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The Pussycat Dolls

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The Pussycat Dolls is an American female pop singing group. The Dolls began as a burlesque dance troupe based in Los Angeles, and expanded to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The group, which was founded by choreographer Robin Antin in 1995, released its first single in 2004.

Biography

1993–2003: Dance troupe beginnings

Some sources claim that Antin first began exploring the idea of a modern burlesque troupe in 1993 with her friend Christina Applegate; the troupe's first performance was in 1995. During this period they performed with numerous guest vocalists (see list below), with a repertoire of '50s and '60s pop standards, performed in lingerie and/or old-fashioned pin-up costumes. Antin reportedly drew inspiration from the choreography of Bob Fosse (Sweet Charity, Cabaret, Chicago).

They secured a Thursday night residency at Los Angeles nightclub The Viper Room, where they stayed from 1995–2001. In June 1999 Playboy ran a Pussycat Dolls pictorial, featuring at least contemporary members Kasey Campbell, Kiva Dawson, Erica Gudis and Lindsley Allen. In 2002 they moved to The Roxy. The group became internationally popular and was featured in magazines, television specials for MTV and VH1, ad campaigns, and movies. Carmen Electra was the group's lead performer for many of these appearances, and she has been featured most frequently of all the celebrity performers. With the involvement of music producers Jimmy Iovine and Ron Fair, the troupe was re-cast, transformed into a pop/R&B recording group, and signed up as employees of Iovine's label Interscope Records.

2003-present: Music career

In 2003, Nicole Scherzinger (a.k.a. Nicole Kea), a former member of the American Popstars winners Eden's Crush, became the group's lead singer. The present members of the group are Scherzinger; Carmit Bachar (who joined in 1995); Jessica Sutta (who joined in 2002); and Melody Thornton, Kimberly Wyatt, and Ashley Roberts (who all joined in 2003). They opened the MTV Asia Awards 2004.

File:PCDalbum.jpg
The Pussycat Dolls on the cover of their 2005 debut album, PCD.

In 2005, The Pussycat Dolls released their debut album PCD. The album debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200, selling over 99,000 copies. It has produced four singles. "Don't Cha" (featuring Busta Rhymes, originally recorded by Tori Alamaze) became their first major hit. The follow-up, "Stickwitu", became the group's first U.S. # 1 Billboard Pop Radio hit,it went on to sell over a million digital downloads in the world and became their second #1 single in the UK. The third single, "Beep," featured Black Eyed Peas lead singer will.i.am. They recently released their latest single, "Buttons," featuring Snoop Dogg which followed in the success of the previous singles and went straight into the top 5 on the UK singles chart, #3. The groups final single has been confirmed as the high tempo, club track Wait A Minute and is set for release next month, August 2006, in North America and October internationally.

The group won a Billboard Music Award for "Don't Cha" as Top Hot/Dance Club Play Single of the Year. The song was also nominated for Top-Selling Single of the Year and Top-Selling Dance Single of the Year.

At the SXSW music conference in 2006, Interscope lawyer Darryl Franklin said, during a panel discussion, that the contract with the group is unique in that its members are actually salaried employees of the record label and, by design, completely interchangeable. This means that in addition to CD sales, the label also controls merchandise, web sites and all other commercial aspects of the group and their income, excluding song publishing.[1]

Most recently, the Pussycat Dolls have ventured into the virtual world. In 2006, San Francisco-based company Doppelganger (along with Interscope Records) launched the PCD Music Lounge, an interactive website.

On June 30th's VSpot Top 20 Countdown, host Matt Pinfield announced that lead singer Nicole Scherzinger has written 12 new songs for the follow-up album to 2005's PCD.

When asked by the weekly U.S magazine Steppin Out, if they would ever consider posing for Playboy, they said NO, all at once.

The Pussycat Dolls are currently back in the studio recording their follow-up album and have already summoned some big names to take on the production duties, Pharrel, Cee-Lo, amongst others. A clip leaked it's way onto the net that gave fans a sneak peak as to what they can expect. The song was "Dang (Work That)". Fans became confused when they didn't hear Nicole Scherzinger's vocals on the track. Band member, Carmit, later explained that Nicole had been contracted for only one album, and is now going solo. The PCD second album is due early next year.

The sixth and final single from the PCD's debut album, will be "Wait A Minute" due in August 2006. The single is due for release in Asia and Europe only.

