Paula Abdul was born on June 19,
1962 in California. The
Syrian-Brazilian/French-Canadian singer was
once a member of the Los Angeles Lakers
cheerleaders (a "Laker Girl"), but
began to make her mark in the entertainment
field with her choreography skills for other
artists like Janet
Jackson, ZZ Top, George
Michael, Duran Duran, Pointer Sisters, and for
The Tracey Ullman Show on TV and the
movie Coming To America.
Paula won a MTV Video Music
Award for Best Choreography (Janet
Jackson's "Nasty" video) and
an Emmy for Award for Best Choreography of a
TV Series (The Tracey Ullman Show).
June 5: Paula released her
debut LP, Forever
Your Girl after using $35,000 in
savings to record a demo tape. After a slow
start, the LP eventually became a huge
commercial success for Paula after the third
single "Straight Up" topped the pop
charts. The single became the first of
Paula's 6 #1 hits.
# 2
Singles Artist of the Year (# 1
Female Artist of the Year)
Paula also became popular with
the video channels, always presenting new
dance routines and imaginative visuals.
Successive singles, "Forever Your Girl," "Cold Hearted," "Opposites
Attract,
" and "(It's Just) The Way
That You Love Me" kept Paula on the radio
and video channels into the new decade.
Paula hit the Top 10 with "Straight
Up."
Paula hit #1 for 3 weeks with
"Straight Up."
Forever
Your Girl was certified gold and the
single "Straight Up" was certified
gold.
Forever
Your Girl was certified platinum and the
single "Straight Up" was certified
platinum.
Abdul hit the Top 40 and Top 10 with "Forever Your Girl."
Abdul hit #1 for a week with "Forever Your Girl."
The single "Forever Your Girl" was certified
gold.
Forever
Your Girl was certified 2x platinum.
Abdul hit the Top 40 with "Cold Hearted."
The single "Cold Hearted" was certified
gold.
Abdul hit the Top 10 with "Cold Hearted."
At the MTV Video Music
Awards, the video for "Straight
Up" won 4 trophies: Best Choreography, Best Dance Video, Best Editing (Jim Heygood), and Best Female Video, and was nominated for
Best New Artist and Breakthrough Video.
Forever
Your Girl was certified 3x platinum.
Paula hit the Top 40 with "(It's Just) The Way
That You Love Me."
Forever
Your Girl was certified 4x platinum.
Paula won 2 Billboard Music
Video Awards for Best Video and Best New
Artist Video ("Straight Up").
Paula hit the Top 10 with "(It's Just) The Way
That You Love Me."
Paula hit the Top 40 with "Opposites
Attract."
# 68
Singles Artist of the Year
Forever
Your Girl was certified 5x platinum.
Paula hit the Top 10 with "Opposites
Attract."
Paula won 2 American Music
Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist and Favorite Dance Artist, and was nominated for
Favorite Pop/Rock Album (Forever
Your Girl) and Favorite Soul/R&B Female
Artist.
Paula hit #1 for 2 weeks with
"Opposites
Attract."
Paula was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal
Performance ("Straight Up").
Forever
Your Girl was certified 6x platinum and
the single "Opposites
Attract"
was certified gold.
While fans awaited Paula's
follow-up LP, a collection of dance remixes
was released - Shut
Up And Dance.
Forever
Your Girl was certified 7x platinum and Shut
Up And Dance was certified platinum.
The video for "Opposites
Attract"
was nominated for 6 MTV Video Music
Awards for Best Female Video, Best Dance Video, Breakthrough Video, Best Direction, Best Choreography, and Best Special Effects.
# 3
Singles Artist of the Year
Paula was nominated for an American Music
Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist.
Paula won a Grammy
Award for Best Music
Video, Short Form ("Opposites
Attract")
- with Video Directors, Michael Patterson and
Candice Reckinger, and Video Producer, Sharon
Oreck.
Paula's second studio LP, Spellbound, was released and
showed Paula's talent for ballads as well as
dance music. The #1 hit "Rush Rush" and Top 10,
"Blowing Kisses In The
Wind,"
were also hits on adult contemporary charts.
Paula's dance hits included the #1, "The Promise Of A New
Day,"
and hits "Vibeology," and "Will
You Marry Me."
Paula hit the Top 40 with "Rush Rush."
Paula hit the Top 10 and #1 for 4 weeks with
"Rush Rush."
Spellbound was certified platinum
and the single "Rush Rush" was certified
gold.
Paula hit the Top 40 with "The Promise Of A New
Day."
Paula hit the Top 10 with "The Promise Of A New
Day."
