The Pussycat Dolls
The Pussycat Dolls were an American girl group and dance ensemble, founded in Los Angeles, California, by choreographer Robin Antin in 1995 as a neo-burlesque troupe. At the suggestion of Jimmy Iovine, Antin decided to take the troupe mainstream as a pop group. Antin negotiated a record deal with Interscope Geffen A&M Records in 2003 turning the group into a music franchise comprising Nicole Scherzinger, Carmit Bachar, Ashley Roberts, Jessica Sutta, Melody Thornton and Kimberly Wyatt. Their debut single, "Sway", was featured on the soundtrack of the 2004 film Shall We Dance?
The Pussycat Dolls achieved worldwide success with the singles "Don't Cha", "Stickwitu", "Buttons", and their multi-platinum debut album PCD. However, despite their commercial success, the group was plagued by internal conflict due to the emphasis on Scherzinger, the group's lead vocalist, and the subordinate treatment of the other members. Bachar's departure from the group preceded the release of their second and final studio album Doll Domination, which contains hit singles "When I Grow Up", "I Hate This Part", and "Jai Ho! ". Following the completion of their 2009 world tour, the group went on hiatus and fully disbanded in 2010. The original recording line-up, minus Thornton, announced their reunion in 2019 with an upcoming tour and a new album. However, amidst increasing delays from the COVID-19 pandemic, along with breaches of contracts and logistical issues, the reunion tour was cancelled in 2022, leaving the group's fate uncertain, and a possible disband.
The Pussycat Dolls brand diversified into merchandise, reality television programs, a Las Vegas act, product endorsements, spin-off recording groups, and other ventures. Billboard ranked the Pussycat Dolls as the 80th most successful musical act of the 2000s. The group has sold 55 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. In 2012, the Pussycat Dolls ranked 100th on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music, and as the tenth all-girl group.
History
1995–2002: Beginnings as burlesque dance troupe
Antin began exploring the idea of a modern burlesque troupe during 1990 with Carla Kama and Christina Applegate as performers. The troupe began to perform in 1995, with a repertoire of 1950s and 1960s popular music standards while dressed in lingerie or old-fashioned pin-up costumes. They secured a Thursday night residency at a Los Angeles nightclub, The Viper Room, where they stayed from 1995 to 2001. They appeared briefly in the 1998 films Matters of Consequence, and The Treat. From 1995 to 2003 there were numerous guest vocalists, and many changes to the dance personnel.The troupe received wider press coverage during June 1999, when Playboy featured a Pussycat Dolls pictorial, featuring at least seven contemporary members posing semi-nude. Three years later, the Pussycat Dolls moved to The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood. They were featured in magazines, television specials for MTV and VH1, ad campaigns, and films. Some of the Pussycat Dolls appeared in the 2003 film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, dancing to Mancini's "The Pink Panther Theme". They were also featured in Pink's "Trouble" music video. Along with Applegate, Christina Aguilera and Carmen Electra the troupe was featured in a Maxim magazine shoot in 2002, which increased public interest in them. In November 2002 the Dolls appeared with Electra on the Late Show with David Letterman. In 2003, the troupe appeared alongside t.A.T.u. during the band's live performance of "All the Things She Said" / "Not Gonna Get Us" at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards.
Following their growing popularity, Interscope Geffen A&M Records music producers Jimmy Iovine and Ron Fair became involved with the group helping them to transform into a franchise after Gwen Stefani was asked to perform with the group. The former dance troupe evolved into a popular music recording group and became employees of Iovine's label Interscope Records. The only troupe members who remained after the re-casting process were Robin Antin, Carmit Bachar, Cyia Batten, Kasey Campbell, Ashley Roberts, Jessica Sutta and Kimberly Wyatt. Electra, when asked about her lack of involvement with the group's evolution into a popular music group, said, "I was part of 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."
2003–2007: Recording group formation and ''PCD''
During 2003, Antin struck a joint venture with Interscope Records to develop the Pussycat Dolls into a brand, with Jimmy Iovine assigning the project to Ron Fair. Auditions followed suit, for a separate group which would not include celebrity members. Singers Nicole Scherzinger, Melody Thornton and Kaya Jones were recruited, joining Bachar, Roberts, Sutta, Wyatt, Batten, Campbell and Antin to form a new recording group. In February 2004, they performed "Big Spender" live at the MTV Asia Awards. In 2004, they recorded "We Went as Far as We Felt Like Going" for the Shark Tale soundtrack and recorded the single, "Sway" which is featured on the soundtrack of Shall We Dance? The group briefly reunited with Electra for a guest performance at VH1 Divas 2004 where they performed "Tainted Love", "You Can Leave Your Hat On" and "Girls on Film" before joining the headliners in a finale of "New Attitude" alongside Patti LaBelle. Kaya Jones left the group in September 2004, while Batten and Campbell left in January 2005. Antin would eventually shift into a strictly managerial and creative role.The group's debut album, PCD, was released in September 2005 and sold three million copies in the United States. The album's lead single, "Don't Cha", was a number-one hit in various countries worldwide and became their signature song, reaching number two on the US Billboard Hot 100. It was followed by "Stickwitu", which became their second number-one single in the UK and New Zealand, and reached number five on the Hot 100. It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. "Beep" also became a hit, reaching number one in Belgium and New Zealand, number two in the UK, and number thirteen in the US. The group became one of the top-selling artists in 2006, while the album appeared at number twelve on the Billboard 200-year-end chart that year.
