Paula Abdul
Paula Abdul was born in San Fernando Valley, California. She started taking dance classes when she was eight. She went to Van Nuys High School, in which she was a senior class president and head cheerleader. She graduated in 1980 and began college at Cal State Northridge to major in TV and radio. After joining the L.A. Lakers cheerleaders, she became head cheerleader/choreographer after only a few months, eventually dropping out of college to dance and choreograph full-time. The Jacksons recruited her to choreograph the 1984 "Torture" the first of a series of videos and movies she would choreograph. She began singing with her first CD, "Forever Your Girl" that had a lackluster success until her single "Straight Up" exploded onto the charts in December 1988 . Since then, she has been a popular performer ever since. Her popularity was further boosted by her appearance as an judge on the hit series American Idol (2002). Her father (Harry Abdul) is of Sephardi...