Nicole Scherzinger

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

Biography

Scherzinger was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to a Filipino father and a Russian/Hawaiian mother. 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 upbringing in Hawaii. She first attended Meyzeek Middle School as an adolescent. Growing up, Nicole 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. It is here that she first met her long time friend, actress Liz Davito.

As a teenager, Scherzinger was the first runner-up at the 1996 Kentucky State Fair's Coca-Cola Talent Classic contest. Scherzinger majored in acting and musical theatre at Wright State University, where she played Velma 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."

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 a bonus track on PCD and later became a B-side to "Buttons" and . 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 . That movie received positive reviews. 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. Jessica Sutta, member of the dolls, has stated that dolls are due to start recording their 3rd album.

Solo career

Following the success of PCD Scherzinger recorded a series of duets and guest vocal appearances, predominantly with male artists. 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 her discography.

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 WrestleMania XXV in Houston, TX at the Reliant Stadium on April 5, 2009.

From 2006 until late 2008 Scherzinger had been working on her debut album which was titled Her Name Is Nicole . She recorded/wrote approximately 100 songs for the album which was supposed to be released in 2007 before being pushed back several times into 2008. On the album she had worked with will.i.am, Timbaland, Kara DioGuardi, Ne-Yo and Pharrell Williams, Macy Gray, Akon, Busta Rhymes, and Sting. Songs explored many different themes and genres including love on the songs "Power's out" (duet with Sting) and "Baby Love" but also experimental sounds on the Hawaiian heritage-inspired "Puakenikeni" and synthesised drum beats on the Timbaland-assisted "Physical". Other known recordings included the ballad "Just Say Yes" written by Gary Lightbody and the disco-mowtown inspired "Supervillain". Between July and December 2007 four unsuccessful singles were released despite the album never materializing. "Whatever U Like" featured rapper T.I. failed to ignite the charts and garnered poor reviews from critics, it was later branded a club/buzz single. "Baby Love" was released as the project's new lead single and despite heavy promotion it was not commercially successful in the US although it was somewhat successful in Europe where it peaked at top 20 in several countries including the UK. "Puakenikeni" was released as a download-only third single for the US featuring rapping duo Brick & Lace but failed to chart and make any major radio playlists. US iTunes also released the fourth single "Supervillain" which did not better than the previous single.

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."

Doubt was cast over the future of the album when the Pussycat Dolls released their second album Doll Domination which featured some of the songs which had inititally been recorded for Scherzinger's own album. "Happily Never After" and "Who's Gonna Love You" were placed directly on the album whereas additional vocals were added to "When I Grow Up" before it was released as the album's lead single. Christina Milian picked up the song "Punch You In Your Sleep" which she has re-recorded for her fourth studio album Elope . Furthermore it was revealed that Keri Hilson (a writer who has been hevaily involved in writing for the Pussycat Dolls) had written a song called "Alienated" for Scherzinger, however when the album was delayed and shelved Hilson reclaimed the song and instead recorded the song for her own debut studio album In a Perfect World... Reviews later went on to give the song critical acclaim for its "electro-blips and whispery raps that are alluring." In September 2009 it was confirmed that the song "Just Say Yes" which also recived critical acclaim at early album listening parties was reclaimed by its writer Gary Lightbody who has since re-tooled and reworked the song. It will now be released as the lead si