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Nicole Prascovia Elikolani Scherzinger ( ; ; born June 29, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, actress and television personality. She is the lead singer of the and group , one of the world’s .
Nicole Prascovia Elikolani Valiente was born on June 29, 1978, in , Hawaii, to Alfonso Valiente and Rosemary Elikolani. Valiente is of descent and Elikolani is of Native Hawaiian, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian descent. Her father divorced her mother and left the family when Scherzinger was two years old. Elikolani then married German-American Gary Scherzinger, who adopted her, and whose surname she eventually took. She has a younger half-sister, Keala. When Scherzinger was six, they moved to , where her mother was a clerk and her step-father was a welder. Scherzinger describes her upbringing as difficult as she grew up “without much money” and supported her parents by being a waitress, taking local modelling jobs, and being part of an entertainment troupe of the local amusement park, . With her grandfather a priest, Scherzinger was raised and considered herself conservative with “really strong religious beliefs” and would go to church twice a week in order to make her mother proud.
In August 2003, opting for a solo recording contract, Scherzinger traveled to office in New York with a demo CD of her own written material under her family name Nicole Kea. Her performance was interrupted by a , and she was forced to leave. Meanwhile, , the creator of the troupe the Pussycat Dolls, struck a joint venture with and, along with record producers and , launched an open audition for a separate recording group. After Will.i.am recommended Scherzinger to Iovine, she hoped to obtain a solo deal and auditioned in December 2003 along with joining , , and . As the lead singer, Scherzinger assumed the majority of the vocals and is the only member of the group to have songwriting credits on their debut album , which was released in September 2005. The album was preceded by “”, which became their international breakthrough, peaking at number two on the Hot 100. The album spawned other hits, “” and “”, the former of which was nominated for at the .
In cooperation with , Scherzinger recorded ‘s “” (1982). In December 2011, Scherzinger began endorsing the imPress Nails manicure line and has her own signature series. From 2012 to 2014, Scherzinger was the ambassador for . In March 2013, she was announced as an ambassador for promoting first class routes to Moscow. In April 2013, it was announced that Scherzinger will be the face of , a range of luxury yogurts and front TV and print campaigns. In September 2014, Scherzinger joined as the new celebrity ambassador for the skin care company.
Nicole Scherzinger is an American singer, actress and television judge. She rose to fame as the lead singer of The Pussycat Dolls —the widely successful all-girl group whose biggest hits include “Don’t Cha,” “Stickwitu” and “Buttons.” Scherzinger launched her solo career in 2007 with her debut album Her Name Is Nicole before the group ultimately split in 2009. The following year, Scherzinger competed on and won season 10 of Dancing with the Stars. She has also served as the judge of several television competition shows, including The Sing Off, The X Factor UK and The Masked Singer. She has voiced Sina in Moana and Mo’s Mom in Ralph Breaks the Internet. In 2025, she won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her role in Sunset Boulevard.
