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Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American multi-platinum selling Grammy Award-winning singer, dancer, television personality, jewelry designer, actress, and Emmy Award-winning choreographer. She is the former daughter-in-law of actor Martin Sheen.

In the 1980s, Abdul rose from being a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers NBA basketball team to being a sought-after choreographer at the height of the music video era, then to being a Pop-R&B singer with a string of hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s. After her initial period of success, she suffered a series of reverses in her professional and personal life, until she found renewed fame and success in the 2000s as a judge on the television series American Idol. A new album by Abdul is reported to be set for a mid-2008 release.

Biography

Early life

Abdul was born in San Francisco, California, to Harry Abdul, a former livestock trader and owner of a sand and gravel business, and Lorraine Rykiss, a concert pianist who once worked as film director Billy Wilder's assistant. Abdul's father was a Syrian Jew who was born in Syria, raised in Brazil, and subsequently immigrated to the U.S. Abdul's mother, Lorraine Rykiss, is also Jewish and originally from Saint Boniface, Manitoba, Canada. Her maternal grandfather was named William Rykiss and was a proprieter of the general store in Minnedosa, Manitoba.

She and her sister, Wendy, grew up with their mother in the San Fernando Valley. Abdul's sister has at least two sons, both of whom briefly appear on an episode of Abdul's reality show. 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 dance lessons around the age of eight and showed a natural talent for it. She attended Van Nuys High School where she was a cheerleader and an honors student. At 15, she received a scholarship to a dance camp near Palm Springs.

Abdul studied broadcasting at California State University, Northridge. During her first year was selected from a pool of 700 tryouts for the cheerleading squad of the Los Angeles Lakers, the famed Laker Girls. Within three months she became head choreographer. She quit school six months later.

Dance and choreography

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Abdul's high-energy, street-funk style has delighted fans, including the Jackson family. Abdul went on to choreograph videos for several artists in the 1980's 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! (released on DVD in 2003), a fast-paced, hip-hop style workout. Subsequently she released another dance workout video in 1998 called Cardio Dance (released on DVD in 2000). In December 2005, Abdul launched a cheerleading/fitness/dance/dance DVD series called Cardio Cheer, which is marketed to children and teenage girls involved with cheerleading and dance.

In film, Abdul choreographed the dance sequences in the films Coming to America, The Running Man and American Beauty, the giant keyboard sequence involving Tom Hanks’ character in Big, and The King's touchdown celebration, as seen in a string of popular Burger King television commercials that aired during the 2005-2006 NFL season.

1987-1990: Forever Your Girl era

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.

In 1988, Abdul released her 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 -- it 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", "(It's Just) The Way That You Love Me", 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. As a sign of Paula's enormous popularity, the cartoon cat scored his own record deal later that year, becoming the first artist signed to Abdul's own Captive Records. Abdul's voice was sampled on one track and she appeared in the video for the first single.

Abdul also went on a Club MTV tour where she performed songs from her album. Several other acts were also on the tour.

1991-1992: Spellbound era

Abdul's follow-up album, 1991's Spellbound, contained another string of hits, and went on to sell 13 million copies worldwide. 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" (her last number one) and "Blowing Kisses in the Wind" were also successful top ten singles, while "Vibeology" and "Will You Marry Me?" were rather moderate releases which charted in the lower positions of the top 20. 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." This tour was nearly cancelled due to an accident during rehearsals. The tour, however 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.

1993-1994: Personal struggles

A short period after Spellbound was released, Abdul's personal life began to cloud her career. In 1993 she helped her sister Wendy overcome an over-eating disorder, however Abdul herself later admitted to the disorder bulimia. Abdul checked herself into a clinic to overcome the self-esteem issues triggering her bulimia. Her reputation was also damaged when backing vocalist Yvette Marine claimed she sang on the Forever Your Girl album, not Paula. The case started in August, and lasted one month. Eventually Abdul and Virgin records won the case. That same year Paula filed for divorce from Emilio Estevez, the couple had only been married briefly. The divorce was finalized in 1994.

