via Glooce
Nicole Scherzinger wasn't just the leader of the Pusssycat Dolls -- she was the Pussycat Dolls.
In Scherzinger's upcoming VH1 Behind the Music special, the 34-year-old says fellow "Dolls" Melody Thornton, 28, Ashley Roberts, 31, Kimberly Wyatt, 30, Jessica Sutta, 30, and Carmit Bachar, 38, were given undue credit during the group's heyday.
"I love those girls. They're like my sisters. But people don't even know the whole story," Scherzinger says of her career with the multiplatinum girl group. "They have no idea. I was in the center because I was singing."
The group was formed in 2003 following the success of the burlesque troupe of the same name. After a series of lineup changes, the band released their first single, "Don't Cha," in April 2005.
Scherzinger estimates she "probably did 95 percent" of the singing "on my own" for the band's debut album, PCD. Executive producer Ron Fair stands by the former X Factor judge, saying, "Melody sang a bit here and there, but the records were Nicole, with the exception of an occasional ad-lib. They were Nicole. It was her."
Though Scherzinger was the clear leader of the Pussycat Dolls, she says she "never really talked about" performing the majority of band's vocals.
"I hope I don't get in trouble for the stuff that I say," Scherzinger says, "but I'll never forget I finished the album, PCD, and Ron and I brought the girls into the studio and we played it for them. It was the first time they'd ever heard the music."
"Do you understand what I'm saying? We played the album for the Pussycat Dolls," she says. "It was the first time they'd ever heard the songs."
Behind the Music airs Sunday, October 7, at 9 p.m. EST on VH1.
