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I’m not quite sure how I got through that.” The success of the choreography in the video led to Abdul’s career of choreographer in music videos. It was also due to the success of the video that Abdul was chosen to be the choreographer for the Jacksons’ Victory tour.Ībdul choreographed videos for several singers throughout the 1980s, including many videos for Janet Jackson during her Control era. “Imagine me telling them what routines to do.
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CareerĪbdul was discovered by The Jacksons, after a few of the band members had watched her while attending a Los Angeles Lakers game. She was signed to do the choreography for the video to their single “Torture”. “My only problem was how to tell the Jacksons how to dance,” Abdul later recalled. Within a year, she became head choreographer. During her freshman year, she was selected from a pool of 700 candidates for the cheerleading squad of the Los Angeles Lakers NBA basketball team-the famed Laker Girls. At 15, she received a scholarship to a dance camp near Palm Springs, and in 1978 appeared in a low-budget Independent musical film, Junior High School.Ībdul studied broadcasting at the California State University, Northridge. She attended Van Nuys High School, where she was a cheerleader and an honor student.

Rykiss, grew up in one of the two Jewish families in Minnedosa, Manitoba, and has Ashkenazi Jewish ancestors from Ukraine. Abdul holds dual citizenship in the United States and Canada. She has a sister named Wendy. In 1980, she graduated from Van Nuys High School.Īn avid dancer, Abdul was inspired towards a show business career by Gene Kelly in the classic film Singin’ in the Rain.Ībdul began taking dance lessons at an early age in ballet, jazz, and tap. Abdul’s father, Harry Abdul, was born into the Syrian-Jewish community in Aleppo, Syria, was raised in Brazil, and subsequently emigrated to the United States. Her mother, the concert pianist Lorraine M. Early lifeĪbdul was born in San Fernando, California, to Jewish parents.
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She went on to star on CBS’s short-lived television series Live to Dance, which lasted one season in 2011, and was subsequently a judge on the first season of the American version of The X Factor along with her former American Idol co-judge Simon Cowell, the creator and producer of the show. She was also a guest judge on the All-Stars edition of Dancing with the Stars in 2012 and the tenth season of So You Think You Can Dance in 2013, and more recently became a permanent judge for that series along with the Australian version of the show for its 2014 revival. She saw renewed fame and success as an original judge on American Idol in the 2000s, which she left after the eighth season.
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Her six number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 tie her with Diana Ross for seventh among the female solo performers who have topped the chart. She won a Grammy for “Best Music Video – Short Form” for “Opposites Attract” and twice won the “Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography”.Īfter her initial period of success, Abdul suffered a series of setbacks in her professional and personal life. Abdul later scored a string of pop music hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 before rising to prominence in the 1980s as a highly sought-after choreographer at the height of the music video era. We also got a taste of Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings,” but it was merely a pre-recorded performance from her Sweetener World Tour.Paula Julie Abdul ( / ˈ æ b d uː l/ born June 19, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter, voice actress, dancer, choreographer, actress and television personality.

Along with Abdul and Clarkson, Wednesday’s ceremony featured live performances from the likes of BTS, Ciara, Dan + Shay, Halsey, the Jonas Brothers, Khalid, Madonna, Maluma, Mariah Carey, Lauren Daigle, Panic! At the Disco, Taylor Swift and Tori Kelly. Hosted by Kelly Clarkson, this year’s Billboard Music Awards were held at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena, a fittingly lavish venue for the caliber of performers on deck. This performance doubled as promotion for the former American Idol judge’s upcoming Las Vegas residency, Forever Your Girl, which begins Aug. Among the ear worms performed at the BBMAs were “Straight Up,” “Opposites Attract” and “Cold Hearted.”

Do call it a comeback: Paula Abdul closed out the 2019 Billboard Music Awards on Wednesday with a medley of her greatest hits, marking her first live performance at an award show in 29 years.
