Paula Julie Abdul born June 19, 1962 is an
American pop singer, record producer, dancer, choreographer, actress
and television personality.
In the 1980s, Abdul rose from cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers
to highly sought-after choreographer at the height of the music video
era before scoring a string of Pop-R&B hits in the late-1980s and
early-1990s. Her six number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 tie
her for fifth among the female solo performers who have reached #1
there. She won a Grammy for "Best Music Video - Short Form" for
"Opposites Attract" and twice won the "Primetime Emmy Award for
Outstanding Choreography."
After her initial period of success, she suffered a series of setbacks
in her professional and personal life, until she found renewed fame
and success in the 2000s as a judge on the television series, American
Idol, for eight years, before departing from the show. Abdul has since
been working on a new album, and hopes to have the album released by
the end of 2009.
Abdul was born in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, the daughter
of Lorraine (née Rykiss), a concert pianist who once worked as film
director Billy Wilder's assistant, and Harry Abdul, a former livestock
trader and owner of a sand and gravel business. Her father, a Syrian
Jew, was born in Syria, raised in Brazil, and subsequently emigrated
to the United States; Abdul's mother, also Jewish, is originally from
Saint Boniface (now part of Winnipeg), Manitoba, Canada.
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