Paula Julie Abdul is an actress, singer, dancer, choreographer, and television personality from the United States. At the age of 18, she began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers, subsequently becoming the chief choreographer for the Laker Girls when The Jacksons spotted her.
Abdul became a choreographer at the height of the music video period after choreographing music videos for Janet Jackson, and she was soon signed to Virgin Records. “Straight Up,” “Forever Your Girl,” “Cold Hearted,” and “Opposites Attract” were all number one singles from her debut studio album Forever Your Girl (1988), which sold seven million copies in the United States and set a record for the most number-one singles from a debut album on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
“Rush Rush” and “The Promise of a New Day” were two other Billboard Hot 100 chart successes from her second album Spellbound (1991). Her six Billboard Hot 100 number one singles put her in a tie with Ariana Grande and Diana Ross for seventh place among female solo artists who have topped the chart.
Abdul served as a judge on The X Factor, Live to Dance, So You Think You Can Dance, and The Masked Dancer after serving as one of the original judges on American Idol from 2002 through 2009. Can’t Buy Me Love (1987), The Running Man (1987), Coming to America (1988), Action Jackson (1988), The Doors (1991), Jerry Maguire (1996), and American Beauty are just a few of the films she choreographed (1999).
She has been nominated for 17 MTV Video Music Awards and has won five of them, as well as the Grammy Award for Best Music Video in 1991 for “Opposites Attract.” For her work on The Tracey Ullman Show and her personal performance at the American Music Awards in 1990, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography twice.
Abdul is the first entertainer to receive the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards’ Hall of Fame Award and has her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Recommended: Winning Time Episode 5 ‘Pieces of a Man’ Recap and Ending Explained
HBO ‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,’ a dramatised look at how the Los Angeles Lakers became a force to be reckoned with throughout the 1980s, was created by Max Borenstein and Jim Hecht. During the 1979-1980 season, the fifth episode follows the team as they prepare for their first stretch of games.
Claire Rothman and Jeanie Buss are also working on innovative ideas to lure more people to the stadium. One of them is hiring the Laker Girls, a dancing troupe, to provide entertainment. Paul Abdul is presented as the show’s first Laker Girl. So, if you’re wondering if that’s true, here’s what we know so far.
Paula Abdul, When Did She Become a Laker Girl?
Paula has been dancing since she was a child. She started dancing at the age of seven and attended jazz, tap, and ballet training. Paula was a cheerleader at Van Nuys High School in California, and she began singing as a teenager.
Paula eventually stopped doing ballet because she thought she was too short. Jeanie hires Paula as a dancer on the show, making her the first Laker girl. Her voyage, however, was significantly more difficult in actuality.
Paula had seen the Lakers play before and seen cheerleaders at their games. Some of the girls she’d taught at dance camp were on the new team, and they encouraged her to try out. Around 1000 females auditioned for a seat in the group during Paula’s auditions in 1980. She was, however, slashed even before she had learned to dance.
Paula, on the other hand, did not give up, changing into a different leotard, entering under a false name, and altering her appearance.
This time, though, she was also cut. So Paula tried again, believing that the third time would be the charm, and this time she was chosen. “I’m very proud of myself for having the confidence to just do that,” she later added. ‘If it’s not written in the regulations, there are no rules,’ my father added. ‘Just keep doing what you’re doing,’ she says.
Paula became the group’s head choreographer after only a few months, and she pushed the group to move away from traditional cheerleading with pom-poms and toward dancing.
Was Paula Abdul Really The First Laker Girl?
While it has never been established that Paula was the first Laker Girl, she is without a doubt the most well-known of the group’s dancers. “I joined the Laker gals for fun,” Paula recalled of her time there. Those games, though, aren’t just games.
There’s also a thriving show business scene. There are a lot of people from the entertainment industry in the audience.” The Jacksons watched her in 1984 and were so taken with her choreography that they hired her to choreograph one of their songs.
“My only problem was how to tell the Jacksons how to dance,” Paula later stated of the period. Imagine me teaching them what to do in terms of routines. I was young and terrified. “I’m not sure how I made it through it.”
After that, her career took off, and she choreographed for musicians such as Janet Jackson, ZZ Top, and George Michael, among others. She went on to have a successful singing career and has judged reality series such as “American Idol” and “You Think You Can Dance.”
