Nicole Scherzinger (born 29th June 1978) is an actress and singer/dancer best known for her work as the lead vocalist for The Pussycat Dolls under the stage name Nicole Kea.

 

Nicole 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". 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.

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.

In May 2003, Scherzinger joined The Pussycat Dolls burlesque troupe, who were being re-cast as recording artists. 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.

She was ranked #22 on Maxim's Hot 100 in 2006

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 2006, she sang on Avant's single "Lie About Us" and P. Diddy's hit "Come to Me"

Nicole has been working on her self titled solo album with well known record producers such as will.i.am, Timbaland, Kara Dioguardi and Bryan Michael Cox. The album is due for release in 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. 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 10th that "Puakenikeni" will be the next official single to be released.