1995-1996: Head Over Heels era

By 1995 Paula Abdul had successfully overcome her personal issues and prepared to return to the spotlight with her new album Head Over Heels. The album received mixed reviews, and its singles became modest radio hits. The first single off the album, "My Love Is for Real" featured a fusion of R&B and traditional Middle Eastern instruments, and was sung together 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), but the single stalled at #28 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. Despite the lack of mainstream chart success, the single was nominated for several MTV Video Music Awards.

The second single, "Crazy Cool" became a minor hit in the U.S yet managed to peak at #13 on the dance charts. "Ain't Never Gonna Give You Up" served as the third and final single but failed to chart in the Hot 100. To this day Head Over Heels has sold 3 million copies worldwide, Abdul's lowest selling studio album to date.

2000s: Musical Hiatus, Controversy & American Idol

After the low sales of Head Over Heels and conquering her personal problems, Abdul took a hiatus 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 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.

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, 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 when her critiques were compared to fellow judge Simon Cowell, who was often very 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 walk off. Now a bonafide television celebrity, Abdul accepted a second gig as reporter for Entertainment Tonight. She continued to attract attention during subsequent seasons of American Idol. 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. This ability to give positive feedback to every performance has also led some people to say she is a poor judge incapable of constructive criticism.

In May 2005, ABC's news magazine Primetime Live reported claims by Season 2 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 black balled because of his relationship with Abdul and that's 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 ashamed 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".

On March 28, 2006 FOX announced that Abdul had signed to stay on American Idol as a judge for at least three more years. 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.

The week of May 14th to 18th, 2007 (the week before the season 6 finale), Abdul broke her nose and her arm when she tried to "avoid tripping over her pet chihuahua". She was present at the May 22nd performance and May 23rd finale.

A second greatest-hits CD, entitled Greatest Hits: Straight Up!, was released by Virgin on May 8, 2007. The track listing is slightly different but, again, this album was put together by Virgin Records who no longer employs Abdul but nonetheless hopes to cash in on her American Idol success. At this time, they also released the music videos to all her six #1 singles to iTunes.

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'.

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. Paula is currently about to release her own perfume entitled "Sexy Thoughts."

2008-present: Return to Music

During the Hey Paula series, the original theme song for the series (Paula's first #1 single "Straight Up"), was replaced on the 4th episode with what appears to be a brand new song called Karma recorded by Paula, suggesting a possible musical comeback.

On January 14, 2008, Fox announced that they will air a pre-taped performance of Abdul's new song, the first single off of Randy Jackson's "Randy Jackson's Music Club, Vol. 1" called "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow" during the Super Bowl XLII pregame. Abdul also recorded the new music video for the song, which Simon Cowell makes an appearance in.

On January 16, 2008, TMZ confirmed that Abdul has started rehearsals for a super bowl performance.

The Music video was officially premiered on American Idol on February 21, 2008.

Personal life

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• Abdul was married to Emilio Estevez from April 29, 1992 to May 1994. In a June 19, 2005 interview with People magazine Abdul stated that they broke up over the issue of children; she wanted them to have a child together, while Estevez (who already had two children from a prior relationship) did not. She married sportswear designer Brad Beckerman in 1996; they divorced in 1998 citing irreconcilable differences.
• 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.
• In mid July, 2007, Abdul announced that she has 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."
• Having recovered from her eating disorder after treatment in 1994, she later became a spokeswoman for NEDA, and was presented with the Profiles In Living Award in late 2005. She continued her work by recording Public Service Announcements in 2006.
• In April 2005, she revealed that she suffers from a rare neurological disorder called complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) that causes chronic pain.
• She says she plans to explore fertility options. “With modern medicine, people are having kids in their 40s and even up until their late 40s,” says Paula. “In their 50s, they’re having their second child. If it doesn’t happen naturally like that, I would always consider adopting."

