Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreographer for the Laker Girls, Abdul where she was discovered by The Jacksons. After choreographing music videos for Janet Jackson, Abdul became a choreographer at the height of the music video era and soon thereafter she was signed to Abdul Virgin Records. Her debut studio album Forever Your Girl (1988) became one of the most successful debut albums at that time, selling seven million copies in the United States and setting a record for the most number-one singles from a debut album on the Billboard Hot 100 chart: “Straight Up”, “Forever Your Girl”, “Cold Hearted”, and “Opposites Attract”. Her second album Spellbound (1991) scored her two more chart-toppers – “Rush Rush” and “The Promise of a New Day”. With six number-one singles on Hot 100, Abdul tied Diana Ross for the third-most chart-toppers among female solo artists at the time
Paula Abdul Facts
- Born: Paula Julie Abdul,June 19, 1962 (age 61).San Fernando, California, U.S
- Alma mater California :State University, Northridge
- Occupations: Singer dancer
- Years active: 1978–present
- Spouses: Emilio Estevez
- Genres: R&B pop dance new jack swing
Paula Abdul Early life
Abdul was born in San Fernando, California. She is Jewish:her father, Harry Abdul, is of Syrian Jewish heritage and was born in Aleppo, Syria, raised in Brazil and emigrated to the United States. Her mother, Lorraine (Rykiss), was a concert pianist of Jewish heritage, Abdul from Minnedosa, Manitoba.Abdul has an older sister named Wendy. As an avid dancer, Abdul was inspired towards a show business career by Gene Kelly in the film Singin’ in the Rain.
Abdul began taking dance lessons at an early age in ballet, jazz, and tap. 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. In 1980, she graduated from Van Nuys High School.Abdul studied broadcasting at the California State University, Northridge. Abdul During her freshman year, she was selected from a pool of 700 candidates for the cheerleading squad of the Los Angeles Abdul Lakers NBA basketball team—the famed Laker Girls. Within a year, she became head choreographer.she remained with the Laker Girls until 1986.
Paula Abdul Career
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”. Abdul recalled feeling intimidated by having to tell the Jacksons how to dance, Abdul stating that she was “not quite sure how [she] got through that.”The success of the choreography in the video led to Abdul’s career as choreographer of music videos, notably Janet Jackson’s “What Have You Done
for Me Lately”, “Nasty”, “When I Think of You” and “Control” 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 also choreographed sequences for the giant keyboard scene involving Tom Hanks’s character in Big
Paula Abdul 1987–1999: Forever Your Girl, Spellbound and Head over Heels
Abdul n 1987, Abdul used her savings to make a singing demo.Soon thereafter, Abdul she was signed to the newly formed Virgin Records America by Jeff Ayeroff, who had worked in marketing at A&M Records with Janet Jackson. Although she was a skilled dancer and choreographer, Abdul was a relatively untrained singer, and worked with various coaches and record producers to develop her vocal ability. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range.Ayeroff recalled signing Abdul to a recording contract years later, stating: “She said, ‘I can sing, you know. I want to do an album.’ Paula’s in our industry.Abdul Here’s someone with a personality and she’s gorgeous, and she can dance. If she can sing, she could be a star. So she went into the studio and cut a demo record and she could sing.”
Abdul’s debut studio album, Forever Your Girl (1988), would become the most successful debut album in history at that time, reaching number one on the Billboard 200 chart after 64 weeksAbdul (where it would spend 10 weeks at number one), and set a record for the most singles from a debut album to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, with four: “Straight Up”, “Forever Your Girl”, “Cold Hearted”, and “Opposites Attract”.The album was later certified 7× platinum by the RIAA. A remix album, Shut Up and Dance: Mixes, was also released and reached number seven in the United States, becoming one of the most successful remix albums to date. At the 32nd Grammy Awards, Abdul won her first Grammy for Best Music Video for “Abdul Opposites Attract”.Abdul She was also nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “Straight Up”, but lost to Bonnie Raitt’s “Nick of Time”.In 1991, singer Yvette Marine filed a lawsuit against Abdul and the Virgin label, alleging that it was her vocals that were used on several tracks from Forever Your Girl, most notably “Opposites Attract”. A jury sided with Abdul and the label two years later in 1993, rejecting Marine’s claim to credit and copyright compensation.
