Nicole Scherzinger

Nicole Prescovia Elikolani Valiente Scherzinger (born June 29, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer and occasional actress who is best known as the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls.

Previously, Scherzinger was part of reality TV girlgroup Eden's Crush and despite minor chart successes she left due to being unhappy. She then joined the Pussycat Dolls when they were a burlesque troupe before taking the role of lead singer when the group became a recording group. So far, the Pussycat Dolls have released two successful albums, PCD and Doll Domination , with two supporting tours.

Biography

Scherzinger was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her biological father, Alfonso Valiente is Filipino, whereas her mother, Rosemary is Hawaiian and Russian descent. In an interview Scherzinger said "I’m Filipino-Russian-Hawaiian, but people think I’m from Pakistan."

Her mother Rosemary was eighteen at the time of Scherzinger's birth and lived in an inner city neighborhood. Nicole's parents separated when she was still a baby. Her maternal family moved to Louisville, Kentucky when she was six years old, with her sister Ke'ala and her German-American stepfather Gary Scherzinger.

In an interview with The Daily Mail Scherzinger explained that she had been brought up with a strict religious (Catholic) upbringing in Hawaii. She first attended Meyzeek Middle School as an adolescent. Growing up, Scherzinger states that she didn't have a lot of money and the singer thanks her mom for all the support she gave her to become what she is today. Scherzinger began performing in Louisville, attending the Youth Performing Arts School at duPont Manual High School and performing with Actors Theatre of Louisville.

As a teenager, Scherzinger was the first runner-up at the 1996 Kentucky State Fair's Coca-Cola Talent Classic contest. She also was the Queen for the Louisville Barrio Fiesta, a celebration of all Filpinos in the area. Scherzinger majored in acting and musical theatre at Wright State University, where she played Velma Kelly in Chicago and Julie La Verne in Show Boat , but put her studies on hold in 1999 to sing backing vocals for the rock band Days of the New.

Early career and Eden's Crush

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. Their 2001 US single "Get Over Yourself (Goodbye)" peaked at number one in sales and hit the top ten on Billboard Hot 100. They toured in support of both *NSync and Jessica Simpson. "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

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.

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

Main article: 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 Chicago in college." In one interview she spoke of her role with the Pussycat dolls stating that it was a "challenge fronting the group" but that "every girl has something different to bring and add to the success".

The Pussycat Dolls 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 United States. 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. 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.

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 bonus track on PCD and later became a B-side to "Buttons." As with PCD , Scherzinger is the only group member to have songwriting credits on the second Dolls' album Doll Domination .

Along with the Pussycat Dolls, Scherzinger was asked by Ron Fair to record the English version of "Jai Ho", the hit song from the film Slumdog Millionaire . The new version titled "Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)" was released to iTunes on February 23 2009, and elsewhere worldwide on February 24. A video accompanying the song has been shot at a Vienna train station and was released worldwide on March 13, 2009. She along with member Melody Thornton are currently the only members in the Pussycat dolls

Solo career

The success of PCD brought Scherzinger into the media spotlight and she went on to record a series of duets/guest vocals with a wide array of male vocalists. In 2005, she appeared on recordings by Shaggy, Vittorio Grigolo and Will Smith. In 2006 she sang co-lead vocals with Avant on his single "Lie About Us" , and Diddy's hit "Come to Me" (which she also co-wrote). Other appearances are listed in discography. In the biography section of her official website she says that everyone recognises her from the Pussycat Dolls's debut single "Dont Cha" which although amazing doesn't fulfill her musical desires. When asked what she intended to achieve with her solo career she commented "Some people only have their glasses half full, but there was never a limit to mine." The purpose of the album was to appeal to younger audiences, show them "the heart of Nicole" and show that she is "not always strong and fearless".

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, and the single was released via download only, after May 2008. 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. Scherzinger performed "America the Beautiful" at WWE's WrestleMania XXV in Houston, TX at the Reliant Stadium on April 5, 2009. Nicole Scherzinger performed with guitarist Slash on October 2 in Las Vegas. Nicole has confirmed that she has done one song with Slash for his solo album Slash to be released in April 2010. In February 1, 2010 along with other artists Nicole had re-recorded We are the World, a charity single for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The song debuted during NBC's coverage of the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics. It was released as a single on iTunes in February 12, 2010 accompanied by the music video.

Solo album ( Her Name Is Nicole )

From 2006 until late 2008 Scherzinger had been working on her debut album which was titled Her Name Is Nicole . She told MTV "I've always said that in the Pussycat Dolls, I kind of feel like Superwoman. But that's just one of my alter egos. I've got the vulnerable, lovesick side of me amongst others which all appear on my record." She recorded/wrote approximately 100 songs for the album which was supposed to be released in 2007 before being pushed to October 16, 2008 and later into 2009 before being shelved.

The album saw Scherzinger work with a wide roster of producers and song writers some of whom had worked with Scherzinger for albums with the Pussycat Dolls. Sean Garrett and Polow da Don worked on "Whatever U Like" (featuring T.I.) which was released as the album's lead single on July 24, 2007 but deemed unsuccessful reaching just 57 in Canada and number 104 in the US. "Baby Love" was the second single released on September 10, 2007. Although well received and compared to the Pussycat Dolls' song "Stickwitu" the track did not chart well in the US. Internationally the single fared well reaching Top 15 in most countries including the UK, and mainland Europe. It was remixed to be included on Doll Domination as a bonus track. The third single "Supervillain" was described as having a "danceable jam with a catchy chorus" and featured a reggae–dancehall interlude. Written by Rock City and produced by Mad Scientist it was only releas