Known primarily as a music video choreographer and pop star of the late 1980s, Paula Abdul would later enjoy triumphant career resurgence as a judge on the phenomenally popular reality talent show, American Idol (Fox, 2002- ). But years before she could make aspiring singers dreams come true, Abdul was a key figure in the 1980s music video world for her choreography work with Janet Jackson among others. She would parlay her role as a high profile dancer into a brief music career where her fun, poppy R&B-tinged singles and electric concert performances earned comparisons to Jackson and Madonna. At the peak of her popularity, Abdul was continually criticized for her fluctuating weight and her limited vocal range, and when her style was eclipsed by harder grunge rock in the early 1990s, she faded into obscurity. Or so the naysayers believed. Proving them all wrong, in 2002, Abdul was cast on American Idol in the obligatory role of overly kind judge alongside the abrasive Simon Cowell and the bland Randy Jackson. Her earlier nice girl veneer, however, soon gave way to controversy amid Abduls loopy behavior, allegations of inappropriate contact with a male Idol contestant, and her dramatic and unexpected departure from one of the most popular TV series on television.
Born June 19, 1963, Abdul was raised in Californias San Fernando Valley by her Syrian-Brazilian father and French-Canadian mother. She was drawn to entertainment after seeing the classic musical Singin in the Rain (1952) as a child, and afterwards began ballet and tap lessons. She appeared in summer stock stage productions from age seven, performing excerpts from musicals like Hello Dolly and Gypsy. A near-obsessive overachiever, Abdul was class president, member of the science and debate teams, and flautist in the orchestra at Van Nuys High School, while continuing to prove her dancing skills as the schools head cheerleader. Meanwhile her mother, a retired classical pianist, warned Abdul about the perils of being a professional entertainer, so instead of following her dream, Abdul enrolled at California State University, Northridge to pursue a degree in broadcasting, with an eye towards becoming a sportscaster.
During her freshman year at CSUN, Abdul auditioned for a coveted spot as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers. All her years of tap, jazz and ballet paid off. Not only did she make the team, but several months into working with them, the choreographer departed and Abdul landed the job. Lending her own personal style to the teams routines, Abdul infused jazz and street steps with standard cheerleading moves enough that the teams revamped style captured the attention of various Jacksons in the famed musical family. The Jacksons used her choreography talent for the 1984 video Torture, while Janet later tapped Abdul to choreograph her solo music video for What Have You Done for Me Lately? Following the success of those high-profile hits, Abdul was suddenly in demand for her services, choreographing videos for such diverse acts as Duran Duran, George Michael and ZZ Top.
Abduls resume of music videos led to choreography work on feature films including Private School (1983), The Running Man (1987) and Coming to America (1988). By then, the energetic, exotically beautiful dancer with the strong work ethic and flair for showbiz was being courted by Virgin America Records, who had visions of turning her into a pop star, despite her lack of experience or innate talent as a singer. The labels hunch about Abduls potential appeal proved right, and her first album, Forever Your Girl, released in June of 1988, immediately begat two hit singles, Knocked Out and The Way That You Love Me. Her third single, Straight Up, went all the way to No. 1, while the album topped the Billboard 100 at No. 1, eventually selling over 10 million copies internationally.
In 1989, Abdul hit a career high with American Music Awards for Pop/Rock Female Artist and Dance Music Artist, MTV Music Video Awards for Female Video and Dance Video for "Straight Up, and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography for her work on "The Tracey Ullman Show (Fox, 1987-1990). Despite the awards, multi-platinum album and hit singles, critics blasted Abduls tinny, octave-and-a-half voice that was doubled, tripled and heavily synthesized to make it palpable to the ear. By her own admission, she was not a good singer, but was confident that she had enough other qualities to keep on top looks, charm, dance moves, and a flair for the dramatic. In 1989, Abdul toured as part of the Club MTV tour, which included other acts Tone-Loc and Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, but the tour was most memorable for exposing the act Milli Vanilli as lip synching frauds.
