The Biography Of Paula Abdul

Subject: The Biography Of Paula Abdul Fri Jul 23, 2010 1:26 pm

Credit Wikipedia
Abdul was born in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, the daughter of Lorraine Abdul (née Rykiss), a concert pianist who once worked as film director Billy Wilder's assistant, and Harry Abdul, a former livestock trader and owner of a sand and gravel business. Her father, a Syrian Jew, was born in Aleppo, Syria, raised in Brazil, and subsequently emigrated to the United States; Abdul's mother, also Jewish, is originally from Minnedosa, Manitoba, and Abdul derives Canadian citizenship through her. She has a sister named Wendy, who is 7 years her senior. In 1977, she graduated from Van Nuys Junior High School and was voted girl with the funniest laugh.
An avid dancer, Abdul was inspired towards a show business career by Gene Kelly in the classic film Singin' in the Rain as well as Debbie Allen, Fred Astaire, and Bob Fosse.
Abdul began taking dance lessons at an early age and showed a natural talent. She did classes of ballet, Jazz, and Tap while she was growing up. She attended Van Nuys High School, where she was a cheerleader and an honor student. At 15, she received a scholarship to a dance camp near Palm Springs, and in 1978 appeared in a low-budget Independent musical film, Junior High School.
Abdul studied broadcasting at the California State University at Northridge. During her first year (freshman), she was selected from a pool of 700 candidates for the cheerleading squad of the Los Angeles Lakers NBA basketball team—the famed Laker Girls. Within three months, she became head choreographer. Six months later, she left the university to focus on her choreography and dancing career.

Dance and choreography era (1982–1986)

Abdul and Patrick Swayze at the 1990 Grammy Awards

Abdul was discovered by The Jacksons, after a few of the band members had watched her while attending a Los Angeles Lakers game.She was signed to do the choreography for the video to their single "Torture"."My only problem was how to tell the Jacksons how to dance," Abdul later recalled. "Imagine me telling them what routines to do. I was young, I was scared. I'm not quite sure how I got through that."The success of the choreography in the video helped lead to Abdul's then new career of choreographer in music videos.It was also due to the success of the video that Abdul was chosen to be the choreographer for the Jacksons' Victory tour.
Abdul choreographed videos for several singers throughout the 1980s, including many videos for Janet Jackson during her Control era. In 1995, Abdul released a dance workout video entitled Paula Abdul's Get Up and Dance! (re-released on DVD in 2003), a fast-paced, hip-hop style workout. In 1998 she released a second video called Cardio Dance (re-released on DVD in 2000). In December 2005, Abdul launched a cheerleading/fitness/dance DVD series called Cardio Cheer, which is marketed to children and teenage girls involved with cheerleading and dance.
In film, Abdul choreographed sequences for the giant keyboard scene involving Tom Hanks’s character in Big. Further credits include Coming to America, Action Jackson, Jerry Maguire, The Running Man, American Beauty (1999 film), Can't Buy Me Love (film), and Oliver Stone's, The Doors.^[12] Television credits include The Tracey Ullman Show, American Music Awards, the Academy Awards, and several commercials, such as The King's touchdown celebration, as seen in a string of popular Burger King television commercials that aired during the 2005–2006 NFL season.
Forever Your Girl era (1987–1990)

Paula Abdul, 1990

In 1987, Abdul used her savings to make a singing demo. Although her voice was relatively untrained, her exceptional dancing proved marketable to the visually-oriented, MTV-driven, pop music industry. She was a tireless worker, and relied on input from her vocal coach and producers to improve her sound.^[13]
In 1988, Abdul released her pop debut album, Forever Your Girl. The album took 62 weeks to hit #1 on the Billboard 200 album sales chart—the longest an album has been on the market before hitting #1—and spent 10 weeks there. The album eventually became multi-platinum in the spring and summer of 1989, and it spawned five American Top Three singles, four of them #1s (three in 1989 and one in 1990): "Straight Up", "Forever Your Girl", "Cold Hearted", , and "Opposites Attract". A remix album, Shut Up and Dance, was also released and reached #7 on Billboard's album chart, becoming one of the most successful remix albums to date. The Grammy award-winning video for "Opposites Attract" featured an animated cat named MC Skat Kat. Abdul also went on a Club MTV tour where she performed songs from her album. Several other acts were also on the tour.
In the early 1990s, Yvette Marine, backing vocalist on Forever Your Girl, claimed that she sang "co-lead vocals" on the album and sued Paula and Virgin Records for compensation. After one month of court proceedings, Abdul and Virgin won the case.
Spellbound era (1991–1994)
Abdul's follow-up album, 1991's Spellbound, contained another string of hits, and sold 13 million copies worldwide. ^{[citation needed]} The first single from Spellbound was the ballad, "Rush, Rush", which topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for five consecutive weeks, and was noted for its music video and Rebel Without a Cause motif featuring Keanu Reeves in the James Dean role. "Promise of a New Day", the second release from the album, also hit No. 1, and it was followed by the Top 10 hit "Blowing Kisses in the Wind" and two Top 20 hits: "Vibeology" and "Will You Marry Me?". ^[15] The album, Spellbound, retained much of the dance-oriented formula heard on her debut album. The track "U" was written for Paula by Prince.
Abdul promoted the album through the "Under My Spell Tour", which was named by an MTV contest for fans. This tour was nearly cancelled due to an accident during rehearsals. The tour began on schedule and ran from October 1991 to the summer of 1992. In 1991, Abdul embraced advertising and starred in a popular Diet Coke commercial in which she danced with a digital image of her idol, a young Gene Kelly.
Head Over Heels era (1995–1996)