Television series

In April 2006 The New York Times reported that Interscope executives are working to produce their own television series based on the Pussycat Dolls and overseen by McG, the former video director who also directed the movie Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.[2]

Merchandise

In a merchandising agreement with Interscope, in 2006 toy manufacturer Hasbro had plans for a line of dolls modeled after The Pussycat Dolls, and reportedly aimed at six- to nine-year-olds. The groups "Dads and Daughters" and the "Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood" successfully lobbied the company to scrap the plan because they felt that the dolls would have been inappropriate for children, due to the overtly sexual nature of The Pussycat Dolls' songs, videos and live shows.

Interscope also negotiated a deal with Estée Lauder for a Pussycat Dolls line of cosmetics under the Stila brand. [3]

Vocalists

The Dolls have been accused of being a group where only one member sings (Nicole), and the rest are just eye candy. However, Melody has solo spots on tracks such as "Beep", "Bite The Dust", "Buttons", "I Don't Need A Man", "Hot Stuff (I Want You Back)", "Sway", "Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go" and "Flirt". Carmit has solos in the songs "Beep", "Flirt", "Hot Stuff (I Want You Back)", "Right Now", and "Tainted Love." Ashley, Kimberly, and Jessica all sing lead on the Stickwitu b-side "Santa Baby".

Repertoire

The Dolls' repertoire includes both contemporary pop/R&B and cover versions of pop standards. The covers often fit within the traditions of burlesque, cabaret and drag shows; featuring musical vamps and flirtatious choreography. Cover versions they have performed live or recorded include: "Big Spender" (Chita Rivera/Shirley Bassey), "Fever" (Peggy Lee), "Sway" (Dean Martin), "Santa Baby" (Eartha Kitt), "Feelin' Good" (Nina Simone), "Tainted Love" (Gloria Jones/Soft Cell), "Where Did Our Love Go" (The Supremes/Soft Cell), "Hot Stuff" (Donna Summer), "Right Now" (Mel Torme), and "Don't Cha" (Tori Alamaze).

During their appearance in the movie Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle they dance to a vamp of "The Pink Panther Theme".

Discography

Albums

Release date Title Chart positions Worldwide sales
U.S UK AUS NZ NL BE GER GR
September 13, 2005 PCD 5 (1,719,631 copies) 7 (860,000 copies) 15 (70,000 copies) 1 12 [1] 11 12 12 3.6 Million [4]

Singles

Year Title Album Chart positions RIAA certification


U.S. UK AUS NZ NL BE GER CAN PHI
2005 "Don't Cha"
(feat. Busta Rhymes) 		PCD 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 8 2x Platinum
2005 "Stickwitu" PCD 5 1 2 1 2 5 11 23 5 Gold
2006 "Beep"
(feat Will.I.Am) 		PCD 13 2 3 1 2 1 5 60 1 Not Certified
2006 "Buttons"
(feat. Snoop Dogg) 		PCD 1 17 3 - 38 34 18 - 63 4 Not Certified
2006 "Wait A Minute" PCD - - - - - - - - - Not Certified
  • 1 The version of "Buttons" on the PCD album does not include Snoop Dogg.

Recognitions

Year Award-giving Body Award Result
2005 Billboard Music Award Top-selling R&B/Hip-Hop Single of the Year (Don't Cha) Won
2005 Billboard Music Award Top-selling Dance Single of the Year (Don't Cha) Nominated
2005 Billboard Music Award Top Dance/Club Play Single of the Year for (Don't Cha) Won
2005 Billboard Music Award Top-selling Single of the Year (Don't Cha) Nominated
2005 Billboard Music Award Top Dance/Club Play Artist of the Year Nominated
2005 UK Smash Hits Awards Best Video of The Year (Don't Cha) Won
2005 Der goldene Otto (silver edition), in Germany Best Pop Group Won
2006 Die Goldene Kamera Pop International Won
2006 Echo Pop International Nominated
2006 MTV Australia Video Music Awards R&B Video of the Year (Don't Cha) Nominated
2006 MTV Asia Awards Favorite Breakthrough Artist Nominated

Celebrities performed with

File:PCDolls.jpg
The Pussycat Dolls, with former member Carmen Electra (bottom center), featured in Interview (magazine) (2002).

Female guests

Male guests

References

  1. ^ Dutch Album Top 100 peak position
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