1980s she released her debut album
Forever Your Girl and, after a fairly long
time, became a smash hit star. The album spawned
five American top five singles (out of just ten
songs:) Forever Your Girl,
Opposites Attract, Straight Up,
Cold Hearted Snake and The Way That
You Love Me. A remix album, Shut Up and
Dance, was also released.
Her follow up album,
Spellbound, is often overlooked in
musical history. Abdul made such an impact in
late 80s music that when her second effort was
released in the early
90s, everyone assumed it would be less
successful. Instead, it introduced the American
top ten hits Rush, Rush, Vibeology,
Promise of a New Day, Will U Marry
Me and Blowing Kisses in the Wind.
As Abdul's image shifted slowly from
"beautiful" to "s--y", gossip began to circulate
about her weight. At only 5'2", Abdul did not
have the height commonly associated with
dancers/choreographers. In her
music video for Promise of a New Day,
camera angles were used to pinch the screen
image, and tabloids claimed this was because of
Abdul's weight. Then, in an appearance on the
MTV Music Video Awards, Abdul did a live
performance of Vibeology wearing a
sequined boustier/swimsuit outfit that revealed
she had, indeed, put on weight. This seemed to
have a dramatic impact on her popularity.
Abdul took a break from the business, and
resurfaced in
1993 with an exercise video. She also did a
television interview where she discussed her
weight problem and her battles with
anorexia.
In
1995 Abdul released her fourth album,
Head Over Heels. With modest radio hits
in the singles My Love is For Real and
Crazy Cool, she showed that she was
able to still create popular music while moving
with the times. However, her image became much
more s--ual, and she was seen scantily clad in
her music videos, riding a mechanical bull and
pouring beer over her t-shirt/breasts. The album
did not sell even remotely as well as previous
efforts, and it seemed due in great part to her
new image. Fans had adored Abdul's dancing, and
found her s--uality best expressed through it.
Never considered a traditional "beauty," they
were put off by this new overt s--uality.
Abdul had never had a real career as an
actress, barring an appearance as "Sherri" in a
low-budget musical movie from
1981 called
Junior High School. In an attempt to
revitalize her career as a performer, she began
accepting acting roles, starting with the
television movie Touched by Evil in
1997. In a genre that is hardly well
respected to begin with, her performance (as a
rape victim who discovers her boyfriend was
her rapist) was massively rejected by both fans
and critics. (In particular, fans were disgusted
to see their favorite sweetheart-singer discuss
performing fellatio on a character only to eject
the
semen into a film canister as proof of his
rape crimes.) Another T.V. movie was made in
1998, The Waiting Game, which was
neither panned or praised.
In the year
2000 a greatest hits CD, very originally
titled Greatest Hits, was released.
In
2002 Abdul was offered the job of judge on
the television contest show
American Idol. On this show, her job
was to judge the talent of a group of young
amateur singers and eventually whittle a group
down to just one performer (the "idol" in
question). Abdul, who had seemingly emerged from
obscurity, won back the hearts of America as the
sympathetic and compassionate judge (paired next
to co-judge
Simon Cowell, who was often cruelly blunt in
his appraisal of the contestants' performances).
She began to resurface at awards shows, and was
even given the job of co-anchor on the
television magazine program Entertainment
Tonight.
Paula Abdul is most often remembered as a
moderately talented singer from the late 80s
whose skill as a choreographer and dancer
managed to propel her to stardom, making her one
of the most successful recording artists of the
century.
Discography
1988)
Shut Up and Dance (1990)
Spellbound (1992)
Head Over Heels (1995)
Paula Abdul: Greatest Hits (2000)
Various Facts
- Has choreographed music videos for
The Jackson Five,
Janet Jackson,
Debbie Gibson, Z. Z. Top,
George Michael and
Dolly Parton
Has choreographed the stage shows for
Suzanne Sommers and Toni Basil
Former spouse of actor
Emilio Estevez (1992
-
1994)
Spouse of cloting manufacturer Brad
Beckerman (1996,
2002; presently filed for
divorce)
Is working on her next album, entitled
Paula'ticks of Love
