Paula Abdul is a singer, dancer, actress, choreographer and judge on American Idol. Among her awards in the arts include a Grammy and an Emmy Award for her choreography.
Paula Abdul was born on June, 19 1962 and began dancing at age 8. Her innate ability in dance won her a scholarship to a dance camp at age 15. It was at this age that she first saw long, lean dancers binging and purging (bulimia) their food to control their weight. Thus began her long battle with the eating disorder. She auditioned for and made the Los Angeles Lakers' Dance Team (Lakers Girls) while still a freshman at California State University at Northridge. Her fun, high energy style got her choreographing the team within months of joining. Being that the Laker Girls are high profile for a dance team, she got the attention of the stars. The Jackson family liked her work so much they asked her to choreograph a music video for their Victory album. This launched her career as a choreographer on-stage and for film, working for several top recording artists and major films to include: "Coming to America" 1988, "Private School" 1983 and the television show "The Tracy Ullman Show"
She decided to be singing in videos, not just choreographing them. She used her connections and money to make a demo, and got Virgin America to cut her a record deal. "Knocked Out" was her debut single, released in 1988. Followed by her first album, Forever Your Girl, her single "Straight Up" went directly to number 1 on the pop charts and made her a household name. Other singles from the album, "Forever Your Girl", and "Cold Hearted", went to number one as well. In 1990 "Opposites Attract" was released and made her one of the few women in history to have four number 1 singles to her name. Shut Up and Dance was also released in 1990, with it going multi-platinum. She followed up with the album Spellbound in 1991, with decent but less spectacular results than her debut album. The exception of the album was the song "Rush Rush", a catchy love song that became a big hit.
After a hiatus from music, she came back with the album Head over Heels in 1995. The singles from the album, ( "Crazy Cool" and "My Love is For Real" ) failed to achieve the success of her prior releases.
Some of her televison and film appearances include: Cybill, The Single Guy, Spin City, All That, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Wayans Bros., Touched by Evil, and the Waiting Game.
She joined the cast of judges on American Idol in 2002, and she was a hit again with the public. Most know her as the "sweet" judge. She will also star in her own reality TV show for the Bravo channel premiering in June of 2007.
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