By 1995 Paula Abdul had recovered from her battle with the eating disorder bulimia nervosa and prepared to return to the spotlight with her new album Head Over Heels. The first single off the album, "My Love Is for Real" featured a fusion of R&B and traditional Middle Eastern instruments, and was performed with Yemeni-Israeli singer Ofra Haza. Its accompanying Lawrence of Arabia-inspired music video was played in theaters across the world as a preface to the film Clueless. It was a hit in the clubs (peaking at #1 on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart), and the single made it to #28 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.
The second single was called, "Crazy Cool" and peaked at #13 on the dance charts. "Ain't Never Gonna Give You Up" served as the third single from the album. To date Head Over Heels has sold 3 million copies worldwide.
Mercury Comeback Attempt (1997–2001)

Conquering her personal problems, Abdul took a break from the music industry. In 2000, Abdul’s Paula Abdul: Greatest Hits CD was released by Virgin Records (with whom Abdul was already no longer affiliated). It featured all of her hit singles and other noteworthy tracks. The song "Bend Time Back 'Round" had previously been heard only on the 1992 soundtrack for the hit television series Beverly Hills, 90210.
In 1997, Abdul signed to Mercury Records, and co-wrote "Spinning Around" along with fellow American Idol judge, Kara DioGuardi; a dance-pop track intended to be the lead single off her new album. The album never materialized and "Spinning Around" was given to Kylie Minogue as a single. The song became highly successful and re-launched Minogue's career, as it was intended to do for Abdul, and reached #1 in numerous countries.
American Idol (2002–2009)

Paula Abdul at the 15th Screen Actors Guild Awards

In 2002, Abdul appeared as one of three judges for the reality television music competition show American Idol. Abdul, along with fellow judges Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson (joined by Kara DioGuardi in 2009) were to evaluate the talent of a large group of young amateur singers, eliminate most of them in various audition rounds, and then judge the finalists as American television viewers voted on which finalists would continue to each successive round, until all but the winner were eliminated. Abdul won praise as a sympathetic and compassionate judge. She seemed especially kind compared to fellow judge Simon Cowell, who was often blunt in his appraisals of the contestants' performances. When she realized that Cowell's over-the-top judging style was heartbreaking for many young contestants, Abdul was so horrified, she considered leaving the show. Although their differences often resulted in extremely heated on-air exchanges and confrontations, Cowell says he played a major role in convincing Abdul not to leave the show.^[16]
Now a bona fide television celebrity, Abdul accepted a second assignment as reporter for Entertainment Tonight. Her knack for finding something positive in almost every performance, her emotion-laden praise for contestants whose style she really likes, and her unique fingers-bent-outwards handclapping style have fueled the belief among some that she is drunk during auditions. This rumor has been the subject of satire, especially by Amy Poehler during Saturday Night Live sketches and Nicole Parker on MADtv. ^{[citation needed]}
Abdul has been criticized for falling back on the same cliches and pat phrases when praising or criticising Idol contestants with comments like "America loves you!", "You're authentic!" or "It wasn't your best performance." Several American comedy shows, including Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, and Mad TV, have capitalized on these catch-phrases when doing sketches involving an Abdul impersonator. They also imitate Abdul's unusual "arm-flapping" style of clapping her hands.On March 28, 2006 Fox announced that Abdul had signed to stay on American Idol as a judge for at least three more years. Later that year, fellow American Idol judge Simon Cowell invited her to be a guest judge at some of the early auditions for the third series of his similar UK talent show The X Factor. Abdul was present at the initial audition of the eventual winner, Leona Lewis.
The week of May 14 to May 18, 2007 (the week before the season 6 finale), Abdul broke her nose when she tried to "avoid tripping over her pet chihuahua". She was present at the May 22 performance and the May 23 finale.
Abdul's American Idol wardrobe often includes a number of necklaces, rings, bracelets, and earrings that she designs, and she often gives show contestants custom-designed jewelry. In 2007, Paula Abdul Jewelry launched its nationwide consumer debut on QVC, with the tagline "fashion jewelry designed with heart and soul". Paula's first QVC appearance resulted in 15 sellouts of her first jewelry collection involving more than 34,000 pieces. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times on July 18, 2009, Paula's manager David Sonenberg told the newspaper that, "Very sadly, it does not appear that she’s going to be back on ‘Idol’." This came about as a result of stalled negotiations between Paula and the show. Later on her Twitter page, Paula responded to her fans' messages of support by stating: "I’m actually moved to tears upon reading the enormous amount of tweets showing me your kindness, love, & undying support. God bless all of you!,” continuing, “If it weren’t for you, this specific time and situation would feel a whole lot worse!”. On August 4, 2009, after numerous contract negotiations, Abdul confirmed that she would not be returning to Idol for its ninth season. The Times cited reports Abdul had been earning as much as $5 million per season and that she was reportedly seeking as much as $20 million to return.
On August 18, 2009 it was reported that Abdul was negotiating to return to Idol after not taking part in season nine of Dancing with the Stars. Two days later, Abdul's manager said that there were not any talks with Fox, but they were not ruling anything out.
Abdul claimed her departure from Idol was not about money, but that she had to stand on her principle.
On September 9, 2009 Ellen DeGeneres was confirmed as Abdul's successor for Idol.
[edit] Second Comeback (2007–2009)

