Pussycat Dolls

Girl group vocal harmonies gilded with pop polish and ladled with a heavy dollop of sex appeal helped to morph the Pussycat Dolls from a modern burlesque act to a chart-topping singing act for a brief but successful tenure between 2005 and 2008. Choreographer Robin Antin initially launched the act as a modern take on the burlesque troupe, which featured actresses and personalities like Christina Applegate and Carmen Electra dancing in a manner similar to '50s-era striptease acts. A residency at the Viper Room from 1995 to 2001 led to further exposure in magazine layouts and features like "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" (2003) and attention from producers Jimmy Iovine and Ron Fair, who suggested transforming the dance act into a singing group. Original members Carmit Bachar, Ashley Roberts, Jessica Sutta and Kimberly Wyatt were joined by former Eden's Crush singer Nicole Scherzinger and vocalists Melody Thornton and Kaya Jones to form the new, music-focused Pussycat Dolls; the group recorded singles for several feature film soundtracks before issuing their debut album, PCD, in 2005. On the strength of its single, the Top 5 hit "Don't Cha," the record sold 3 million copies and established the Dolls as one of the top-selling artists of the next year. A slew of additional hits, including the Grammy-nominated "Stickwitu" and "Beep," and high-profile opening slots on tours with the Black Eyed Peas and Christina Aguilera further boosted the group's profile, but by 2008, the Dolls had begun a slow and tumultuous decline. Bachar left the group that year for a solo career, and while both their second LP, Doll Domination (2008) and its first single, "When I Grow Up," were Top 10 hits, subsequent tracks failed to reproduce their success. A world tour and opening spot on Britney Spears' The Circus tour failed to rekindle faltering interest as word from within the Dolls' camp began to reveal a growing schism between Scherzinger and the rest of the group over her alleged attempt to command the group's spotlight. By 2010, the members had left the Dolls' ranks en masse for solo career, though only Scherzinger experienced any degree of success, largely as a celebrity judge and/or panelist on reality/competition series like the Stateside version of "The X Factor" (Fox, 2011-13). Attempts to revive the brand via televised talent searches generated several iterations of the Dolls, which eventually morphed into the vocal group G.R.L.