by Listening to raunchy girl band the Pussycat Dolls belt out the lyrics “When I grow up, I wanna be famous, I wanna be a star” between vigorous booty shakes back in 2008, it was hardly ‘you could imagine that their lead singer, Nicole Scherzinger, could one day be standing on the sacred stage of the Royal Albert Hall, thanking God because she accepted the highest honor of the theater community: the Olivier Award.
Certainly, Scherzinger has enjoyed her fair share of fame. However, her star has often waned in the time between that chart success and her acclaimed performance as faded Hollywood star Norma Desmond this year in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical. Sunset Boulevardgave an electrifying modern update to the director-to-the-stars Jamie Lloyd (played by Tom Hiddleston in betrayalEmilia Clarke i The SeagullJames McAvoy i Cyrano de Bergerac and Jessica Chastain i A Doll’s House).
In fact, Lloyd eagerly exploited the irrelevance of his leading ladies in the clip entertainment industry – which still tends to cast women over the age of 30. Sean Scherzinger has disappeared. The joke is very much on them.
It was a triumphant return for the pop singer and actor, which resulted in an Olivier Award (one of seven wins for Sunday night’s show, equaling the record set by cabaret, Hamilton and Matilda). She might continue that with Tony after the show moves to Broadway this fall.
It’s a long way from the group that made her famous – and from her humble origins. Scherzinger was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1978 to a Filipino father, who left when she was two years old, and a Hawaiian-Ukrainian mother, an office clerk. She was then adopted by her new stepfather, German-American welder Gary Scherzinger (changing his last name from Valiente), and moved to Louisville, Kentucky, at the age of six.
Money was tight, so Scherzinger waited tables, took local modeling gigs, and even worked as a lion mascot at an amusement park – the last of which was a proud moment. “It’s so funny looking back to when I thought, ‘If I could just make it to the Kingdom of Kentucky, I’d love it,'” she once said. “And I got there.” Still, it wasn’t exactly glamorous. “It was disgusting – so hot! – and the smell. You could never get enough Febreeze.”
It seemed like a bright career in musical theater would follow. That was Scherzinger’s major at Wright State University, and she won leading roles in regional productions of it Guys and Dolls, Chicago and Show Boat.
Instead, in 2001, Scherzinger dropped out of college in her senior year to tour with rock band Days of the New. Her mother then saw an advert for a new reality TV show, Popstars United States of America. At first Scherzinger was reluctant to try it. “And then I thought, what the heck, if I get that gig, I’ll go to LA, and I couldn’t afford to go to LA any other way.”
She was appropriately cast and was part of the girl group Eden’s Crush. They were moderately successful, but soon ended when their label went bankrupt. Will.i.am invited her to join the Black Eyed Peas, but instead Scherzinger chose burlesque pop stars the Pussycat Dolls. It was a strange choice since her grandfather was a priest and Scherzinger maintained her strict Catholicism, attending church at least twice a week.
“Don’t tell me your girlfriend was hot like me?” smirk-singing glamazons scantily clad, led froideur intimidated by the ultra-confident Scherzinger. But the confidence was a mask: in fact, she has since admitted that she was fighting an eating disorder during those Pussycat Dolls years, working out in the gym for several hours a day and fainting from lack of food. Her bulimia even affected her vocal cords; that it was a “real awakening”, and encouraged her to seek therapy.
Tensions were also rising between Scherzinger, the star turn, and the rest of the band. But he was not advised to just leave it: her first solo album was shelved after several singles from it failed to set the charts ablaze in 2007.
Reality TV came calling again, however. Scherzinger won the 2010 season Dancing with the Stars (US equivalent of Strictly Come Dancing), and that year she replaced Cheryl as a judge on The X Factor. Scherzinger and Simon Cowell claim credit for forming the band One Direction; the former said she remembers thinking “Girls can’t be denied.”
Meanwhile Scherzinger fell for British racing driver Lewis Hamilton. The pair were together for around seven years, finally splitting in 2015. She is now engaged to former Scottish rugby player Thom Evans, who was by her side at the Oliviers.
In 2014, Scherzinger made a high-profile return to musical theatre, playing Grizabella (who sings the big earworm Memory) in the musical Cats at the London Palladium receiving an Olivier nomination.
However, she briefly fell out with Lloyd Webber when she later bowed to the Broadway transfer – allegedly because producers would not give her top billing, or because x Factor she made her a better offer, although accounts vary (she claimed “the contract was not finalized”). The composer said she made him look “completely stupid”. He added: “I don’t mind, there will be another girl on Broadway and Nicole won’t get her Tony Award.”
After more reality show work (judging on The Mask Singer and Australia has Talent), and a proper royal performance (singing in the Coronation Concert in 2023), Lloyd Webber persuaded Scherzinger to return to the West End and play Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard – in the end. At first, she was insulted, by picturing the character much older. “This chick is crazy, she’s pathetic, I’m not playing with her,” was her gut response.
Instead, it’s “the role of her life” – one that has justified Lloyd Webber’s renewed faith in her (“I believe she’s one of the most talented singers I’ve seen doing my job…” he told recently The New York Times, “I’m a total fan”) and someone she can relate to personally. “I know what it’s like [to be considered] not as ‘relevant’ or out of fashion,” she explained.
It also brought her full circle: she was reunited with Lloyd Webber, and finally going to Broadway – and maybe even a Tony.
Talk about the end of Hollywood.
