Nicole promises a tour de force
NICOLE Prescovia Elikolani Valiente (she added the Scherzinger later) born, June 29, 1978 -- American singer-songwriter, dancer, record producer, model and actress is also well known for being lead singer of The Pussycat Dolls. Before that she was a backing vocalist for the late-1990s rock group, Days of the New and part of reality TV girl group, Eden's Crush. After it was disbanded she joined the Dolls and became the group's lead vocalist during their transition into a career in music.
Now, in advance of her solo UK mini tour in February, the Guide finds out more.
AFTER leaving the Dolls in December 2010, Scherzinger began a solo career with the release of her debut studio album Killer Love. The album's second single, Don't Hold Your Breath" was number one on the UK Singles Chart, marking her first number one hit as a solo artist. She became the winner of the 10th season of Dancing with the Stars in early 2010 and s was a judge on the US version of The X Factor, which premiered in September 2011.
Nicole has been delighted with the reaction to her debut album here, as obviously the UK seems to hold a soft spot for her.
She told us: “Oh my gosh! I am beyond pleased, it means everything to me. I’m so happy, I’m so excited and I’m so grateful. I mean I had my first number one single in the UK, and am very fortunate to have five singles there from this album so far and I’m so grateful for my UK fans, Pussycat Dolls fans and the X Factor fans there.
Nicole’s had five singles off this album here in the UK, and we wondered if there were plans for anything more, or if there was new material on it that could go on to a new edition of the album?
“I’m always in the studio, we repackaged the album I believe late last year, I added four extra songs – Try With Me, Right There featuring 50 Cent, Trust Me I Lie, and Tomorrow Never Dies, which is a really cool song as well. I’ve been in the studio even though I was doing X Factor in the US last year - I was in the studio every other night, and we had music coming out. So after this Killer Love album there’s gonna be another and I’m never gonna stop!
Q. So when you were working on this album and appearing on Dancing With The Stars, was it literally a case of going from the dance studio to the recording studio for many months?
Nicole: Always. Well, I did the studio with Dancing With The Stars and then after Dancing With The Stars because it was so time-consuming, I didn’t take a break for three months, I didn’t take one day off for three months. After that, I went to Europe and that’s when I really honed in on this album with RedOne in his camp.
Q. On your live tour is there going to be any new material?
Nicole: Well, there is new material, you know, I’ve been thinking about that. On my live tour I’m going to have the singles that you’ll all have heard and I’ll pay homage to the
Pussycat Dolls with a couple of songs that I love and adore. I’m going to do an acoustic set, probably a cover or so and I was thinking of maybe doing some new material, whether it’s the new material from the repackaged album that I put out I don’t know, if you saw the X Factor episode where I performed in December my newest US single ‘Pretty’, as I was thinking that if I did that song at least the fans would have seen that performance or seen it on YouTube. As for new material I’ve been writing, I’m going to wait for that for the next album, because I want the fans to at least have been acquainted with it and to have heard it a little bit before I perform it for the first time ever. But I will maybe do ‘Pretty’, ‘Trust Me I Lie’, ‘Try With Me’…we’ll see!
Q. Are you looking forward to returning to Manchester? Will it be the first time you’ll have been there since the Pussycat Dolls in 2009?
No, I actually did my first X Factor guest judge in Manchester, so I have a soft spot for Manchester.
We are a bit out the way in West Cumbria any plans to get a bit nearer to us than Manchester… say the North East or Scotland?
Nicole: Absolutely. I’m going to Ireland, so hopefully Scotland will have me, and I love Glasgow. And I just want to say that I can’t wait to do this tour in the UK for my fans. They’re the best fans and I’m going to give them a show that they never forget.
When you’re at these towns for your shows do you get the chance to look around and be a bit of a tourist or is it straight in, sound check, gig and then straight on to the next town?
Nicole: It’s pretty much on to the next one. You get acquainted with the hotel, the tour bus, the airport, the venues, so, honestly, you judge the towns by the people in the crowd!
Because you go down so well with the British public would there be scope for a bigger tour, perhaps next year or in the Autumn?
Nicole: That’s my goal; that’s my dream; that’s why I’m putting my own money into this tour and that’s why I’ve been preparing for it. My ultimate dream – is to have a world tour, but also a bigger UK tour. But you’ve got to start somewhere and I can guarantee these shows are going to be so great that fans will be wanting more, so I’ll be back!
Nicole plays Belfast (Feb 15), Dublin (Feb 16), London (Feb 19), Manchester (Feb 22) and Birmingham (Feb 23).
