Nicole Scherzinger

Born on June 29, 1978, in Honolulu, Hawaii, as Nicole Elikolani Prescovia Scherzinger, the pop singer and dancer primarily grew up in Louisville, Kentucky after moving there at age six with her mother once her parents separated. Of Hawaiian, Russian, and Filipino descent, she attended a performing arts high school and then enrolled at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, where she majored in theater arts and minored in dance before setting aside her studies to focus on music, starting as a backing vocalist for the late-'90s rock group Days of the New.

In 2001 she competed on the first season of the WB series Popstars and earned the lead-singer slot in the resulting all-girl pop act Eden's Crush. Their opening single, "Get Over Yourself," received strong radio support and reached the Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten, yet the label soon collapsed and Eden's Crush disbanded shortly afterward. Moving ahead, she contributed the track "Breakfast in Bed" to the soundtrack of the Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore film 50 First Dates under the name Nicole Kea.

Around the same period, the well-known Los Angeles burlesque troupe the Pussycat Dolls were being reshaped into a mainstream pop/R&B ensemble, and Scherzinger joined as lead singer in 2003. She performed essentially all the vocals on the group's 2005 debut PCD and became the only member to receive songwriting credits on the album. While PCD sold millions of copies, she recorded outside tracks with artists such as P. Diddy, Rihanna, Avant, Will Smith, and Belinda.

As the Pussycat Dolls continued touring their debut, Scherzinger prepared her first solo album, Her Name Is Nicole. Slated for late summer 2007 and featuring guest appearances by Akon, Timbaland, and will.i.am, the project saw its singles—"Whatever U Like," "Baby Love," "Supervillain," and "Puakenikeni"—fail to chart in the United States, leading to its cancellation in 2008.

She redirected her efforts to the second Pussycat Dolls album, Doll Domination, released in September 2008 and containing leftover material from her shelved solo record. The set entered the U.S. and U.K. charts at number four, slipped from view in both territories, yet earned Gold or Platinum status in numerous other markets. After the international success of the reworked Slumdog Millionaire theme "Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)," credited to A.R. Rahman & the Pussycat Dolls Featuring Nicole Scherzinger, she began stepping back from the group. Completing her 2009 touring duties, she closed the year by joining the panel of the U.S. competition The Sing-Off.

Additional television work followed in 2010, including a contestant spot on the tenth season of Dancing with the Stars and a judging role on the seventh season of the U.K.'s The X-Factor, while she resumed work on her solo debut. That album, Killer Love, surfaced in March 2011 everywhere except the United States, where it went unreleased. Powered by the hit singles "Don't Hold Your Breath" and "Right There," it attained Gold certification in the U.K. and performed solidly across Europe, Asia, and Australia. A solo tour took place in 2012, the year she also appeared in Men in Black 3, her most prominent acting role to date.

Further television commitments included judging the ninth season of The X-Factor U.K., a post she held through the tenth season in 2013. Leaving Interscope in 2014, she signed with RCA Records and began recording her second album, which coincided with her departure from The X-Factor. Titled Big Fat Lie, the album was released in October 2014 in England, Europe, Asia, and Australia.