THE PUSSYCAT DOLLS

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The Pussycat Dolls is an American female pop singing group. The Dolls began as a burlesque dance troupe based in Los Angeles, and expanded to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The group, which was founded by choreographer Robin Antin in 1995, released its first single in 2004.

1993-2003: Dance Troupe Beginnings

Some sources claim that Antin first began casting her burlesque troupe in 1993; their first performance was in 1995. During this period the troupe performed with numerous guest vocalists (see list below), with a repertoire of '50s and '60s pop standards, performed in lingerie and/or old-fashioned pin-up costumes. Antin reportedly drew inspiration from the choreography of Bob Fosse (Sweet Charity, Cabaret, Chicago).

They secured a Thursday night residency at Los Angeles nightclub The Viper Room, where they stayed from 1995-2001. In 2002 they moved to The Roxy. The group became internationally popular and was featured in magazines, television specials for MTV and VH1, ad campaigns, and movies. Carmen Electra was the group's lead performer for many of these appearances, and she has been featured most frequently of all the celebrity performers. With the involvement of music producers Jimmy Iovine and Ron Fair, the troupe was re-cast and transformed into a pop/R&B recording group.

The Pussycat Dolls on the cover of their 2005 debut album, PCD

2003-present: Music Career

In 2003 Nicole Scherzinger (a.k.a. Nicole Kea), a former member of the American Popstars winners Eden's Crush, became the group's lead singer. The present members of the group are Scherzinger; Carmit Bachar (who joined in 1995); Jessica Sutta (who joined in 2002); and Melody Thornton, Kimberly Wyatt, and Ashley Roberts (who all joined in 2003). They opened the MTV Asia Awards 2004.

In 2005, The Pussycat Dolls released their debut album PCD. The album debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200, selling over 99,000 copies. It has produced four singles. "Don't Cha" (featuring Busta Rhymes, originally recorded by Tori Alamaze) became their first major hit. The follow-up, "Stickwitu", became the group's second #1 single in the UK. The third single, "Beep", featured Black Eyed Peas lead singer Will.I.Am. They recently released their latest single, "Buttons", featuring Snoop Dogg.

The group won a Billboard Music Award for "Don't Cha" as Top Hot/Dance Club Play Single of the Year. The song was also nominated for Top-Selling Single of the Year and Top-Selling Dance Single of the Year.

Most recently, the Pussycat Dolls have ventured into the virtual world. In 2006, San Francisco-based company Doppelganger (along with Interscope Records, the Pussycat Dolls' label) launched the PCD Music Lounge, an interactive website.

Toy maker Hasbro had plans for a line of dolls modeled after the Pussycat Dolls, but the groups "Dads and Daughters" and the "Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood" successfully lobbied the company to scrap the plan because the dolls would have been inappropriate to market.

Nicole Sherzinger - time out

Repertoire

The Dolls' repertoire includes both contemporary pop/R&B and cover versions of pop standards. The covers often fit within the traditions of burlesque, cabaret and drag shows; featuring musical vamps and flirtatious choreography. Cover versions they have performed live or recorded include: "Big Spender" (Chita Rivera/Shirley Bassey), "Fever" (Peggy Lee), "Sway" (Dean Martin), "Santa Baby" (Eartha Kitt), "Feelin' Good" (Nina Simone), "Tainted Love" (Gloria Jones/Soft Cell), "Where Did Our Love Go" (The Supremes/Soft Cell), "Hot Stuff" (Donna Summer), and "Don't Cha" (Tori Alamaze).

Discography

Albums

Singles

Nicole Sherzinger - lead singer, Pussycat Dolls

Recognitions

2007–08: The Pussycat Dolls Present

In April 2006, The New York Times reported that Interscope executives were working to produce their own reality TV series, overseen by the producers of America's Next Top Model and McG, the director of the Charlie's Angels films. The show, entitled Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search For the Next Doll would search for a new member for the recording group. The new member would sing on the next album and tour with the group. The show premiered on The CW, on March 6, 2007, with music produced by Saverio Principini. It premiered in Australia and the UK on April 1. The season finale announced the winner of the show to be Asia Nitollano. It was announced in July that Asia Nitollano had "decided to pursue a solo career" instead.

