Paula Abdul says she can mix her pop-video persona with a recording career and "do it all."
Her idols, Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, did it in those MGM musicals she mimicked as a child growing up in Los Angeles, so why not the daughter of a French-Canadian mother and a Brazilian-Syrian father?"Back then you had to do it all. To be a superstar you had to sing and dance and entertain and not just stick to one thing," she says. And the 29-year-old ex-L.A. Lakers cheerleader is on the right track.
Since her 1988 debut album "Forever Your Girl" sold a whopping 12 million copies, the 5-foot-1 dancing dynamo has been in non-stop demand. She's choreographed moves for Janet Jackson, Duran Duran, The Pointer Sisters, Luther Vandross and ZZ Top. Her unique mix of technical training and street funk won her an Emmy for choreography in "The Tracy Ullman Show," and filmmaker Oliver Stone called upon her expertise for his movie, "The Doors."
Numerous No. 1 singles, high-rotation MTV videos and cola commercials have kept her in the public's consciousness. A recent opinion poll taken among high school seniors showed Abdul the most admired woman in America.
The critics, however, have panned her singing, suggesting that her "talent" is cut-and-paste studio-produced, that she has a "little girl" voice, and that she should stick to what she does best - dance.
Controversy has dogged her career, tainting her numerous triumphs. She has been accused of not singing several tracks on her first album, lip-syncing performances (she once shared the stage with the ill-fated Milli Vanilli on an MTV tour) and using video tricks to make her appear thinner.
Abdul has fought back, taking extensive vocal lessons and co-writing several songs on her second album, "Spellbound," which is already certified double-platinum and has yielded two No. 1 pop singles since its release in June. A recently released third single, "Blowing Kisses in the Wind," is also headed for the top of the charts.
She says, "Being a girl and being a sensitive girl in this business doesn't go too well together. I've learned to kind of get a tougher skin because you have to in order to survive."
And Abdul is doing more than just surviving. With dazzling dancing as her forte, the pop queen has put up $1 million of her own money to make her debut as headliner on a 32-week tour, which has been seven months in the making.
Abdul's show, with a cast of 19 musicians and dancers, has been charming skeptical critics and thrilling audiences from Atlanta to Detroit.
Vowing that she will sing every note and present a high-tech visual and musical extravaganza (one reviewer called her tour "MTV meets the Ziegfield Follies"), Abdul is once again racking up accolades.
The fact remains that Paula Abdul has been Favorite Female Musical Performer at the past two People's Choice Awards ceremonies.
Her positive attitude was mirrored recently in an interview: "I just think dance-pop artists, in general, may not be the critic's choice, but that's OK. It's the people embracing me now, too, which is wonderful."
Abdul's "Under My Spell" tour, with special guest artist MC Skat Kat and pop/funk duo Aftershock, comes to the Delta Center, Tuesday, Dec. 3, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 and $22.50, on sale at the Delta Center box office and all Smith'sTix locations.