Pussycat Dolls (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

The Pussycat Dolls are an American pop quintet, and dance and burlesque ensemble founded by choreographer Robin Antin in 1995. The group began as a dance troupe based in Los Angeles, before being "re-cast" as a music group in 2003. The group released their first single in 2004, and have gone on to international commercial success.

Dance troupe

Sources claim that Robin Antin began exploring the idea of a modern burlesque troupe in 1993 with her friend Christina Applegate. The dance troupe's first performance was in 1995. During this period, they performed with numerous guest vocalists, with a repertoire of 1950s and 1960s pop standards while dressed in lingerie or old-fashioned pin-up costumes. They secured a Thursday night residency at Los Angeles nightclub The Viper Room, where they stayed from 1995 to 2001. The troupe received wider press coverage in June 1999, when Playboy ran a Pussycat Dolls pictorial, featuring at least seven contemporary members. Three years later, the Dolls moved to The Roxy. The group became internationally popular and was featured in magazines, television specials for MTV and VH1, ad campaigns, and movies. Some of the Pussycat Dolls appeared in the 2002 film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, dancing to "The Pink Panther Theme".

Along with Applegate, Christina Aguilera and Carmen Electra (who was the group's lead performer for many of their shows) the troupe was featured in a Maxim Magazine shoot in 2002, which increased public interest in them. Following this wider popularity, and with the involvement of music producers Jimmy Iovine and Ron Fair, the Pussycat Dolls were re-cast, transformed into a pop recording group, and became employees of Iovine's label Interscope Records. The only troupe member who remained after the re-casting process was Carmit Bachar. Electra, when asked about her lack of involvement with the group's evolution into a pop group, said: "I was part of the Dolls for over two years and did every show with them... but financially, I couldn't become part of their new music project... It was a sacrifice I couldn't make." However, she did make a cameo appearance in the music video for "Don't Cha". In late 2003, Electra formed another burlesque troupe called The Bombshell Babies, which included ex-Dolls Staci Flood and Nadine Ellis.

The Las Vegas show and casino, 2005-present

In parallel to the Pussycat Dolls as a recording R&B act, in April 2005 a resident live show commenced at the "Pussycat Dolls Lounge" adjacent to Pure Nightclub in Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip. This show contains eight "cast members" who continue the burlesque-style show which began in Los Angeles in 1995. In 2006 the cast included vocalist Jamie Preston. The venue is operated by Pure Management Group, Robin Antin has some involvement, but it is unclear whether Interscope also has a financial interest. The Pussycat Dolls recording group have made occasional appearances.

In February 2007, Caesars Palace opened the Pussycat Dolls Casino located across from the Pussycat Dolls Lounge. It features "Dolls-style" decor and attire for the gaming staff, waitresses and dancers.

Guest Dolls

In 2002, Lucy Liu, Drew Barrymore, and Cameron Diaz — then starring in Charlie's Angels — did a guest spot with the Dolls. After Electra's departure, "Special guests" have often been utilized in the dance troupe shows, including: Jaime Pressly (June 2004); Vivica A. Fox (August 2004); Eva Longoria (April 2005); Kelly Osbourne (January 2006); Nicolette Sheridan (February 2006); Salma Hayek (March 2006); Pamela Anderson (April 2006); Denise Richards (June 2006); Jennifer Aniston (November 2006); Kelly Rowland (January 2007); Tori Spelling (September 2007); Meagan Good (December 2007); Paris Hilton (February 2008): and Audrina Patridge (March 2008) as well as Pussycat Doll hopeful Chelsea Korka. Victoria Beckham will reportedly perform with the Dolls in 2008, and a performance with Lil' Kim was put on hold due to the rapper's personal issues and was rescheduled for summer 2008.

Coincidentally, The Dolls appeared twice on the hit TV series Las Vegas. The first appearance was with Vanessa Marcil and Nikki Cox's characters performing with them. The second was when they first became international popstars with "Don't Cha" and performed the song on the show.

Recording group

PCD

See PCD (album) for more information In 2003, Nicole Scherzinger, a former member of Popstars winners Eden's Crush, became the group's lead singer. The Pussycat Dolls' musical line-up consisted of Scherzinger, Carmit Bachar, Kimberly Wyatt, Ashley Roberts, Jessica Sutta, and Melody Thornton. By the time the recording group were launched, their stage costumes were developed to bear various branding and "PCD" logos, which preceded the sales of a branded clothing range and other merchandise (via websites and at performances). Their repertoire was expanded to include new Pop/R&B songs, with hit producers and guest rappers, while still retaining some of the pop standards from their earlier incarnation.

The Pussycat Dolls opened the MTV Asia Awards 2004. In September and October 2004, the soundtrack CDs for the films Shark Tale and Shall We Dance? were released, each containing a song by the Pussycat Dolls. The newly-formed recording group's first single was "Sway" from Shall We Dance?, with a music video inspired by the movie.

In 2005, the Dolls received their first hit single, "Don't Cha"; a cover of the Tori Alamaze single featuring rapper Busta Rhymes was released in May. The song went to number one in multiple countries and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The group won a Billboard Music Award for "Don't Cha" (Ralphi Rosario mix) as Hot Dance Music/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.

The single was followed by the group's debut album, PCD. It debuted at number five on the Billboard 200. The album spawned six more singles. The ballad "Stickwitu" was another top five in the US, selling over three million digital downloads and CDs worldwide. Their third single, "Beep", which featured rapper will.i.am, did not perform as successfully as the previous two singles but still went to number one internationally. A subsequent single, "Buttons" (with rapper Snoop Dogg) reached number three on the UK singles chart; the next single, "I Don't Need a Man" was not as successful. The group's sixth single from the album was "Wait A Minute", released in the U.S. in August 2006.

In 2006, San Francisco-based company Doppelganger (along with Interscope Records) launched the PCD Music Lounge, an interactive website. In late 2006, the Pussycat Dolls were also featured in a commercial for Cingular Wireless along with Ludacris and KoRn.

The group received a Grammy nomination on December 7 2006, in the Best Pop Performance By a Duo or Group category for their hit ballad "Stickwitu". Later that month, the group was selected to perform for the introduction for ABC's coverage of the NBA. In 2007, a version of "Right Now" was used as a theme song for the NBA, though the lyrics had been altered.

On March 8 2008, Carmit Bachar left the group, confirming the news by posting a blog on the group's official website. The Pussycat Dolls are said to be continuing as a five-piece.

On March 10 2008, the Pussycat Dolls performed in Kuwait for Operation Myspace. They sang all of their singles. In the abscence of Bachar, her vocal parts were performed in various songs by Thornton, Roberts or Sutta.

As stated in one of Ashley Roberts blog, the Pussycat Dolls have recently finished performing their show with songs from their first album in St. Petersburg, Russia

Second album

The second studio album from the Pussycat Dolls is set to be released in August, with production coming from Timbaland, Cee-Lo Green,Sean Garrett, Scott Storch, Darkchild, Kara DioGuardi, Fernando Garibay, Lady GaGa, Ryan Tedder, and Mark Taylor. and others. One of the songs recently recorded is a ballad called "Psycho", produced by Ron Fair. A short video shows Scherzinger and Fair in the studio singing the song. The vocals can be heard in the audio come from Scherzinger, Roberts, Thornton. Two other confirmed tracks are "Bottle Pop" and "Away". On May 20, the Pussycat Dolls performed their new single "When I Grow Up" for the first time live on Jimmy Kimmel Live and will perform it again at the MTV Movie Awards on June 1. The song will also be released on May 27th 2008.

Other promotions include hosting the 2008 Maxim Hot 100 on VH1.

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