Her second greatest-hits CD, entitled Greatest Hits: Straight Up!, was released by Virgin on May 8, 2007. This album was put together by Virgin Records, with whom Abdul was no longer signed as a recording artist. At this time, they also released the music videos to all six of her #1 singles to iTunes.
Bravo announced a reality television series following Abdul through her day-to-day life, called Hey Paula. The series was produced by Scott Sternberg Productions and debuted on June 28, 2007.Paula's behavior as depicted on the show has been described as 'erratic' by comedian Rosie O'Donnell. and decried by numerous fans and critics.
In January 2008, Paula returned to the music charts for the first time in nearly 13 years with the single "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow", which is the first track on the album Randy Jackson's Music Club Vol 1. The song debuted on On Air with Ryan Seacrest. The song was a modest comeback hit for Paula, peaking at #62 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.
Paula's MTV show "RAH!" premiered in January 2009. The 90-minute special featured five collegiate cheerleading squads, which competed in a series of challenges in order to be crowned the winner by Paula. A snippet of Paula's latest single "Boombox", a cover of a Kylie Minogue song, also premiered on the show. On May 5, 2009, Paula debuted her new song "I'm Just Here for the Music" (originally an unreleased song from Kylie Minogue's ninth album Body Language) on the Ryan Seacrest Radio KIIS-FM show. On May 6, 2009, Paula performed her new song on the American Idol results show. On May 8, 2009, Paula released "I'm Just Here For The Music" to the US iTunes Store. The album was supposed to be released in July 2009, however it has remained unreleased for unknown reasons.
[edit] Post Idol Era (2009–present)

Paula hosted the 2009 VH1 Divas live in September. She also performed a medley of the majority of her number 1 hits "Straight Up", "Cold Hearted", "Opposites Attract", and "Forever Your Girl". Also on the program Paula poked fun at her Idol replacement Ellen DeGeneres, which was highly publicized in the media.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, it has been confirmed that Paula will be brought on board for the American version of the U.K.'s hit talent show, X Factor, as a judge alongside Simon Cowell.Cowell will also produce the show. It will air during the Summer and Fall on Fox, when American Idol is not on.On May 26, 2010 she appeared on the finale of American Idol season 9.
Abdul will serve as lead judge, executive producer, creative partner, mentor and coach on CBS' new dancing competition, Got to Dance set to debut midseason of the 2010/11 TV schedule. In 2009 she also appeared on a television series as a guest judge on Drop Dead Diva. She will return to the second season of the series in 2010.
Personal life

