Listen to Nicole Scherzinger on Batanga

Nicole Scherzinger was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to a Filipino father and a Hawaiian/Russian mother. Her mother Rosemary was 18 at the time of Nicole's birth and lived in an inner city neighborhood and separated from her father when Nicole was a baby. The family moved to Louisville, Kentucky with her sister Ke'ala and German American stepfather Gary Scherzinger. She stated she had a "conservative Catholic" upbringing. Scherzinger began her life as a performer in Louisville, attending the Youth Performing Arts School at duPont Manual High School and performing with Actors Theatre of Louisville. Scherzinger majored in theater arts at Wright State University but put her studies on hold in 1999 to sing backing vocals for the rock band Days of the New.

Scherzinger appeared on the second album by Days of the New, released in 1999. She also recorded two songs with Barry Drake's F.O.B, which were released in 2001.

In 2001, she competed in the premiere season of The WB's television show Popstars, on which she earned a spot in the all-girl pop group Eden's Crush. She became one of the main vocalists for the group. The group's 2001 single "Get Over Yourself (Goodbye)" peaked at number one in sales and hit the top ten on Billboard Hot 100. "Love This Way" was the second single chosen from the Popstars album; however, their record company, London-Sire Records, folded and the group eventually disbanded. After the disbanding of Eden's Crush, Scherzinger made a few promotional solo appearances under the stage name of Nicole Kea, including covering "Breakfast in Bed" for the soundtrack to 50 First Dates in 2003.

In May 2003, Scherzinger joined the Pussycat Dollsburlesque troupe, who were being re-cast as recording artists. She had first seen them performing on The Late Show with David Letterman in November 2002, where Carmen Electrasang "Big Spender" from the Bob Fosse musical Sweet Charity. In 2006, Scherzinger said "It caught my eye because I’d played Velma Kelly in [Fosse's] Chicago in college." The Pussycat Dollsnow have world-wide status as a popular singing group, with "Don't Cha", "Buttons" and "Stickwitu" as top five hits in the U.S.. The album PCD went double-platinum in 2006. Scherzinger sang nearly all lead vocals on the album, with Carmit Bachar and Melody Thornton also contributing.

Scherzinger is the only group member with songwriting credits on PCD; she co-wrote "I Don't Need a Man" with Kara DioGuardi and producer Rich Harrison, and co-wrote "Buttons" with producer Sean Garrett. Another collaboration with DioGuardi, "Flirt", became a B-side to "Stickwitu" and a bonus track on PCD.

She was ranked at number twenty-two on Maxim's Hot 100 in 2006 and twenty-one in 2007. Scherzinger appeared on the March 2008 cover of Men's Fitness magazine. She was called the lead or queen doll. Her latest single with the Pussycat Dollsis called "When I Grow Up".

Following the popularity of "Don't Cha" and the continuing rise of the Pussycat Dolls Scherzinger recorded a series of duets or "guest appearances", predominantly with male vocalists. In 2005, she appeared on recordings by Shaggy, Vittorio Grigolo, and Will Smith.

Scherzinger worked on her debut album from 2006-2008 with record producers including Will.i.am Timbaland Kara DioGuardi, and Bryan-Michael Cox. Scherzinger announced in a March 17, 2007 interview in Winnipeg, Manitoba, that the album would be called Her Name is Nicole.