Abdul saw continued success with her second studio album Spellbound (1991), which saw two additional number-one singles: “Rush Rush” and “Abdul The Promise of a New Day”. A third single “Blowing Kisses in the Wind” reached number six for three consecutive weeks. Spellbound retained the dance-pop sound from Forever Your Girl and introduced elements of R&B, and sold 7 million copies worldwide. The music video for “Rush Rush” featured a Rebel Without a Cause motif, starring Keanu Reeves in the James Dean role.[citation needed] The album’s other singles, “Vibeology” and “Will You Marry Me?”, saw moderate success on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching the top 20 In 1991, Abdul starred in a popular Diet Coke commercial in which she danced with a digital image of her idol, a young Gene Kelly.Abdul was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in December 1991 Abdul promoted Spellbound through the Under My Spell Tour, which was named by an MTV contest for fans.The tour was nearly cancelled due to an accident during rehearsals, but began on schedule in October 1991 and concluded in August 1992.
Abdul After her initial period of professional success, Abdul’s career entered a brief hiatus while she sought treatment for personal and physical issuesHer third studio album, Head over Abdul Heels (1995), retained both pop and R&B elements and saw moderate commercial success, peaking at number 18 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States and later becoming her lowest-selling release. The lead single from Head over Heels, “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 prologue to the film Clueless. The single performed well on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, where it reached number one, and peaked at number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Crazy Cool” and “Ain’t Never Gonna Give You Up” served as the album’s second and third singles. To date, Head over Heels has sold over 500,000 copies in the United States In 1995, Abdul released a dance Abdul workout video entitled Paula Abdul’s Get Up and Dance! (re-released on DVD in 2003), a fast-paced, hip-hop style workout. In 1997, Abdul co-wrote a song called “Spinning Around” with record producer and composer Kara DioGuardi, which was intended to be her comeback single from a new album, but the plan never materialized and the song was later given to Kylie Minogue.That year, Abdul appeared in the ABC television film Touched By Evil, playing a businesswoman who discovers that her boyfriend is a serial rapist. In 1998, she released a second workout video called Cardio Dance (re-released on DVD in 2000). Thereafter, Abdul served as the choreographer for several film and theater productions, including the 1998 musical Reefer Madness and the cheerleading scenes in American Beauty (1999)
Paula Abdul 2000–2009: American Idol, Hey Paula and return to music
Abdul n 2000, Virgin Records, with whom Abdul was already no longer affiliated, released the first of two compilation albums by Abdul, Paula Abdul: Greatest Hits. Abdul co-produced the 2001 pilot for Skirts, an MTV television series about a high school cheerleading squad; Abdul was also set to appear as the head coach. The pilot never aired. In 2002, she began appearing as one of three judges on the Fox reality competition series American Idol, where she won praise as aAbdul sympathetic and compassionate judge and mentor. 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 horrified and she considered leaving the series. Although their differences often resulted in heated on-air exchanges and confrontations, Cowell says he played a major role in convincing Abdul not to leave Abdul the series. While serving as a judge on American Idol, Abdul accepted a second assignment as reporter for Entertainment Tonight. 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 dan Abdul also choreographed The King’s touchdown celebration, as seen in a string of Burger King television commercials that aired during the 2005–06 NFL season. Abdul In 2006, Abdul appeared on the third series of The X Factor UK as a guest judge during the auditions, sitting alongside judges Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh.
