Nicole Scherzinger

Nicole Prascovia Elikolani Valiente was born on June 29, 1978, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Alfonso Valiente of Filipino descent and Rosemary, her mother, who is of Native Hawaiian and Ukrainian descent. Alfonso left the family when Nicole was two years old. Rosemary then married German-American Gary Scherzinger, who adopted Nicole, and whose surname she eventually took. She has a younger sister, Keala. When Nicole was six, they moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where her mother was a clerk, and her step-father was a welder. Scherzinger describes her upbringing as difficult as she grew up "without much money" and supported her parents by being a waitress, taking local modelling jobs, and being part of an entertainment troupe of the local amusement park, Kentucky Kingdom. With her grandfather a priest, Scherzinger was raised as Roman Catholic and considered herself conservative with "really strong religious beliefs" and would go to church twice a week in order to make her mother proud. At the age of 14, she joined Actors Theatre of Louisville, where she was cast in her first professional play, La Bête. She graduated in 1996 from the Youth Performing Arts School (YPAS) at duPont Manual High School, where she participated in many plays, including Alice in Wonderland, in which she portrayed Alice. Scherzinger was surprised she got the part as she was up "against a girl with blue eyes and blonde hair". In 2007, she was inducted to DuPont Manual Alumni's Hall of Fame as one of the youngest inductees. Since 2013, Scherzinger has endowed YPAS with a yearly $2,000, namesake scholarship. After earning a scholarship, she attended Wright State University and majored in theatre arts with a dance minor. During this period, Scherzinger garnered the lead roles in regional productions of the musicals Chicago, Guys and Dolls, and Show Boat. In her final year of college, Scherzinger was hired by Days of the New band leader Travis Meeks to contribute vocals on their self-titled second studio album. Meeks sought out a singer who could "deliver some more world/operatic textures and sounds." The album's supporting tour followed, which led Scherzinger to drop out of college. Towards the tour's conclusion, Meeks stated that the two grew apart creatively, claiming she "didn't seem to understand music very well" but noted she is an "amazing entertainer". In 2018, Scherzinger received the 2017 Alumna of the Year Award from the Wright State Alumni Association.