In April 2005, Abdul revealed that she suffers from a rare neurological disorder called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (CRPS) that causes chronic pain.
Paula practices Judaism and is proud of her heritage. She once stated, "My father is a Syrian Jew whose family immigrated to Brazil. My mother is Canadian with Jewish roots. My dream is to come to Israel for a real holiday." In November 2006, Israeli Tourist Minister Isaac Herzog invited her to Israel, Abdul responding with a hug, adding, "I will come; you have helped me make a dream come true."
On Valentine's Day 2006, Abdul appeared on Dr. Phil as part of a prime time special on love and relationships. She was set up on two dates and Phil McGraw gave her advice.
Paula is also a dog lover who is currently raising awareness about National Guide Dog Month in May 2009 and she is teaming up with Dick Van Patten to help people with blindness to have more independence through the help of guide dogs.
In mid July 2007, Abdul announced that she had begun dating J.T. Torregiani,a restaurant owner 12 years her junior. She told Access Hollywood: "He is a good guy. Things are looking upwards. It's looking good right now. I wasn't even looking for someone and that's what usually happens." Paula and JT broke up in June 2008, citing their hectic work schedules.
Controversies

Corey Clark

In May 2005, ABC's news magazine Primetime Live reported claims by Season 2 American Idol contestant Corey Clark that he and Abdul had an affair during that season, and that she had coached him on how to succeed in the competition. The fact that Clark came forward at a time when he was marketing a CD and trying to get a book deal was seen as suspicious by some, but Clark maintains that his career was being prejudiced because of his relationship with Abdul and that is why he came forward with the information to clear his name. For the most part, Abdul refused to comment on Clark's allegations. At the height of the debacle, Abdul appeared in a Saturday Night Live skit, making light of the situation. While Fox launched an investigation, Abdul received numerous calls of support from celebrities, including Oprah Winfrey; Barbara Walters even addressed the camera during an episode of ABC's The View to say she was sad to be part of an operation that would report Clark's flimsy tabloid claims under the guise of a news story. In August 2005 the Fox network confirmed that she would be returning to the show, as the investigation had found "insufficient evidence that the communications between Mr. Clark and Ms. Abdul in any way aided his performance".
Legal issues

On December 20, 2004, Abdul was driving her Mercedes on an L.A.-area freeway when she changed lanes and hit another vehicle. The driver and passenger snapped a photograph with a cell phone camera and wrote down the license plate number of the car, which was traced to Abdul. On March 24, 2005, Abdul was fined $900 and given 24 months of informal probation after pleading no contest to misdemeanor hit-and-run driving in Los Angeles. In addition to the fines she was ordered to pay $775 for damage to the other car.
On April 4, 2006, Abdul filed a report at a Hollywood police station claiming she had been a victim of battery at a private party at about 1 a.m. April 2, according to L.A.P.D. spokesman police Lt. Paul Vernon. "According to Abdul, the man at the party argued with her, grabbed her by the arm and threw her against a wall", Vernon said. "She said she had sustained a concussion and spinal injuries".
Substance abuse allegations

Substance abuse allegations arose as the result of what some described as "erratic behavior" by Abdul during episodes of American Idol. After reading these allegations on message boards, Abdul told People magazine in April 2005 that she suffered from chronic pain for years following a "cheerleading accident" at age 17 and was diagnosed with reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) in November 2004.Abdul says she is now pain-free following treatment, including the anti-inflammatory medication Enbrel.
Allegations arose again in January 2007 when videos circulated on the Internet of Abdul appearing to sway in her chair and slur her speech during a set of interviews. Abdul's publicist attributed this to fatigue and technical difficulties during the recording of the interviews. It was revealed on the Bravo show Hey Paula, which had followed Abdul with a video camera prior to the interviews, that Abdul had not been sleeping, perhaps suffering from some mild form of insomnia.
In February 2007, Abdul told Us Weekly that she had never been drunk or used illegal drugs and called the allegations "lies".
In a March 2007 appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, Abdul joked that her scrutinized behavior was caused by her being "abducted by aliens".
In several interviews given in the late 2000s, Paula claimed to have been left in debilitating pain after a 1992 car accident and a 1993 plane crash that required 15 spinal surgeries and which left her dependent on pain medication for years.
In May 2009, Ladies' Home Journal posted an article on its Web site that said Abdul told them she attended the La Costa Resort and Spa the previous year to recover from physical dependence on prescription pain medications.The medications, prescribed due to injuries and her RSD diagnosis, included a pain patch, nerve medication, and a muscle relaxant. According to the article, Abdul said the medications made her "get weird" at times and that she suffered from physical withdrawal symptoms during her recovery.
Later that same week, though, in an interview with Detroit radio station WKQI, Abdul rejected the article's accuracy. She told the radio station she never checked into a rehab clinic and never had a drug abuse problem.

» Paula Abdul - Little Known Facts About
» Paula Abdul- When I see you smile
» Paula Abdul Music Videos
» Paula Abdul Music Videos
» Paula Abdul Music Videos