Nicole Scherzinger was born on June 29, 1978, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her father, Alfonso Valiente, is of Filipino descent, and her mother, Rosemary, is of Hawaiian and Russian descent.[5][6][7][8] Her mother Rosemary was eighteen at the time of Scherzinger's birth and lived in an inner city neighborhood.[9] Nicole's parents separated when she was still a baby. Her maternal family moved to Louisville, Kentucky, when she was six years old,[10] with her sister Ke'ala and her German American stepfather Gary Scherzinger

In 2001, Scherzinger 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. She became one of the main vocalists for the group. Their 2001 US single "Get Over Yourself (Goodbye)" peaked at number one in sales and hit the top ten on Billboard Hot 100.

They toured in support of both *NSync and Jessica Simpson.[13] Scherzinger was originally approached to be the fourth member of The Black Eyed Peas, but was forced to decline because she was a member of Eden's Crush and was under contract, the position was given to Fergie. Later however, Eden's Crush' record company, London-Sire Records, folded and the group eventually disbanded.[14] In November 2007, Scherzinger spoke of her time in Eden's Crush:

It was hell... I was in a band with five other girls and every day was torture for me. We were on TV all the time and the atmosphere was awful... Every day I was in that band I cried my eyes out. The band was meant to be fun and frivolous but the reality was that it was miserable... I was too sensitive back then, but I got toughened up. I couldn't have gone into the Dolls without my experience in Crush