Nicole Sherzinger - neat hairdo and dress

The second season of the show commenced broadcast on February 18, 2008, titled Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious. Unlike the previous series which tried to find a new member to join the Dolls, the second series auditioned women to become part of a new three member all-female group, Girlicious. Members of the Pussycat Dolls appeared on both seasons of the Pussycat Dolls Present: either as guest judge, performing songs, or in a video message shown to the contestants each week.

During February 2007, Caesars Palace opened the Pussycat Dolls Casino just across the Pussycat Dolls Lounge. It features "Dolls-style" decor and attire for the gaming staff, waitresses and dancers. The Dolls returned to Los Angeles and the Viper Room from November 2008 for regular Friday and Saturday nights performances billed as the "Pussycat Dolls Lounge".

In 2007, Asia Nitollano nominally became the group's seventh member after winning in the reality show Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search For the Next Doll, allegedly giving her the opportunity to sing on the next album and on tour. Nitollano performed for the first time with the Dolls during the show's finale, singing their Number 1 Hit "Don't Cha". She later performed again with the Dolls during The CW Upfronts Party. Her place in the group was questioned due to her only seen performing with the group twice, and was intensified by her non-appearance most notably during the group's Live Earth performances. On March 8, 2008, Bachar announced she was departing the group for other projects. The group performed for the first time after their break and as a quintet for US troops in Kuwait for Operation Myspace.

2008–10: Doll Domination and third line-up

On May 27, 2008, the Pussycat Dolls released "When I Grow Up", which reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play. The song topped several European charts and became a worldwide top ten hit. Follow-up single "Whatcha Think About That", a collaboration with Missy Elliott, failed to enter the US charts but managed to reach the top 20 in several other countries including the UK. The group's second album, Doll Domination, was released on September 19, 2008. It debuted at number four on the Billboard 200, with 79,000 copies sold in its first week of release. A third single from the album, "I Hate This Part", was released in October 2008 and reached the top ten in the majority of the charts it appeared on. The album's fourth single "Bottle Pop" received a limited release in the US and Oceania during March 2009. The Pussycat Dolls on the Doll Domination Tour to support Doll Domination. Lady Gaga opened for them in Europe and Australia, while Ne-Yo supported the Pussycat Dolls in the UK leg. In mid-2009 they opened for Britney Spears' tour The Circus Starring Britney Spears on the first leg in North America.

Nicole bejeweled

The Pussycat Dolls opening at The Circus Starring Britney Spears

In April 2009 Scherzinger confirmed to Billboard that the album would be re-released to give more people a chance to get their music. In Europe, the album was re-released with four new songs. In Australia a compilation called Doll Domination 2.0 was released with six songs from the original version plus four new songs. The UK received a six-song EP called Doll Domination: The Mini Collection on April 27, 2009, featuring four of the original songs plus a remix and a new song. In August 2009, the album was repackaged once more as Doll Domination 3.0 to include all of the previously released bonus songs on one CD with the original album. Its release was limited to Europe and the UK where the group's singles had all reached top 20. The repackaged versions spawned two more singles: the worldwide number one "Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)" (featured on the soundtrack for Slumdog Millionaire) and euro-pop remix of "Hush Hush" (retitled "Hush Hush; Hush Hush") which reached top 20 internationally. Following Scherzinger's over-emphasis in the release of these two singles, there were several emotional outbursts to the media including one by Thornton during one of the group's appearances on tour.

On January 29, 2010, Jessica Sutta revealed to E!Online that she had been ousted from the group, following a broken rib she sustained whilst on tour with the group. On February 26, Wyatt confirmed she was also leaving the group in Loaded magazine. Upon her departure, she told the magazine: "I wish that it was different because I love what we do on stage. I love being a Doll, but as far as variables off-stage are concerned – I just couldn't do it anymore ... when I came out on stage, I knew what my job was and I did it to the best of my ability. I feel like I can relate to anybody in a corporate job – because it's just a job, nothing more!" One day later, Ashley Roberts announced her departure from the group via her website. She said: "Yes, I have left the Pussycat Dolls.. I love you all sooo much!!! I am so grateful to have the love and support of all of you. It was an amazing ride and I learned so much!" Wyatt would later go on to confirm that all of the members had left the group, including Thornton. In late 2010, Scherzinger officially left the group to pursue a solo career.

