Grammy nominated artist, Nicole Scherzinger, was once best known for being the lead singer
of the Pussycat Dolls.
But these days, she's proving that she's more than just a pretty face.
From her humble roots to her multifaceted musical success, here's why Nicole is seriously
turning heads.
Nicole Scherzinger was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1978.
And after her parents split up, her mother got married again and the family relocated
to Kentucky.
There, her mom worked as a clerk and her stepfather worked as a welder, which makes Scherzinger's
early aspirations somewhat of a surprise.
She told the Independent,
"No one else in my family was creative, a performer.
Maybe it was God's will?
I just knew that it was going to happen."
Scherzinger seemed to sense she was gonna hit it big in showbiz when she first heard
one of the greatest singers of all time light up the airwaves.
She said,
"The moment I heard Whitney Houston sing, I realized that that was what I was going
to do as well.
I used to sign all my yearbooks in school: 'Remember me when I'm famous.'"
"When I perform, when the lights and stuff are on me, I'm in a whole 'nother world."
But while you might be tempted to think that Scherzinger is eager to flaunt her success,
she says she's quite the opposite at her core, thanks to her upbringing.
She told The Guardian,
"I was very conservative.
I had really strong religious beliefs."
While she cultivated her spirituality in part to please her mom, Scherzinger says she still
attends church on a regular basis.
The singer also admits to being something of a perfectionist, revealing,
"My mother said when I was a little girl, if I colored slightly outside of the lines,
I would rip the page and throw it across the room."
While Scherzinger was harboring dreams of becoming the next Whitney Houston, she embarked
on a winding path to Hollywood.
And that was all thanks to her mother's influence.
Scherzinger told The Independent,
"[My mom] saw a commercial on TV saying they were looking for the next new girl group,
and insisted I audition.
I said no, that I was in this great acoustic goth band, and I was also studying theatre
and music at college."
Nicole's ultimate dream at the time was to be a Broadway star, which didn't exactly jive
with a TV show.
Still, she had no choice but to give in to her mother's wishes.
According to the strategy, this was a potential way for her to make it to Los Angeles, where
the real work could begin.
"Here I was, this little local girl from Hawaii, who grew up in the South, and like, never
even, only dreamed of going to Los Angeles."
Scherzinger landed on the 2001 show Popstars, winning a spot in the girl group Eden's Crush.
But that was just the beginning.
While Eden's Crush proved to be Scherzinger's first break into the industry, the group was
short-lived, despite its modest success.
And it wasn't much later that the singer managed to land an audition for the Pussycat Dolls.
She told The Guardian,
"I don't have a good memory, and I remember that audition like it was yesterday.
They were rolling their eyes anyway, they only let me take two steps into the room."
Fortunately Scherzinger wasn't fazed by the harsh mood, and she went on to nail the audition.
She added,
"I pretty much sang an original song a cappella, standing next to the door.
All I had to go on was my talent for singing."
Scherzinger was ultimately tapped for the group, which became world-famous in the mid-2000s
for catchy hits like "Don't Cha," "Buttons," and "Beep."
While some people might have dismissed the Pussycat Dolls as just another pretty girl
group, Scherzinger says the reality was quite the opposite.
And she credits herself as being instrumental to the group's global success, telling The
Guardian,
"They had their perfect candidate right here, because I am a workhorse.
I just rolled up my sleeves, got in the studio and turned out these records."
Scherzinger says she put so much blood, sweat, and tears into the Pussycat Dolls' albums
that she feels she was more than just a singer on someone else's songs.
She claims,
"I pretty much executive-produced those records.
That music felt like my music."
"When you're not sleeping, you're not eating right, you always in each other's face, like,
you breathing each other's air 24/7…You can't really enjoy it."
Despite their massive success, after roughly six years together, Scherzinger confirmed
that the Pussycat Dolls officially disbanded in 2010.
While the Pussycat Dolls were cranking out albums and performing for fans all over the
world, Scherzinger was quietly suffering on her own, with bulimia.
She later revealed to Cosmo,
"I had started losing my voice.
I couldn't sing at shows, and then I remember my manager finding me passed out on the floor."
Fortunately, the singer took the scary incident as a wake-up call, and got help.
It was then that she was able to regain control over her life and her health.
She said,
"It's sad to see how I wasted my life.
I had such a great life on the outside, the Dolls were on top of the world but I was miserable
on the inside."
Scherzinger has since vowed to never let her eating disorder control her life again.
"I would tell my younger self that you are perfect just the way that God made you."
Scherzinger believed for a long time that she was destined to be a successful solo act.
She was already working on material when she went on tour with the Pussycat Dolls in 2005,
and was still deep into it two years later.
She told Entertainment Weekly in 2007,
"I've been working on trying to get a solo deal for 10 years straight.
Now that it's crunch time, I'm scared.
I hope [people] get me.
I hope they see the truth and the heart of what I do."
"Hopefully people find this album just honest and relatable."
But despite her best efforts, none of the singles that Scherzinger released while under
contract at Interscope were nearly as well-received as the music put out by the Pussycat Dolls.
Eventually Scherzinger ended up shelving her album, Her Name is Nicole, in 2007.
Even though Scherzinger's solo career never really found its legs, that didn't mean she
was out of the game.
She eventually dropped her debut album, Killer Love, in 2011, which was fairly well-received,
making waves on the UK Singles Chart.
She also tried her hand at acting that year, playing the girlfriend of Boris "The Animal"
in Men in Black 3.
