Nicole Elikolani Prescovia Scherzinger

Nicole Elikolani Prescovia Scherzinger

Nicole Elikolani Prescovia Scherzinger (born June 29, 1978), is an American singer and dancer best known for her work as the lead vocalist for The Pussycat Dolls.

Early Life

Scherzinger was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to a Filipino father and a Hawaiian/Russian mother. She grew up in Louisville, Kentucky with stepfather Gary Scherzinger, mother Rosemary and sister Ke'ala. She has described her upbringing as "conservative Catholic".[1] 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. She also recorded two songs with Barry Drake's F.O.B, which were released in 2001.

Recording career

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. The group's 2001 single "Get Over Yourself" peaked at #1 in sales and hit the top five 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.

The Pussycat Dolls

In June 2003, following her stint with Eden's Crush, 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." [2] The Pussycat Dolls now have world-wide status as a popular singing group; their Billboard top five hits include "Don't Cha", "Buttons" and "Stickwitu" and the top 20 hit "Beep". The album PCD went double-platinum in 2006. Scherzinger sang nearly all lead and backing 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. As reported, the group are planning to release their second album 2007, titled Double The Trouble.

Violet UK

In 2002, Nicole worked with Yoshiki Hayashi on in his Violet UK project. Nicole 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.

Solo career

After the disbandment of Eden's Crush, Scherzinger made a few promotional solo appearances under the stage name Nicole Kea, including covering "Breakfast in Bed" for the soundtrack to 50 First Dates. To date, this is her only solo release. She then appeared on recordings by Shaggy, Vittorio Grigolo, and Will Smith. In 2006 Scherzinger sang on Avant's single "Lie About Us", and Diddy's hit single "Come to Me" (which she also co-wrote). She recently recorded a song with fellow Pussycat Doll, Melody Thornton for her upcoming album.

Nicole has been working on her self titled solo album with record producers including will.i.am, Timbaland, Kara Dioguardi and Bryan Michael Cox. Her first single "Steam" will be released in February 2007.

Personal life

Scherzinger was once engaged to the lead singer of 311, Nick Hexum.

Discography

See also Eden's Crush and The Pussycat Dolls discography for information about Scherzinger's releases with those groups.

Solo album

• Nicole Scherzinger (album) (due in 2007)