Not all recording artists get platinum hits and international recognition. To some, the opportunity arises at least once in a lifetime. But was it also true for a former Pussycat Doll?
The former lead singer of Pussycat Dolls, Nicole Scherzinger, rejected the offer to record “We Found Love” and “Just Dance.” Both songs gained platinum status after Rihanna and Lady Gaga recorded them.
Who is Nicole Scherzinger?
Nicole Elikolani Prescovia Valiente was born on June 29, 1978, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her father, Alfonso Valiente, is of Filipino descent, while her mother, Rosemary Elikolani, was a native Hawaiian with Ukrainian ancestry. In her younger years, her parents separated, and her mother was remarried to Gary Scherzinger.
Scherzinger’s interest in music sparked when she got a cassette tape of Whitney Houston. She pursued her passion and studied theatre and dance at Wright State University. She left school when she was hired by the band Days of the New. Scherzinger also auditioned for a reality TV show titled Pop Stars.
After the TV show, she joined Eden’s Crush’s first, her first all-girl group, and had a hit debut single Get Over Yourself. In 2003, she was cast as one of the members of Pussycat Dolls, who was a burlesque troupe then. The group was then rebranded as recording artists. And in 2005, the group released their debut album PCD with the hit single Don’t Cha and Stickwitu. (Source: The Famous People)
The group was then selected to open for Black Eyed Peas and Christina Aguilera. While doing so, Scherzinger also worked on her solo album titled Her Name is Nicole but was not released as many of the singles in the album did not hit the charts.
In 2008, the Pussycat Dolls released their second album Doll Domination which included their hit Jai Ho! that was featured on the soundtrack of the movie Slumdog Millionaire. (Source: Contact Music)
In January 2010, Scherzinger worked on another solo album, collaborating with known artists like Ne-Yo and Jay Sean. She also left the group to work on projects like Dancing with the Stars and teamed up with clothing store C and A.
Scherzinger released finally her debut solo album, Killer Love, in 2011 in the UK, but the album only made a slight success. She was soon cast in the Men in Black 3 movie released in 2012 and, in the same year, replaced Kelly Rowland as a judge in X Factor UK.
In 2014, Scherzinger released her second solo album but unfortunately, it was not as successful as she would have hoped for. (Source: World of Female)
Turning down Platinum Hits
In an interview, Scherzinger embarrassingly admitted that she made mistakes in passing out on recording two hits that Rihanna and Lady Gaga ultimately performed.
Scherzinger received a demo of the Calvin Harris Song We Found Love but was too busy at that time. Rihanna recorded the song instead. Scherzinger also claimed that they, PCD, was approached to record Just Dance but declined the offer. It was then recorded by Lady Gaga.Both songs became platinum hits and were the biggest-selling singles at that time. (Source: NME)