Abduls sophomore effort, Spellbound, sold 13 million copies and boasted two No.1 singles Rush, Rush and The Promise of a New Day. She embarked on her first solo tour, performing 20,000 seat arenas and making her one of the pop worlds most lucrative acts. Abdul had worked hard with vocal coaches to improve her voice for the record, but detractors would not let her shake her rep as a bad singer. To make matters worse, Yvette Marine, a backup singer on Forever Your Girl, filed a lawsuit against Virgin Records, claiming that she sang co-lead on two tracks and did not receive proper credit. A jury ruled against Marine, but the damage to Abduls reputation was irreparable. The pressure of the lawsuit, an ensuing world tour and a brief marriage to actor Emilio Estevez forced Abdul to retreat from the spotlight. During this time, she came to grips with her 17-year long battle with bulimia, confessing on a 1995 episode of PrimeTime Live (1989- ), that she had finally conquered her eating disorder in spite of public ridicule about her weight and her divorce from Estevez.
Meanwhile, Abduls third album Head Over Heels failed to crack the Top Ten. By 1995, overproduced dance pop was out of step with the grunge and hip-hop saturating the airwaves and MTV, prompting Abdul to spend the remainder of the 1990s appearing in guest spots on television, mainly as herself, on episodes of Cybill (CBS, 1994-98), Spin City (ABC, 1996-2002), Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (ABC-WB, 1996-2003) and The Bernie Mac Show (Fox, 2001-06). She also resumed choreographing films, working on American Beauty (1999) and Black Knight (2001). Then in 2002, the has-been pop star returned to the spotlight as a judge on American Idol, where her tendency to find a positive word for even the worst singers endeared her to millions. But it was not just Abduls genuine enthusiasm and encouragement and her heated disagreements with the disagreeable Simon Cowell that brought Abdul attention. It was her increasingly unusual behavior, which was quickly being snapped up by satirical outlets like Saturday Night Live (NBC, 1975- ), fueling allegations that Abdul was frequently under the influence of drugs or alcohol on the show. She would vehemently deny these allegations time and time again.
Though American Idol had its share of controversy contestants had been kicked off for hiding unflattering pasts Abdul seemed to be at the center of the bulk of the shows bad press. First, rumors swirled that she and Simon Cowell were having an affair off-screen. Then her unhinged, sometimes incoherent mannerisms continued to spur talk of drug addiction at worst; too many shots of booze in her omnipresent Pepsi at best. Then Abdul faced hit-and-run charges following a traffic accident in 2004, followed by an enigmatic public admission that a personal health issue had caused her recent instances of erratic behavior. Trumping all was the full-blown 2005 scandal of failed "Idol" hopeful Corey Clark claiming he and Abdul had an affair during his 2003 run on the show; that she gave the aspiring singer an advantage with wardrobe advice, song tips and money. After Fox's own internal investigation, the network found no substantial evidence to back up the claims of an actual affair though Clarks saved voice mail messages from Abdul could hardly be ignored or passed off as fake and Abdul was allowed to continue on at her Idol post.
A 2007 accident wherein Abdul broke her nose while allegedly trying to avoid stepping on her pet Chihuahua only added to her status as the butt of jokes, while her short-lived reality series Hey Paula (Bravo, 2007) did nothing to dispel rumors of her increasingly erratic behavior. The show displayed Abdul having diva-like temper tantrums. At one point, she made the unfortunate onscreen plea through tears to be treated like the gift that I am, which provided instant fodder for stand-up comedians like Kathy Griffin, as well as detractors. But despite seemingly teetering on the edge of reality, Abdul managed to find time to design a line of jewelry and market it successfully on the QVC channel, in addition to create her own fragrance. In 2008, she also released a few moderately selling singles, including Dance Like Theres No Tomorrow, which was included on the CD Randy Jacksons Music Club Vol. 1 and Im Just Here for the Music which was released on iTunes.
In August 2009, while negotiating a contract for her return to the fall season of American Idol, Abdul and Fox reached an impasse that led Abdul to issue a public statement that she would not be returning to the show. Despite the obvious fact that the show had provided Abduls career with an unexpected and lucrative second act, she maintained that their offers of compensation were not adequate for the role she had played in making the show such a runaway success. Rumors also swirled that the controversial addition of a fourth judge, Kara DioGuardi, had lead to Abduls displeasure. Whatever the true reason, Abduls letting slip on Twitter that she was not returning to the show that made her a megastar was the top entertainment story that evening and into the following day even making national news by knocking the ongoing Michael Jackson death investigation out of the headlines.
Copyright © Baseline 2009.