a bonus track on PCD.
In 2006, Scherzinger toured with the Pussycat Dolls for their album promotion. It was revealed in 2006 that the Dolls are salaried employees of Interscope Records, giving the label a high level of control over the group's finances and business decisions.
She was ranked at number 22 on Maxim's Hot 100 in 2006 and 21 in 2007.[11]
Scherzinger appeared on the March 2008 cover of Men's Fitness magazine.[12] She was called the lead or "Queen Doll". As with PCD, Scherzinger is the only group member to have songwriting credits on the second Dolls' album Doll Domination.
Following the popularity of "Don't Cha" and the continuing rise of the Pussycat Dolls, Scherzinger recorded a series of duets or "guest appearances", predominantly with male vocalists. In 2005, she appeared on recordings by Shaggy, Vittorio Grigolo, and Will Smith.
2006-2007
In 2006 she sang on Avant's single "Lie About Us" , and P.Diddy's hit "Come to Me" (which she also co-wrote). Other appearances are listed in her discography.
Scherzinger worked on her debut album from 2006-2007 with record producers including will.i.am, Timbaland, Kara DioGuardi, and Bryan-Michael Cox. Scherzinger announced in a March 17, 2007 interview that the album would be called "Her Name is Nicole"; It was originally slated for a 2007 release, a full tracklisting was posted at commercial sites,[13] and four singles were released but the album was put on hold in late 2007/early 2008.
Her first solo single, "Whatever U Like", featuring rapper T.I., was released in July 2007. The song was unsuccessful commercially and with critics, and it was soon announced that "Baby Love" (released September 2007) would replace "Whatever U Like" as the "lead single" from the album. Media reports commented on the fact that both Interscope's and Scherzinger's official websites started in September 2007 to refer to "Baby Love" as her first single.[14] After both these singles were unsuccessful in North America ("Baby Love" charted well in Europe and Brazil however), a poll was placed on Scherzinger's website, asking fans to vote for the third single. Choices included: "Supervillain", "Happily Never After", "Who's Gonna Love You", and "Power's Out". On November 28 the poll was updated and the songs "Power's Out" and "Supervillain" were removed and replaced with "Puakenikeni" and "Physical". It was announced via the website on December 10 that "Puakenikeni" was to be the next official single to be taken from the album, subsequently "Supervillain" and "Puakenikeni" were both released as iTunes downloads only.[15][16] As with Scherzinger's earlier solo singles, they failed to make any impact on the U.S. charts. Following this, Interscope announced that Scherzinger's album would be put on hold, and she said she would continue to record new tracks.
2008
In April 2008, Scherzinger recorded a cover version of "Rio" by Duran Duran for an advertising campaign for Unilever's Caress brand of body wash. A commercial video was released,[17] and the single was released via download only, after May 2008.[18] In 2008, in support of Barack Obama, she was one of many musicians to contribute to a track by will.i.am called "Yes We Can". Also on September 5, 2008, Scherzinger joined an all-star cast to perform the charity song "Just Stand Up" on live TV. This is currently Scherzinger's last performance as a solo artist before embarking on the Pussycat Dolls new World Tour.
Speaking about the delayed release of her solo album, in September 2008 Scherzinger said "Despite what other people might write, it was my decision, ultimately. I actually put some of my solo songs on the Pussycat Dolls' new album Doll Domination. Everything is all about timing. I believe it will come out next year, and it will be able to coexist wonderfully with the Dolls' album. It's completely separate from what you've heard with "Baby Love" and "Whatever U Like," and I'm still working on it — that's what happens when you're a perfectionist."[19]
In October 2008, she was invited to promote Clear Shampoo and Conditioner through a commercial, succeeding Rain who also endorsed Clear Shampoo and Conditioner. Both commercials were reportedly aired throughout Southeast Asia. In 2008, she also had done a commercial with Lebron James in a sneaker commercial. In 2006 She had also made a "Bench Body" (a clothing brand) commercial in the Philippines which was promoting underwear for "Bench Body".
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicole_Scherzinger
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