Overview

Abdul as a cheerleader at Van Nuys High School

Paula Abdul was dancing at age 7, and she started singing in her teens, working with a theatrical-musical group during summer vacations. As an avid dancer, Abdul was inspired towards a show business career by Gene Kelly in the film Singin' in the Rain.

Abdul began taking dance lessons at an early age in ballet, jazz, and tap. She attended Van Nuys High School, where she was a cheerleader and an honor student.

By her late teens, she was more into dancing--contemporary and theatrical. Despite years of ballet training, she had given up on ballet as a career, figuring she was too short.

But while she was expanding her dancing skills and learning the rudiments of choreography, she never really discarded the notion that she might also be a singer.

"I'd always admired Liza Minnelli," Abdul said. "She can dance and sing. I wanted to be one of those Broadway-type performers who could do it all."

At 15, she received a scholarship to a dance camp near Palm Springs, and in 1978 appeared in a low-budget Independent musical film, Junior High School.

The Laker Girls

Paula Abdul, as a Los Angeles Laker Girl

Paula Abdul began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 19 and would quickly become the head choreographer for the Laker Girls. A former cheerleader at Van Nuys High School, she was selected from a pool of 700 candidates for the cheerleading squad of the Los Angeles Lakers NBA basketball team—the famed Laker Girls.

Within a year, she became their head choreographer. Abdul is credited with updating the Laker Girl style and infusing it with a funky, tighter look. She de-emphasized conventional cheers and emphasized dancing.

"I joined the Laker girls for fun," said Abdul, who was with the squad for six years. "But those games aren't just games. There's a heavy show-biz scene there too. There's a lot of people in the entertainment business in the stands."

A budding choreographer couldn't have asked for a better showcase. The dance routines were more than just entertainment. They were advertisements for Abdul's choreographic skills. "There were all sorts of calls to the Forum office with job offers--TV commercials, TV shows," she said.

The Los Angeles Laker Girls

Laker owner Jerry Buss recalls: "My son John came to me and said, 'Dad, there is a Laker Girl who is incredibly talented,' I said, 'Yes, they all are.' He said, 'No, Dad, she's going to be a superstar.' Then he laid out the rest of her career for me, as he saw it. It was Paula Abdul. John was right."

During an interview with late-night talk show host Arsenio Hall, Abdul recalls she had to game the system a bit to get in. "It starts with the mantra that 'no is just the beginning of a negotiation,'" Abdul told Hall, describing the hectic Laker Girl tryout at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. "I'm used to not being selected. I'm used to rejection, which I embrace because I have nothing to lose."

Abdul said she registered a second time using her middle name Julie, misspelling her last name and wearing a second costume. She was cut a second time. She said when instructors attempted to separate the rejected dancers, she ignored the instructions and moved to another competing group and was selected to the team after a third try.

"That's a great story of tenacity," Hall said at the end of Abdul's story. "It's a story for young women and young men to hear and say 'never give up' for starters and also you must have been a horrible dancer that you had to go three times," Hall added jokingly.

In 1986, she was so busy she had to drop out of the Laker Girls.

The Jacksons

The Jacksons

Abdul was discovered by The Jacksons in 1984, after Jackie Jackson and a few of the band members had watched her while attending a Los Angeles Lakers game. She was signed to do the choreography for the video to their single "Torture".

Abdul recalled feeling intimidated by having to tell the Jacksons how to dance, stating that she was "not quite sure how [she] got through that." The success of the choreography in the “Torture” video led to Abdul's career as choreographer of music videos, notably Janet Jackson's "Nasty," "Control," and “What Have You Done For Me Lately?” music videos in 1986.

Paula Abdul also makes cameo appearances in the Janet Jackson music videos for “What Have You Done For Me Lately?” and “Nasty.” Abdul won a MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography for the “Nasty” music video.

It was also due to the success of the “Torture” music video that Abdul was chosen to be the choreographer for the Jacksons' Victory tour.

Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul

Of her time with Janet Jackson, Abdul says “I’m very grateful, because this was really the big start to my career. When I was introduced to Janet, I was told by A&M Records that Control was going to be an important album for her, and when I started hearing demos, I was really, really excited to work with her. I felt like I had a chance here to really create something big for her. It was so inspiring.

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis wrote genius music, and Janet had a really important voice in it. You don’t hear ‘Nasty’ and go, ‘Oh, this is a dance jam.’ It was a very different kind of song, kind of like how ‘Straight Up’ was for me: This could define an artist completely, and I wanted to create something that would be signature moves but also define her as being in charge.”

“This video was nerve-wracking for her, because she had never danced with just all guys. But I picked the best in the business, and everything came into place perfectly. I choreographed ‘Nasty’ — this is the craziest thing — in a half hour.

I shared an apartment with some Laker Girls and there was no floor-length mirror, so I did it in the bathroom. There was no room in this little old apartment, and I choreographed it with a mirror that I could see from my waist up. That’s it. And everything worked out.”

The Tracey Ullman Show 

The Tracey Ullman Show on FOX

The Tracey Ullman Show is an American television variety show starring comedian and actress Tracey Ullman. It debuted on FOX on April 5, 1987 and ran until May 26, 1990. This was the first sketch comedy show to have a female star on FOX.

The show blended sketch comedy with musical numbers and dance routines, many of which were choreographed by Paula Abdul.

The show is also known for producing a series of shorts featuring the Simpson family, which was later adapted into the longest running American scripted primetime television series The Simpsons.

The Tracey Ullman Show garnered FOX its first ever Emmy nomination and win; it was awarded a total of 11. Rolling Stone ranked The Tracey Ullman Show as the #25 best sketch comedy show in its "40 Greatest Sketch-Comedy TV Shows of All Time" list.

Paula Abdul received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography twice for her work on The Tracey Ullman Show.

1990 American Music Awards

Abdul's performance at the 1990 AMA's

Of the 17th Annual American Music Awards, Abdul says “The moving platform was all done by remote control! That was in a dream of mine. A lot of my choreography and ideas came from waking up in the middle of the night and documenting what I just dreamt. Almost all my choreography had to do with things that I would remember from my dreams, or I’d actually wake up and immediately write it down. I used to have a tripod and a camera and I would videotape me half-asleep, just getting the ideas down so I wouldn’t forget!”

“I remember having the scariest, worst final dress rehearsal. Everything went wrong. I was coming down in a bubble, and the bubble got stuck and my costume still wasn’t sewn and the tailor had left needles in it, so I was getting poked. I couldn’t get out of the bubble and literally had to jump out of the bubble and have stagehands and dancers catch me. And my heel broke. What else? One of the dancers got stuck on the scaffolding. I had so many elements that were working against me. I was wearing a Bob Mackie gown that weighed about 25 pounds to move in. I just wanted to get it over with.”

“But you know, as the saying goes: If you have the worst dress rehearsal, then 99.995 percent of the time, you’re going to have a great performance. So everything went perfect in the live TV performance, from soup to nuts. It was like an out-of-body experience.”