Paula Abdul

Quotes

"When people expect me to go right, I'll go left. I'm unpredictable."
- Paula Abdul

Why Is She Famous?

Paula Abdul was once one the most famous pop stars in the world. Among her biggest successes were "Straight Up", "Forever Your Girl", "Rush Rush", and "Opposites Attract". She is also one of Hollywood's most important choreographers, a former LA Lakers cheerleader, and has recently made a comeback as the nice judge on American Idol.

Paula Julie Abdul was born June 19th, 1963, in San Fernando, California. The daughter of Harry and Lorraine Abdul knew early on that she wanted to dip her feet into dance. The youngest of two daughters, Paula's love for dance originated from the film, Singing In The Rain, whose star, Gene Kelly, was her idol. A student at Van Nuys high school, Paula applied her choreography skills (thanks to dance lessons from age 9) as head of the cheerleading squad. She graduated in 1980, and shimmied her way to Cal State-Northridge, as a TV and radio student. But as her heart was truly in dance, Paula took her LA Lakers Cheerleading gig as a full-time job, after dropping out of college. While a Laker Girl, Paula was promoted to choreographer after having shaken her pompoms for some time, which is where the Jackson Five spotted her. Her dancing skills not only revolutionized the style of cheerleading as an industry, but it also impressed the Jacksons, who hired her to choreograph their "Torture" video. Paula worked with the Jackson family yet again, as she also choreographed Janet's video for "Nasty" (and danced in it as well). Other '80s pop stars such as ZZ Top, Debbie Gibson, INXS, and George Michael also enlisted the help of the dynamic dancer. - But her choreography didn't end with music. With an acting credit to her name (she appeared in the 1981 film Junior High School), Paula's skills were also used to choreograph scenes in movies such as Coming to America, Dragnet, Can't Buy Me Love, Big, Bull Durham, The Doors, and subsequently Jerry Maguire and American Beauty, as well as television shows such as The Tracey Ullman Show. Paula wasn't destined to simply be a behind-the-scenes force in music and film. She networked her way to making a demo tape, and convinced Virgin America to cut her a record deal. Her debut single, "Knocked Out" was released in 1988, and she followed it up with the release of her debut album, Forever Your Girl. Both saw lukewarm results, until the single "Straight Up" was released in 1989. 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 the "hit" singles as well as 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. The album was not a commercial success, however it managed to sell more than one million copies worldwide. In 2000, Abdul co-wrote "Spinning Around", 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. During the 3rd season of the British reality TV competition The X Factor in 2006, Abdul appeared as a guest judge during the early audition rounds of the programme. Bravo announced a reality television series following Abdul through her day-to-day life, called Hey Paula. The series is produced by Scott Sternberg Productions and debuted on June 28, 2007. Paula's behavior as depicted on the show has been described as 'erratic'. 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.