Paula hit #1 for a week with "The Promise Of A New
Day."
Spellbound was certified 2x
platinum.
The video for "Rush Rush" was nominated
for a MTV Video Music
Award for Best Female Video.
Paula hit the Top 40 with "Blowing Kisses In The
Wind."
Paula hit the Top 10 with "Blowing Kisses In The
Wind."
# 37
Singles Artist of the Year
Spellbound was certified 3x
platinum.
Paula hit the Top 40 with "Vibeology."
Paula won an American Music
Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist and was nominated for Favorite Adult Contemporary
Artist
and Favorite Adult
Contemporary Album (Spellbound).
Paula hit the Top 10 with "Vibeology."
Abdul hit the Top 40 with "Will You Marry Me?"
April 29: Paula married actor
Emilio Estevez (the couple divorced 2 years
later).
In between her second and third
LPs, Paula was sidetracked in court defending
herself against a backup singer claiming that
she herself had sung on a number of tracks on
Paula's debut LP. Paula eventually won the
court case.
Paula could be heard with the
track "Bend Time Back Around" on
the soundtrack for the TV series Beverly
Hills 90210.
Rolling
Stone: "The 100 Top Music Videos" included
"Straight Up" at # 80.
# 45
Singles Artist of the Year
Paula hit the Top 40 with "My Love Is For Real."
Paula released her third LP, Head
Over Heels. Although the LP did not sell
as well as her previous LPs, she showed the
musical world that she still had the ability
to create infectious singles and innovative
videos with the single "My Love Is For Real." The LP also had
some help from Color Me Badd
and Ofra Haza, and had the
additional hits "Crazy Cool" and "Ain't Never Gonna Give
You Up."
Paula hit the Top
10
with "My Love Is For Real."
Paula topped the Billboard Hot
Dance Music Club Play chart for a week with
"My Love Is For Real."
Paula hit the Top 40 with "Crazy Cool."
The video for
"My Love Is For Real" was nominated
for 2 MTV Video Music
Awards for Best Dance Video and Best Choreography.
Head
Over Heels was certified gold.
# 185
Singles Artist of the Year
Paula hit the Top 40 with "Ain't Never Gonna Give
You Up."
Paula began an acting career
with appearances on Cybil and The
Single Guy as well as a TV movie the
following year called Touched By Evil.
Paula also married again.
Although Paula's rise to stardom
appeared quick and easy, it wasn't without
struggles. Paula became more candid about her
15 year bout with bulimia, starting when she
was in her teens. She announced that in 1989
she had joined Over Eaters Anonymous just as
her career took off.
Paula released an
exercise/aerobic home video entitled Cardio
Dance and appeared on the TV show, Spin
City.
Paula won $100,000 in court over
a public appearance dispute.
MTV: 100
Greatest Videos Ever Made includes
"Straight Up" at # 49.
Paula released a hit compilation
- Greatest
Hits.
Paula signed a development deal
with Fox Kids Network for the creation of an
animated children's series. VH1: 100
Greatest Dance Songs includes
"Straight Up" at # 81.
VH1: 100
Greatest Videos includes:
# 89
- "Opposites
Attract."
Paula could be seen as one of
the judges on the hit talent search show American Idol: The Search
for a Superstar on FOX.
Paula ranked #
85 on VH1: 100
Sexiest Artists.
Paula could be seen back on TV
as one of the judges on the hit talent search
show American Idol 2:
The Search for a Superstar on FOX.
# 45 on the Top Pop Artists
of the Past 25 Years chart.
Paula could be seen back on TV
as one of the judges on the hit talent search
show American Idol 3:
The Search for a Superstar on FOX.
Paula released the DVD Video
Hits.
Paula could be seen back on TV
as one of the judges on the hit talent search
show American Idol 4:
The Search for a Superstar on FOX.
Paula was hit with a fine and 2
years probation for a hit-and-run incident in
Los Angeles. Paula reportedly swiped a car
with her car last December.
Paula released the DVD Ultimate
Voice Coach - Learn To Sing Like A Star.
Controversy erupted within American Idol as a former contestant
was making accusations that he had an affair
with Paula during his time with American Idol.
FOX Television announced they
found no evidence to support claims of Paula
having an affair with a contestant.
VH1: 100
Greatest Songs of the 80's included
"Straight Up" at # 64.
Greatest
Hits: Straight Up! was released.
Paula broke her nose and toe
after trying to not step on her pet dog.
Paula could be heard on the
Randy Jackson LP Randy
Jackson's Music Club, Volume 1 with "Dance Like
There's No Tomorrow."
Abdul announced she would be
leaving American Idol after 8 seasons.