Nicole Sherzinger sporting a Scarlet O'Hara look

2011–present: Fourth line-up

In March 2011, Antin confirmed that she would be holding auditions to find new girls in order to replace the departed members of the group. On September 16, 2011, it was revealed that the new line-up will be formed on a reality series, which will see Kim Kardashian and Nigel Lythgoe as executive producers.

On October 29, an official image was released revealing the six new members of PCD. This confirmed the previously rumoured line-up leaked a few days before, consisting on Lauren Bennett, Vanessa Curry, Kristal "Lyndriette" Smith, Tiffany "Taz" Zavala, Kia Hampton and Paula van Oppen. But furthermore Antin revealed that the new line-up for the recording group is not been officially chosen yet as she revealed that the new Pussycat Dolls may consists not like original 6, but could be 5.

Talking to Billboard.com on the red carpet at the American Music Awards Lauren Bennett confirmed herself as a part of the newly regrouped recording group. This makes her the first member of a brand new lineup that creator Robin Antin confirmed to Billboard was in the process of being built. "We're currently figuring out who's in the group and we're working on an album," Bennett says of the Pussycat Dolls.

The New Pussycat Dolls made their world debut on February 5, during one of the biggest shows of the year: the Super Bowl, as they were part of GoDaddy’s annual peekaboo show/commercial experience, appearing with Danica Patrick. "The look of the commercial is not necessarily the new look of the group this time around, said Robin Antin, adding, "It's breathtakingly beautiful. It's a fun, real-campy kind of sexy. It's all of that, but again, what we're doing for this next life of the Pussycat Dolls, the girls are all young. It's a fresh, young energy. I want to appeal to our young fans." An official picture taken from the ad, showed Lauren Bennett from Paradiso Girls, former Laker Girl Vanessa Curry, Chrystina Sayers from Girlicious, Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Erica Jenkins, and Paula van Oppen from "So You Think You Can Dance" as the official line-up.  

Work in progress - oil painting of the famous singer

Antin also told MTV that they are already working on their next small-screen project — and this time, it includes reality-TV queen Kim Kardashian. "We're developing a reality show with Kim Kardashian as an executive producer and Nigel Lythgoe." With a new Doll lineup, Antin thinks now is as good a time as any to put their ups and downs on tape. "The engine of all Pussycat Dolls [projects] is the recording ground, and now having the new recording group, it made sense to focus on the launch of this new group and how that engine opens up all the doors for all the different things that I'm doing that are a part of the brand. These girls are the next generation." she said.
Other work

In 2007, Interscope formed a London-based spin-off group called Paradiso Girls through an open audition. The group's original lineup was composed of lead singers Aria Cascaval and Lauren Bennett, rapper Shar Mae Amor and DJ Kelly Beckett. Antin and Ron Fair selected Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search For the Next Doll finalist Chelsea Korka to join as a third vocalist, making it into the group's final lineup. The group has yet to make an international debut whilst releasing their debut single and a yet to be released debut album. The Pussycat Dolls had re-recorded "Don't Cha" in Simlish for inclusion in the computer game The Sims 2: Pets. They also appeared in character form in the computer game Asphalt: Urban GT 2 in November 2006.
Merchandise

In a merchandising agreement with Interscope in 2006, toy manufacturer Hasbro had plans for a line of dolls modelled after the Pussycat Dolls, and reportedly marketed at six to nine-year-olds. The groups Dads and Daughters and Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood successfully lobbied the company to scrap the plan because they felt that the Pussycat Dolls would have been inappropriate for children, due to the overtly sexual nature of the Pussycat Dolls' songs, videos and live shows. They also negotiated a deal with Estée Lauder for a Pussycat Dolls line of cosmetics under the Stila brand.

During 2008, it was reported that Antin and the La Senza Corporation of Canada were producing a line of Burlesque/Pussycat Dolls-styled lingerie called "Shhh...by Robin Antin". On December 15, 2009 Robin Antin released Robin Antin's Pussycat Dolls Workout DVD composing of dancers from the Pussycat Doll Lounge Review, Chrystina Sayers (member of the group Girlicious) and featuring Nicole Scherzinger.

The Pussycat Dolls, with former member Carmen Electra (bottom center), featured in Interview (magazine) (2002).

Official website

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