Perhaps you know dancer Paula Abdul from her singing career, or perhaps because she's a famous dancer. Whichever art form introduced you to the star, you're sure to have noticed that she can dance AND sing, both fantastically well.
Biography Dancer Paula Abdul
Paula Abdul was born in 1962 in California and started dancing when she was eight years old. Also a cheerleader, she was selected to be part of the 'Laker Girls' while only in her freshman year at college. As one of the squad for the Los Angeles Lakers, she quickly became the head choreographer and soon afterward left college to pursue her career full-time.
Abdul married and divorced twice in the 1990s and has no children. She is now a high-profile television personality, appearing on many shows herself and also being impersonated on such shows as SNL and The Simpsons.
Dance Profile
Abdul began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers. In addition to being a cheerleader on the squad, she also was the head choreographer for the squad, which is what put her career on the fast track. After being head choreographer for the Laker Girls, she went on to choreograph many music videos during the 1990s when MTV was all about music videos.
She is most famous for her work as one of America's greatest hip hop dance choreographers. She has choreographed not only for music videos, but also for movies (remember the keyboard sequence from Big, with Tom Hanks?). She also choreographed for American Beauty and Jerry Maguire.
If you'd like to learn some of her signature hip hop dance moves, you can get her dance workout called Get up and Dance. The essence of this workout video is that dancing is not only fantastic exercise, but it's also lots of fun.
Paula Abdul made signature music videos of her own as well as choreographing for other musical artists. You might remember her video Opposites Attract, a very early video from Abdul's career. This video won a Grammy.
She's danced in commercials as well as choreographing commercials for others to perform in. She appeared in a Diet Coke commercial where she danced with the man who inspired her as a child, Gene Kelly, the man who starred in such classic dance films as Singing in the Rain. She choreographed such famous commercials as the Burger King touchdown dance commercials. These commercials are part of her more recent work, airing in 2005 and 2006.
Dancer Paula Abdul's latest start-studded role is serving as a judge on American Idol. She's received critique for her catch-phrase reactions to some performers, but overall is a respected judge on the show even though she is impersonated on SNL every now and again.
Music Profile
Abdul has had several number one hits in her singing career; six of her singles have gone to number one on the US charts. Among these are the classics: Straight Up! and Opposites Attract, both from the late eighties-early nineties period.Her most recent hit was Dance Like there's No Tomorrow in 2008, which peaked at number 62 on the US charts. She's scheduled to release a new album in 2009, Abdulmatic, which could bring her to the top of the charts again.
Her style is high-energy pop and her voice is mezzo-soprano. Her high energy level in song is very much compatible with her hip hop dance style and she remains a central figure in the entertainment world. Additionally, she has expressed interest in being a future contestant on Dancing with the Stars.
