In the wake of Madonna’s success, many dance-pop divas filled the charts, but Paula Abdul was the only one who sustained a career. The former L.A. Lakers cheerleader began to make inroads when she was hired as an assistant dance director on the Jacksons’ Victory tour, which led to a job choreographing Janet Jackson’s videos for Control, which helped make the album a hit. After working on The Tracy Ullman Show and videos for ZZ Top, Duran Duran, and The Pointer Sisters, Abdul began a recording career, releasing her debut album, Forever Your Girl, in 1988. It included the smash single “Straight Up,” which made her a superstar. Staying at the top of the charts for three weeks, “Straight Up” began a string of six number one singles that ran through the summer of 1991. Abdul’s spectacular big-budget videos helped push the sales of Forever Your Girl past seven million in the U.S. alone. 1991’s Spellbound sold over three million copies and spent two weeks at number one. Adbul saw renewed fame and success as an original judge on American Idol in the 2000s, which she left after the eighth season. She went on to star on the short-lived television series Live to Dance, and was subsequently a judge on the first season of the American version of The X Factor with her former American Idol co-judge Simon Cowell. Paula Abdul continues to perform all over the world.
