Photo by Richard C. Trigg
Gail Benedict plopped down on the sofa with her four dogs at her Louisville residence on Sunday night, June 8. She tuned in to watch the 78th Annual Tony Awards show live on TV from Radio City Music Hall in New York City as she does most years in hopes of “seeing a lot of my beauties.”
Benedict was referring to the multitude of young men and women she has taught over the years at the Youth Performing Arts School at duPont Manual High School in Louisville who have achieved successful careers in Broadway theater productions.
Benedict was excited and said she “absolutely lost it” when one of her students from the 1990s, Nicole Scherzinger, appeared on the screen minutes away from becoming a Tony Award winner.
Benedict’s former student had to be noticed. She was dressed, as Harper’s Bazaar described it, as “a vixen … a sight to see.”
Scherzinger wore a custom-made strapless, sequined red gown by Rodarte, a fashion label based in Los Angeles. The dress featured a high slit and a classic Old Hollywood silhouette with a modern twist. She accessorized with matching red pointed-toe heels, diamond stud earrings and a large pear-shaped diamond pendant. Her hair was styled in a slick-back bun, and she wore a statement red lipstick and gold-and-crimson eyeshadow. She also wore more than 50 carats of diamonds, according to InStyle.com.
“She was beautiful,” Benedict said. “And so talented. You showed Nicole something once, and she had it. Yes, you can call her a natural.”
Then came the song. Scherzinger took to a stage filled with smoke, alone in a black, silk slip dress with her long black hair cascading down her back. In a powerfully emotional voice, she belted out the “As If We Never Said Goodbye” from Sunset Boulevard, in which she starred as former film great Norma Desmond.
The performance brought tears to Benedict’s eyes, as did the later announcement that Scherzinger had won the 2025 Tony Award for best actress in a musical.
“Oh, my,” Benedict said. “She certainly deserved it. Louisville did good that night. It’s where she got her musical roots.”
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Glenn Francis
will.i.am #willpower Wrap Party at the Avalon in Hollywood
will.i.am #willpower Wrap Party at the Avalon in Hollywood, CA on August 13, 2012
Several people with Kentucky connections have won Tony Awards. They include Steve Kazee of Ashland in 2012 for best actor in Once and Darron L. West of Elizabethtown in 2012 for best sound design for the musical Peter and the Starcatcher.
George C. Wolfe of Frankfort has received three best direction awards for Angels in America: Millennium Approaches in 1993, Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk in 1996, and Elaine Stritch at Liberty in 2002.
George C. Clooney of Augusta was at this year’s Tony Awards ceremony as a best actor nominee for Good Night, and Good Luck.
But the evening belonged to the talented beauty from the Louisville performing arts school.
• • •
“And this time will be bigger
And brighter than we knew it
So watch me fly, we all know I can do it” *
Scherzinger was born in Hawaii on June 29, 1978. Her father, Alfonso Valiente, was of Filipino descent and her mother, Rosemary, was of native Hawaiian and Ukranian descent.
Scherzinger’s father left the family when she was 2. Her mother then married German-American Gary Scherzinger, who adopted Nicole. The family, with younger daughter Keala, moved to Louisville when Nicole was 6.
In Louisville, Scherzinger’s mother worked as a clerk, and her stepfather was a welder. The staunchly Catholic family did not have much money, and Nicole supported it by working as a server and in an entertainment troupe at Kentucky Kingdom.
In 1992, at age 14, Scherzinger was cast in her first professional play, La Bête, at Actors Theatre of Louisville with encouragement from her mother, said Philip Allgeier, the theater’s video supervisor. Nicole also was the first runner-up at the 1996 Kentucky State Fair’s Coca-Cola Talent Classic contest at 18.
Scherzinger became interested in music early in school. She first attended Bowen Elementary and later Meyzeek Middle School. After Scherzinger won her Tony Award, Meyzeek congratulated her for her “incredible achievement and talent” and reminded students that she once walked the halls at Meyzeek.
Scherzinger blossomed at the Youth Performing Arts School at duPont Manual. YPAS offers Jefferson County high school students disciplines in various vocal, instrumental, theater, musical theater and dance. The audition process to be accepted to the program is rigorous. Once accepted, students have no less than a 90-minute block of arts studies each day with the rest of their academic classes at Manual.
YPAS is one of only 100 schools of its type in the United States. It is a magnet school of Manual, with about 430 students. A public school, Manual has 1,922 students in grades 9-12 and is a part of the Jefferson County Public Schools district.
Billy Bradford taught Scherzinger performance at YPAS during his 50 years of teaching. “She was a lovely, sweet, nice individual—talented and beautiful,” he said. “She had chutzpah. Her desire was to go to Broadway, and she has more than accomplished that.”
Bradford said Scherzinger’s mother and stepfather were “very supportive. They knew their daughter had that something special.”
Like his colleague Benedict, Bradford watched this year’s Tony Awards. “It is an amazing feeling when you see one of your students reach the top,” he said.
After YPAS, Scherzinger attended Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, majoring in acting and musical theater.
In 1999, Scherzinger stopped her studies to sing backing vocals for the rock band Days of the New. She then became part of the reality TV girl group Eden’s Crush.
In 2002, Scherzinger joined the Pussycat Dolls and became the group’s lead vocalist during their transition from burlesque to music. With two albums and more than 55 million records sold worldwide, the Pussycat Dolls became one of the world’s best-selling female groups of all time.
After leaving the group in December 2010, Scherzinger began a solo career with the release of her debut studio album Killer Love. The album’s second single, “Don’t Hold Your Breath,” peaked at No. 1 on the UK singles chart, marking her first No. 1 hit as a solo artist.
In early 2010, Scherzinger won the 10th season of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. She became a judge on the American version of The X Factor and has been a panelist on the popular FOX show The Masked Singer.
In 2014, Scherzinger landed a theatrical role in Cats. Later, she had roles in the Disney animated film Moana (2016), the ABC film Dirty Dancing (2017) and the NBC special Annie Live! (2012).
She won the 2024 Laurence Olivier Award for best actress in a musical for her performance as Norma Desmond in the 2023 West End (London) revival of Sunset Boulevard.
The Tony Award came this year after the show transferred to Broadway in 2024. Sunset Boulevard also won a Tony for Best Revival of a Musical. The show closed in July.
Scherzinger’s other interests include clothing lines and a fragrance, plus she serves as an ambassador for the Special Olympics and a supporter of UNICEF.
Scherzinger rarely gives interviews but often expresses her views on social media. She once posted on Facebook how grateful she is for Louisville. “Show my love for my hometown,” she said.
Her hometown is honoring her now.
The Greater Louisville Pride Foundation announced earlier this year the new honorees for the Hometown Heroes Class of 2025. They will include Scherzinger.
The program hangs portraits on banners—sometimes as large as 60 feet tall—on the exterior walls some of Louisville’s most visible buildings to honor a mix of stars, musicians, athletes, academics and professionals who have left their mark on the city and the world.
Nicole Scherzinger is more than ready for her close-up. Bring it on, world.