"You are much more unconventionally handsome in your photos."
Then in 2012, Scherzinger landed a coveted spot as a judge on The X Factor alongside
Simon Cowell.
She appeared on the show for two years, but wasn't invited back for a third season.
At the time, she revealed to The Hollywood Reporter,
"Well, all I know is that I gave 110 percent to that show.
I know everybody's talking about it, they're saying good, bad, they love me or hate me,
but the one thing you can't say is that I didn't give it my all."
"I don't know what all the smack talkin's about because I thought that was freakin'
shamazing."
Scherzinger would later be tapped for Season 9 of The X Factor UK.
After Scherzinger learned that she wasn't going to be invited back to The X Factor,
she got the chance to cross off a major item on her bucket list.
She shared with The Hollywood Reporter,
"Last year I sang Phantom of the Opera for the royal family and for Sir Andrew Lloyd
Webber.
So that reignited me to want to be back in the theater again, so I think I'm gonna do
some more theater work this year."
Scherzinger then went on to star as Grizabella in a 2014 production of Cats on London's West
End.
She was even nominated for an Olivier Award for her outstanding performance, proving that
Scherzinger really has what it takes to step onto Broadway.
But the actress got into a bit of a kerfuffle with Cats creator and iconic composer, Andrew
Lloyd Webber, when she bailed on the Broadway revival at the last minute to return to The
X Factor.
At the time, Webber said, via Playbill,
"I’m furious because I really believe she’s the most fantastically talented girl and I
went out on a limb to get her.
[…] But never mind, there’ll be another girl on Broadway and Nicole will not get her
Tony Award."
"I just hope that what happens is that she decides now that she'll really go for a real
broadway theater career.
She's one in a million."
Despite her talent on the stage, one thing that Scherzinger has struggled with over the
years is her love life.
She explained on The Jonathan Ross Show in 2016,
"I've probably matured a little later in relationships and [in] my life, because I started [working]
at such a young age."
For a long time, Scherzinger was in an on-again, off-again relationship with Formula 1 driver
Lewis Hamilton, often appearing on the red carpet together.
But the couple officially called it off permanently in 2015.
The singer added,
"I think it's quite natural when people separate and go their own ways.
You just have to be adult about it and just always wish the other person happiness, success
and love — like, sincerely — and I do."
"My friends are always like, 'Honey, it's your pretty years now.
C'mon, get it together.'"
Even though she said she wishes the best for Hamilton, she admitted they are no longer
in communication.
In 2016, Disney released Moana, which featured a Polynesian girl who dreams of exploring
the oceans.
And Scherzinger knew that she absolutely couldn't miss out on it.
She shared with PopSugar,
"I am of Hawaiian descent, so when I found out they were making a Polynesian-inspired
Disney movie, I was like, 'I have to be a part of this.'
I knocked down Disney's doors to let me audition and make sure I could be a part of this."
"I was like oh my gosh get me in the room!
I wanna be a part of it in any way, if it's doing music, whatever."
Fortunately the execs at Disney heard her request and cast her in the film.
She added,
"It was awesome, and it worked out, and now I am Moana's mother in the film."
Scherzinger said she was thrilled to see Disney make a movie about Polynesian people, and
emphasized how important proper representation can be.
While Scherzinger has led a charmed life in many ways, she has not been immune to tragedy.
In October 2019, Scherzinger's cousin, John Frederick, was killed in a hit-and-run accident
in Florida, devastating the family.
She shared with The Guardian,
"It's just a horrible thing that I would never wish upon anyone else, and it haunts me every
day that […] we have no justice for him yet."
The shocking loss also caused Scherzinger to do a bit of a reflective deep dive on her
own mortality.
She said,
"Nothing else will ever happen to you, because you're dead.
And that's a huge awakening, because that means you get one life."
Scherzinger posted a tribute to her cousin on Instagram, pleading for the perpetrator
to come forward.
It appears that The X Factor isn't the only reality show that Scherzinger has been a part
of over the years.
She's also a fixture on the hit competition series, The Masked Singer, which she once
referred to as the little engine that could.
She told Entertainment Weekly,
"We just knew that it was massive and bonkers in Asia and an internet phenomenon on YouTube,
but for it to have really gotten its legs here and to continue to break records with
the amount of viewers […] it's been mind blowing for us."
And she's not wrong.
Over 23 million people tuned into the show after the Super Bowl in 2020.
Scherzinger also says she feels right at home on the judges panel, referring to her fellow
stars as family.
She said,
"We love our job and it's not like going to work.
It's just going to have fun and hanging out with your friends."
"You guys do seem to like each other.
We do.
It's real.
It's actually not fake."
In 2020, Scherzinger's long-awaited wish finally came true when the Pussycat Dolls reunited.
And this time, she says she was in a much better place, as opposed to her life back
in 2005.
She revealed to Glamour,
"That is one of the reasons I was excited for us to come back because now I can actually
be present and enjoy it as it goes [past] so quickly.
We are all meant for great things and great purpose.
[…] We should instead enjoy life."
"This is two words; ma-jor right now, ok?"
The ladies dropped a new track in February 2020 called "React," which has amassed tens
of millions of views on YouTube, and have a comeback tour in the works for 2021.
Scherzinger has even dipped a toe back into the dating pool — big time — with former
rugby player, Thom Evans, according to her Instagram.
With the way this next chapter is going for this talented beauty, we can't wait to see
what she does next!
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