On Judaism and Israel

Paula is a practicing Jew and is proud of her Jewish heritage. She has said, "Not many people know, but both my parents are Jewish, I am very excited about telling you this." Even though her dad is from Syria, an Arab country, Abdul has stated that it was her dream to visit Israel and said, "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." Abdul supports and loves Israel. Israeli Tourist Minister Isaac Herzog invited her to Israel during a Hanukkah festival, to which Abdul responded with a hug, adding, "I will come; you have helped me make my dream come true."

Court and legal

• 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 USD $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 USD $775 for damage to the other car.
• 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 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."

Tours

• The Club MTV Tour
• Under My Spell Tour

Discography

Albums

Singles

See also

• List of number-one hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
• List of Number 1 Dance Hits (United States)
• List of artists by total number of USA number one singles
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
• List of artists who reached number one on the Australian singles chart

References

• Official website
• The official Paula Abdul Site in Europe, for her New Album 2008
• Paula Online Company
• The official Paula Abdul fansite
• Template:Amg
• Paula Abdul at People.com

Footnotes

1. Paula Abdul dishes on Antonella Barba, 'Idol,' and her media portrayal, RealityTVWorld.com, 2007-03-14. Retrieved on 2007-04-11
2. ^ Itamar Eichner (2006-11-17). "Israeli minister, American Idol". YNetNews.com. Retrieved 2006-11-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
3. The Running Man (1987) at IMDb
4. Cowell, S (2003): I don't mean to be rude, but..., page 116-117, Random House. ISBN 0-7679-1741-3
5. AP., Abdul pokes fun at sex scandal on ‘SNL’, MSNBC.com (2005-05-11), Retrieved on 2007-02-12
6. AP., After probe, Paula Abdul to remain on ‘Idol’, MSNBC.com (2005-08-24), Retrieved on 2007-02-12.
7. http://www.movieweb.com/tv/news/78/16978.php MovieWeb.com News]
8. http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272615124.shtml
9. Paula Abdul Jewelry homepage on QVC, retrieved May 13, 2007.
10. GuyoutBrothers.com Jewelry Industry News
11. Mariah, Paula, 'Idols' Join Jackson's 'Club' Retrieved January 18, 2008
12. Paula Abdul to debut new music video during Super Bowl pregame, retrieved January 14, 2008.
13. Paula's Super Show -- Straight Up Catastrophe? retrieved January 16, 2008.
14. Paula Abdul Finally Restores Her Love Life, All Headline News, 2007-07-19. Retrieved on 2007-07-19
15. The View, episode airing July 19, 2007
16. Access Hollywood, episode airing July 18, 2007
17. Paula Abdul Falls Straight Down, E Online News, 2007-05-21. Retrieved on 2007-05-21
18. YouTube - Paula Abdul... "a good Jewish girl."
19. AP., 'Idol' Judge Fined For Hit-And-Run, CBSnews.com, 2005-03-24, Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
20. AP, Paula Abdul Tells Police She Was Assaulted, MSN.com, 2006-04-06, Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
21. ^ Abdul says odd behavior not drug-related, USA Today, 2005-04-20. Retrieved on 2007-04-09
22. ^ Paula Abdul seen slurring in TV interview, Reuters via MSNBC.com, 2007-01-15, Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
23. Paula Abdul claims she’s ‘squeaky clean’, Associated Press via MSNBC.com, 2007-02-13, Retrieved on 2007-02-15
24. Clip of 2007 interview on Letterman, provided by CBS to YouTube.

External links

• Paula Abdul official Site for her New Album
• Paula Abdul at IMDb
• Paula Abdul at People.com

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• Articles needing cleanup from January 2008
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• 1962 births
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• American dancers
• American film actors
• American Jews
• American music critics
• American pop singers
• American television actors
• American television producers
• American Idol participants
• Brazilian-Americans
• African Americans
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• Americans of Syrian descent
• Participants in American reality television series
• American rhythm and blues singers
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