Abdul A second compilation album, Greatest Hits: Straight Up!, was released in 2007 by the Virgin label, who also made all of Abdul’s releases under their label available for digital download on iTunes. That year, Bravo began airing a reality television series centered around Abdul, Hey Paula, Abdul which followed her through her day-to-day life. Abdul’s behavior as depicted on Abdul the series was described as “erratic” by comedian Rosie O’Donnell and was criticized by audiences and critics, and Hey Paula was cancelled after a single season
Abdul at the Los Angeles Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios in March 2007
Abdul In 2007, Paula Abdul Jewelry launched its nationwide consumer debut on QVC, with the tagline “fashion jewelry designed with heart and soul.Abdul’s first QVC appearance resulted in 15 sellouts of her first jewelry collection involving more than 34,000 pieces.In 2008, Abdul returned to music charts for the first time in nearly thirteen years with the single “Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow”, Abdul the first track on the album Randy Jackson’s Music Club Vol. The song debuted on On Air with Ryan Seacrest,and Abdul performed it during the pre-game show for Super Bowl XLII.] “Abdul Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow” was a modest comeback hit for Abdul, peaking at number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. The moderate success led to reports of Abdul beginning work on a new album, but this never materialized. Abdul also made a brief guest appearance on an episode of the British television series Hotel Babylon, which aired in the United Kingdom in February 2008.
In January 2009, Abdul hosted “RAH!,” a cheerleading competition on MTV. “RAH!” featured five collegiate squads competing in a series of challenges with Abdul crowning one the Abdul winner. In May 2009, Abdul debuted her latest original song to date, “I’m Just Here for the Music” (originally an unreleased song from Kylie Minogue’s ninth album Body Abdul Language) on the Ryan Seacrest Radio KIIS-FM show and performed the single on the American Idol. “I’m Just Here for the Music” reached number 87 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Abdul’s fifteenth song to appear on the chart.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times in July 2009, Abdul’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 Abdul and the series. In August, after numerous contract negotiations, Abdul confirmed that she would not return to Idol for its ninth season. Abdul 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. Abdul was replaced by Ellen DeGeneres. Abdul claimed her departure from Idol was not about money, but that she had to stand on principle.
Paula Abdul Personal life
Abdul married actor Emilio Estevez in 1992, and divorced him in 1994. In 1995, Abdul stated Abdul that the reason for their divorce was that she wanted children and Estevez, who had two children from a previous relationship, did not. Abdul married clothing designer Brad Beckerman in 1996, at the New England Carousel Museum in Bristol, Connecticut. Abdul They filed for divorce in 1998, after 17 months of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences.
Beliefs
Abdul is observant in her Jewish faith,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 go to Israel for a real holiday.” In November 2006, when Israeli Tourism Minister Isaac Herzog invited her to Israel, Abdul responded with a hug, adding, “I will come; you have helped me make a dream come true.” In 2013, at the age of 51, Abdul had her bat mitzvah in Safed, Israel, at the International Center for Tzfat Kabbalah, a museum and spiritual retreat for the study of Kabbalah – Jewish mysticism. In 2003, Abdul was reported as a practitioner of Transcendental Meditation.
Abdul is a dog lover who raised awareness about Abdul National Guide Dog Month in May 2009, and she teamed up with Dick Van Patten to help people with blindness to have more independence through the help of guide dogs.She does not wear real fur
Health
Abdul has said that she was injured in a plane crash in 1992 during her Under My Spell Abdul Tour, necessitating 15 cervical surgeries. When, in 2020, some gossip sites, including Jezebel, questioned the veracity of this, Abdul responded during an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, stating “You know what? It’s like, there are seven other people that were on the plane, who were in that plane accident with me. So, I really don’t care what people have to say. I don’t.”
Abdul In 1994, Abdul sought treatment for bulimia nervosa, which she revealed years later she first developed as a teenager and only intensified after she became a pop star. She said: “I learned at a very early age I didn’t fit in physically. I learned through years of rejections from auditions. I would ask myself, ‘Why can’t I be tall and skinny like the other dancers?’ I felt nervous and out of control, and all I could think about was food. Food numbed the fear and anxiety. I’d eat and then run to the bathroom.”
Abdul In 2005, Abdul said she had been diagnosed in November 2004 with a neurological disorder causing chronic pain, reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), following a “cheerleading accident” at age 17 She discussed the diagnosis in response to allegations of drug use.
Abdul In April 2006, Abdul filed a report at a Hollywood police station stating she had been a victim of battery at a private party at about 1 am on April 2, according to LAPD spokesman Lt. Paul Vernon “According to Abdul, the man at the party argued with her, grabbed her by Abdul the arm and threw her against a wall,” Vernon said. “She said she had sustained a concussion and spinal injuries.