The group was selected to perform for the introduction for ABC's coverage of the NBA. The Pussycat Dolls first opened for The Black Eyed Peas' Honda Civic Tour in North America. To further promote the album, Snoop Dogg was added to a remix of "Buttons", which became a worldwide hit reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100, and top five elsewhere. The Pussycat Dolls embarked on their PCD World Tour with Rihanna as the opening act in the UK leg. One of the dates of the PCD World Tour was recorded and streamed via . The group ran into trouble in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with the authorities for sexually explicit dancing. The performance, a part of the PCD World Tour, was not well received in the Muslim state, which frowned upon the group's "eye-popping attire" and "sexually suggestive stage routines". Absolute Entertainment, the company behind the group's appearance in Malaysia, was fined $3000 for the incident. Two final singles would be released from the album, "I Don't Need a Man" and "Wait a Minute", with the former becoming a moderate success and the latter becoming the group's fifth top 40 single on the Hot 100.
To further promote PCD, the Pussycat Dolls toured along with Danity Kane on Christina Aguilera's Back to Basics Tour in North America from February to May 2007. The success of the group's debut album brought them a wide array of spin-offs including a CW reality series, Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll. The goal of the show was to add a seventh member to join them in future endeavors. Asia Nitollano was announced as the winner on April 24, however several months later, it was revealed that Nitollano had actually quit the group shortly after the finale aired. Following their performance at Live Earth, the group would only have occasional one-off performances for a while and went on a hiatus in mid-2007, during which Scherzinger attempted to launch a solo career. Plans for her debut solo album, Her Name is Nicole, would eventually be shelved after the release of four singles failed to make an impact on the charts. In August 2007, Sutta would be featured on the Paul van Dyke track "White Lies", which topped the US Billboard Hot Dance Singles chart.
2008–2010: ''Doll Domination'' and disbandment
In February 2008, Antin confirmed that Scherzinger was back in the studio working on the group's second album.The following month, Bachar announced on the group's website that she had left to pursue a solo career. At the time of her departure, she was the longest-serving member of the group. She later explained that her departure stemmed from group tensions and feeling underappreciated, noting that differing personalities and the dynamics of the group eventually made her decision to leave a natural one. The group then performed for the Operation MySpace concert which honored US troops stationed in Kuwait. Several days later gave their first performance without Bachar at the Operation MySpace concert honoring US troops in Kuwait and at at Antin’s Los Angeles Fashion Week show.
In May 2008, they released their second album's lead single "When I Grow Up", which reached the top ten in 16 countries. At the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, its accompanying music video was nominated for six awards, the most of that ceremony, and went on to win Best Dancing in a Video. Doll Domination was released in September 2008 to mixed reviews. It attained their highest peak position on the Billboard 200, but failed to match the sales of its predecessor, selling less than a sixth as many as PCD sold, and regarding it as a commercial disappointment. Three subsequent singles were released in 2008, "Whatcha Think About That", "Out of This Club", and "I Hate This Part"; the last one peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
In January 2009, the Pussycat Dolls embarked on the Doll Domination Tour, their second headlining worldwide concert tour, which highlighted stops in Europe, Oceania, and Asia, and grossed over $14 million. Between the first two legs, the group opened for The Circus Starring Britney Spears in North America. In May 2009, Jessica Sutta suffered a back injury during the first Sydney show, leaving the group performing as a foursome throughout the following shows. While on tour in Europe, Nicole Scherzinger was asked to re-write pop version of "Jai Ho" from the film Slumdog Millionaire. The song was entitled "Jai Ho! " and credited Scherzinger as a featured artist. This caused internal strife within the group, and a public outburst by Melody Thornton during one of the group's appearances on tour. Despite that, it became one of their most successful singles, and peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, after charging eighty-five places, making the largest weekly leap from number 100. The album's final two singles, "Bottle Pop" and "Hush Hush; Hush Hush" topped the US Hot Dance/Club Songs chart. Meanwhile, Doll Domination was reissued into scaled down versions in various territories; in Australia, the album was subtitled 2.0. with ten songs and an EP subtitled The Mini Collection was released in the United Kingdom.
After the tour's conclusion, the group went on a hiatus, with Robin Antin acknowledging that new members would be joining Scherzinger. By February 2010, Jessica Sutta, Ashley Roberts, Kimberly Wyatt, and Melody Thornton had announced their departures from the group, with Wyatt later acknowledging that "the group has fully disbanded." In May 2010, four new members surrounded Scherzinger in a new line-up, but by the end of the year, Scherzinger had left the group to pursue a solo career. In 2011, there were continued attempts to rebuild the group, and a line-up that included former Paradiso Girls member Lauren Bennett, former Girlicious member Chrystina Sayers, Paula van Oppen, Vanessa Curry, and Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Erica Kiehl Jenkins was featured in a GoDaddy commercial during Super Bowl XLVI. The group would go on to call themselves G.R.L, citing the need for differentiating from the Pussycat Dolls due to their music being less urban and they would spend the rest of the year recording their debut album. In 2015, the group would disband nine months after member Simone Battle committed suicide following a battle with depression, before returning as a trio in 2016.