Early life
Scherzinger was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to a Filipino father and a Hawaiian/Russian mother.[1] Her mother Rosemary was 18 at the time of Nicole's birth and lived in a inner city neighborhood, and separated from her father when Nicole was a baby.[2] Then they moved to Louisville, Kentucky with her sister Ke'ala and German-American stepfather Gary Scherzinger, who adopted the children. She has described her upbringing as "conservative Catholic".[3] She 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. 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.
Recording career
1999 – 2001
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.
Eden's Crush
Main article: Eden's Crush
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" peaked at #1 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 and Her Name is Nicole.
In November 2007, Scherzinger talked 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. I was the one nobody liked and there was nothing I could do to stop that. Maybe it was because I was the pretty one. The other girls thought I was bitchy and ambitious. They would all say things about me, both to my face and behind my back... 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.[4] ”
2001 – 2003
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.
Scherzinger worked with Yoshiki Hayashi 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 [Fosse's] Chicago in college."[5] The Pussycat Dolls now have world-wide status as a popular singing group; their Billboard top five hits "Don't Cha", "Buttons","Stickwitu", and "Wait a Minute" and the top 20 hit "Beep". The album PCD went double-platinum in 2006. Scherzinger sang nearly all lead vocals on the album, with Melody Thornton and Carmit Bachar 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 #22 on Maxim's Hot 100 in 2006.[6]
Duets
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. The following year she sang on Avant's single "Lie About Us" and P. Diddy's hit "Come to Me" (which she also co-wrote). She has recently also been on a track by will.i.am along with many other musicians called "Yes We Can". Other appearances are listed in her discography.
Solo album
This section contains information about a scheduled or expected future album.
The content may change as the album release approaches and more information becomes available.
Main article: Her Name Is Nicole
Scherzinger worked on her debut album from 2005-2007 with record producers including will.i.am, Timbaland, Kara DioGuardi, and Bryan-Michael Cox. Scherzinger announced in a March 17, 2007 interview in Winnipeg, Manitoba, that the album would be called Her Name is Nicole; It was due for a 2007 release but is now proposed for January 2008.
The first single, "Whatever U Like", featuring rapper T.I., was released in July 2007. The song was a commercial flop however, 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.[7] After both these singles failed to hit in North America ("Baby Love" charted well Europe), a poll was placed on Scherzinger's website, asking fans to vote for the third single. Choices include: "Supervillain", "Happily Never After", "Who's Gonna Love You" and "Powers Out". However on 28 November the poll was updated and the songs "Powers Out" and "Supervillain" were removed and replaced with "Puakenikeni" and "Physical". It was announced via the website on December 10 that "Puakenikeni" will be the next official single to be released.
To date, both Interscope and Scherzinger have not made any announcement on the official release date.
In January 2008, she participated in a video for Barack Obama produced by will.i.am called "Yes We Can".
