Paula Julie Abdul, daughter of Lorraine and Harry Abdul, was born in San Fernando, California on June 19th, 1962. A survivor from the very beginning, she fought the odds of a premature birth and grew up to become an award winning singer, dancer and choreographer, as well as later on one of the most recognisable faces on US television as one of three judges on the hit talent show American Idol.

Growing up with her family in San Fernando Valley, Paula declared an early interest in the art of dancing and performing at the tender age of 4 when she first saw the movie “Singing in the Rain” and fell in love with its star, Gene Kelly. A few years later she began taking formal dance classes, after first following her sister’s lessons, and soon showed a natural talent that was to take her far in the years to come.

While continuing her dance studies, Paula attended Van Nuys High School in California where she also took on several other extra-curricular activities, playing flute in the school band, becoming an honors student, a member of the debate team, and a cheerleader.

After high school Paula was offered a dance scholarship at the Julliard school for performing arts in New York City, but she turned it down to stay closer to home. Instead, she enrolled in the California State University, Northridge, to study Broadcasting.

It was while Paula was still in college when she decided to audition for the Laker Girls, the cheerleading squad of the famous basketball team Los Angeles Lakers. She was selected among few people from a group of several hundreds of girls, and soon after she became the head choreographer of the squad. A few months later she quit school to concentrate fully on her career.

This proved to be a prudent choice, as her talent was starting to get noticed, and it was during a Lakers game that her choreography finally caught the attention of a certain Jackson family who happened to be in need of a choreographer for their upcoming reunion tour. Once united with the Jacksons, Paula also moved on to choreograph and teach the younger sister Janet, becoming one of the important forces behind her early success. This brought on other choreographing gigs with big names such as Prince, George Michael and ZZ Top, as well as a lot of movie and TV work behind the scenes.

By her early 20s, Paula was well on her way into stardom as a famous choreographer, but the real journey to the stars was only about to begin. Having already won awards for her work behind the scenes, and in the process creating important connections and savings of her own, it was time to take the next big step.

In 1987, using her own savings, Paula began recording her first album, which was later released by Virgin Records in the summer of 1988. The album was called “Forever Your Girl” and it went on to sell millions of copies both in the US (7 x platinum) and around the world. The album also scored a record breaking four #1 singles, which is a record that no female artist has surpassed to this day, and only few have come to share.

The follow-up album, “Spellbound”, released in 1991, also hitting #1 on the US Billboard charts and including two #1 hits, sealed Paula’s place as one of the top artists of the late 80s and early 90s. On December 4th 1991, this was literally set in stone when Paula received her star on the legendary Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard.

At the height of her career, starting from the early 90s, Paula was hit by a string of personal struggles that put her professional career on hold. Bulimia and deteriorating health following a nearly fatal plane crash, as well as divorce from first husband Emilio Estevez, were only some of the things Paula had to overcome before returning to the studio to record her third (and so far final) album, Head Over Heels which, even though it certified gold in the US, did not meet the record breaking sales of her earlier hit albums and was widely considered a commercial disappointment.

The following years took Paula further away from the spotlight as she had to undergo several spinal surgeries in her struggle against a chronic pain which could have left her unable to sing or dance ever again. This painful condition was later be diagnosed as RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy) and can now be controlled with correct treatment.

During this difficult time, when Paula also married and divorced her second husband Brad Beckerman, she kept writing her own music, even through the worst of times, and it was one of these songs that would eventually result in her comeback. The song, “Spinning Around”, recorded and released by Kylie Minogue in the year 2000, hit the UK by a storm at the same time when a new type of reality show called the “Pop Idol”, was becoming a huge phenomenon in the country. Connecting Paula to this show, which would later be known in the US as “American Idol”, was the popular song that suddenly everyone wanted to sing at the auditions. Paula, who was contacted for the rights to use the song, expressed her interest in the show, and when it finally landed in America, she became the female judge of the panel, sharing the spotlight with fellow judges Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell.  

Since then Paula has kept herself busy, not only with American Idol, but several other projects as well, releasing her own jewellery line and continuing on her cheerleading roots by encouraging young dancers and cheerleaders around the country to reach for their dreams. Several other projects also seem to be in the pipeline, including a new perfume, and possibly even new music with fellow “Idol” pal Randy Jackson. The future may also bring Paula and her jewellery line to the UK, the home of another “Idol” partner-in-crime, Simon Cowell, which may spell the start of yet another new chapter in the career of the one true American Idol that is Paula Abdul.