Scherzinger was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to a Filipino father and a Hawaiian/Russian mother. She grew up in Louisville, Kentucky with stepfather Gary Scherzinger, mother Rosemary and sister Ke'ala. She has

described her upbringing as "conservative Catholic". She began her life as a performer in Louisville, attending the Youth Performing Arts School at duPont Manual High School and performing with Actors Theatre of Louisville. Scherzinger majored in theater arts at Wright State University, but put her studies on hold in 1999 to sing backing vocals for the rock band Days of the New.

In 2001, she competed in the premiere season of The WB's television show Popstars, on which she earned a spot in the all-girl pop group Eden's Crush. The group's 2001 single "Get Over Yourself" peaked at #1 in sales and hit the top ten on Billboard Hot 100. "Love This Way" was the second single chosen from the Popstars album; however, their record company, London-Sire Records, folded and the group eventually disbanded. Songwriter Kara DioGuardi contributed one track to the album, and later went on to co-write with Scherzinger for PCD and Her Name is Nicole.

In June 2003, Scherzinger joined The Pussycat Dolls burlesque troupe, who were being re-cast as recording artists. She had first seen them performing on The Late Show with David Letterman in November 2002, where Carmen Electra sang "Big Spender" from the Bob Fosse musical Sweet Charity. In 2006, Scherzinger said "It caught my eye because I?d played Velma Kelly in [Fosse's] Chicago in college." The Pussycat Dolls now have world-wide status as a popular singing group; their Billboard top five hits "Don't Cha", "Buttons", "Wait a Minute" and "Stickwitu" and the top 20 hit "Beep". The album PCD went double-platinum in 2006. Scherzinger sang nearly all lead vocals on the album, with Melody Thornton and Carmit Bachar also contributing.

Scherzinger worked on her debut album over the last 2 years with record producers including will.i.am, Timbaland, Kara Dioguardi and Bryan Michael Cox. In a recent interview Ne-Yo has said that he originally wrote songs for Britney Spears's new album but thinks that they would work better for Scherzinger's new upcoming solo album. Scherzinger's first single from her first solo album is called "Whatever You Like" and features rapper T.I. It was produced by Polow Da Don. It was called "My Name is Nicole."

For the last 2 or 3 years, Nicole has had an on again-off again (mostly on) relationship with Formula 1 race car driver & former Wold Champion Lewis Hamilton of Britain. She is seen trackside cheering him on at grand prix races around the world.

Nicole Prescovia Elikolani Valiente Scherzinger (born June 29, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer and occasional actress who is best known as the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls.

Previously, Scherzinger was a backing vocalist for the late-1990s rock group Days of the New, then she was part of reality TV girl group Eden's Crush. After the disbandment of the group she joined the Pussycat Dolls and became the lead vocalist during the transition to a popular music group. So far, the Pussycat Dolls have released two albums, PCD and Doll Domination, with two supporting tours. More recently, in early 2010, Scherzinger was announced the winner of the tenth season of Dancing with the Stars.