The Pussycat Dolls

The Pussycat Dolls are an American hip hop, pop, and R&B, and dance and burlesque ensemble founded by choreographer Robin Antin in 1995. It began as a dance troupe based in Los Angeles, was "re-cast" as a music group in 2003, and expanded in 2005 with a parallel troupe at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The group released their first single in 2004, and have gone on to international commercial success.

In 2003, Nicole Scherzinger, a former member of Popstars winners Eden's Crush, became the group's lead singer. The Pussycat Dolls' musical line-up consisted of Scherzinger, Carmit Bachar, Kimberly Wyatt, Ashley Roberts, Jessica Sutta, and Melody Thornton. By the time the recording group were launched, their stage costumes were developed to bear various branding and "PCD" logos, which preceded the sales of a branded clothing range and other merchandise (via websites and at performances). Their repertoire was expanded to include new Pop/R&B songs, with hit producers and guest rappers, while still retaining some of the pop standards from their earlier incarnation.

The Pussycat Dolls opened the MTV Asia Awards 2004. In September and October 2004, the soundtrack CDs for the films Shark Tale and Shall We Dance? were released, each containing a song by the Pussycat Dolls. The newly-formed recording group's first single was "Sway" from Shall We Dance?, with a music video inspired by the movie.

t wasn't until 2005 that the Dolls would receive their first hit single. "Don't Cha", a cover of the Tori Alamaze single featuring rapper Busta Rhymes was released in May. The song went to #1 in multiple countries and peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.8 The group won a Billboard Music Award for "Don't Cha" (Ralphi Rosario mix) as Hot Dance Music/Club Play Single of the Year. The song was also nominated for Top-Selling Single of the Year and Top-Selling Dance Single of the Year.

The single was followed by the group's debut album, PCD. It debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200.8 The album spawned six more singles. The ballad "Stickwitu" was another top five in the US,8 selling over three million digital downloads and CDs worldwide.[citation needed] Their third single, "Beep", which featured rapper will.i.am, did not perform as successfully as the previous two singles but still went to #1 internationally in countries such as the UK.9 A subsequent single, "Buttons" (with rapper Snoop Dogg) reached number three on the UK singles chart;9 the next single, "I Don't Need a Man" was not as successful. The group's sixth single from the album was "Wait A Minute", released in the U.S. in August 2006.8

In 2006, San Francisco-based company Doppelganger (along with Interscope Records) launched the PCD Music Lounge, an interactive website. In late 2006, the Pussycat Dolls were also featured in a commercial for Cingular Wireless along with Ludacris and KoRn.

The group received a Grammy nomination on December 7, 2006, in the Best Pop Performance By a Duo or Group category for their hit ballad "Stickwitu". Later that month, the group was selected to perform for the introduction for ABC's coverage of the NBA.10 In 2007, a version of "Right Now" was used as a theme song for the NBA, though the lyrics had been altered.