Adrienne Bailon
Adrienne Bailon at The Magnificent Mile 2008 Lights Festival.
Background information
Birth name	Adrienne Eliza Bailon
Born	October 24, 1983 (1983-10-24) (age 26)
Origin	Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Genres	R&B, Pop, Hip-hop Latin pop
Occupations	Actress, singer-songwriter, television personality, dancer
Years active	1999–present
Associated acts	3LW (1999–2007) The Cheetah Girls (2005–2009)
Website	Official Website at Island Def Jam

Adrienne Eliza Bailon (born October 24, 1983) is an American actress, singer-songwriter, dancer, and television personality. She was a member of former girl groups 3LW and The Cheetah Girls, and is also known for her roles in the Disney Channel Original Movie of the same name and latter sequels which brought the group to prominence. She is currently a solo artist via Island Def Jam, as well as hosts afternoon programming and other events for MTV.

[edit] Early life

Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (June 2010)

Bailon was born to a Puerto Rican mother and an Ecuadorian father in Lower Eastside Manhattan, New York.^[1] She attended a high school geared toward careers in health and human services. But when her girl group 3LW took off in 2001, she pursued her new profession as a singer than towards careers in health and human services.^[2]

[edit] Career

[edit] 3LW (1999–2007)

In 1999, Bailon was singing in a church choir which caught the attention of popstar Ricky Martin. Martin asked for the best four singers, and Bailon was among those chosen.^[3] After this success, Bailon auditioned to join a girl group, which became 3LW.

Along with Kiely Williams and Naturi Naughton, the group signed to Epic Records and released their debut album of the same name in late 2000, which had moderate success in the U.S. Their debut single "No More (Baby I'ma Do Right)", peaked at #23 on the Billboard Hot 100, along with Playas Gon' Play which was favorable among fans but didn't share the same success of No More (Baby I'ma Do Right). The album peaked at #29 on the charts was certified platinum by the RIAA for shipping 1.3 million copies in the U.S.

The group soon began work on a second album, "Same Game, Different Rules", and the lead single, "Never Let Go" was sent to radios, however the entire album soon leaked to the internet, and Epic Records considered dropping them. Fans however led a protest, "Never Let Go of 3LW", and the act was retained. After many arguments, Naturi Naughton left the group, right before their official second album, "A Girl Can Mack" was released. The album was considered "racier" than their previous effort and dealt with negative publicity due to the departure of Naturi.

As a duo, which the tabloids nicknamed, "2LW", Adrienne and Kiely released a holiday album, "Naughty or Nice". The duo also scored a film together in Disney's "The Cheetah Girls". They shot the film the winter of 2002. After filming, Jessica Benson replaced Naturi in early 2003 and they began work on a third album, "Phoenix Rising". In 2004, they were dropped from Epic and signed to Sony and So So Def Records. Adrienne & Kiely went on to shoot two more Cheetah Girl films, as well as sign a record deal as a musical group with Sabrina Bryan.

In 2005, Sony released a compilation album, "Neva Get Enuf", before dropping them,^[4] and in 2006 "Phoenix Rising" was renamed "Point of No Return" with its lead single, "Feelin' You" ft. Jermaine Dupri being released. The album however was delayed and later scrapped, and the group was dropped from So So Def Records in 2007. They disbanded that same year.

[edit] The Cheetah Girls (2005–2009)

Bailon (left) performing with Sabrina Bryan (middle) and Kiely Williams (right) on their One World tour.

In the fall of 2002, Bailon along with Williams were cast in the Disney channel original movie The Cheetah Girls with Sabrina Bryan and Raven-Symoné. The movie was released in August 2003 and was a ratings success. The Cheetah Girls soundtrack debuted at #33 on the Billboard 200 and was later certified 2x Platinum by the RIAA.^[5]

Bailon had a supporting role on Disney Channel's That's So Raven which she played Alana. In 2005, she starred in Coach Carter. Walt Disney Records soon created a real-life girl group, composed of Adrienne, Kiely, and Sabrina Bryan. Raven-Symone was offered a spot in the group but declined to focus on her solo career and That's So Raven. Their holiday album, "Cheetah-licious Christmas" was released that year, and they soon left Walt Disney and signed to Hollywood Records in 2006. Bailon then starred in the MTV film All You've Got, along with R&B singer Ciara. The movie was released to DVD on May 2006 and premiered on MTV.

The group later returned to film the sequel The Cheetah Girls 2. The movie premiered on August 25, 2006 and brought a total of 8.1 million viewers, becoming the highest rated Disney Channel original movie and beating the premieres of High School Musical films. The soundtrack to the movie released on August 15, 2006 and debuted at #5 on the charts and was certified platinum by the end of the year.^[6] The soundtrack had hit singles like The Party's Just Begun, and Strut which peaked at #85 and #53 on the Hot 100. The Cheetah Girls began work on their debut album in January 2006. However, when filming and recording for The Cheetah Girls 2 came up, the album was put on hold. "We'll be making a real album, not a soundtrack", Bailon said. Their debut album TCG was released on September 25, 2007 and featured the single "Fuego", which charted on Hot Dance Club Play's chart and had its video played in heavy rotation on Disney Channel and MTV Tr3s.

In 2008, the group filmed the The Cheetah Girls: One World; the film was the only film to not feature Raven-Symoné. The movie premiered on Disney Channel on August 22, 2008 and was in summer's top movies and ranked #2. The soundtrack to the movie peaked at #13 on the Billboard 200. Bailon recorded two solo tracks for The Cheetah Girls: One World, "What If" and "Stand Up".

In November 2008, Williams, in an interview with In Touch Weekly magazine, stated that the group would be breaking up as all three members were pursuing solo albums. Bailon later confirmed it also. As of January 2009, the group disbanded.

[edit] Solo career (2009–present)

According to Bailon, the reason for The Cheetah Girls' breakup was each member was working on solo projects, which began when she signed to Island Def Jam Records in early 2009. Adrienne Bailon, along with the Jonas Brothers recorded two songs called "Big Spender" & "Uncontrollable" which were included on the Confessions of a Shopaholic soundtrack.

Bailon revealed that due to the leak of "Superbad", it would no longer serve as the official lead single, but would still be on the album. The albums first single "Take You Home" (Feat. Ghostface Killah) will be released in May, while the album follows in the Summer. She also confirmed she go back to her R&B roots that catapulted 3LW into the top 40 in 2001:^[7]

"It’s an R&B-pop album that kind of reminds me of a modern day version of 3LW, I’m going back to my roots of R&B and hip-pop. I’m so excited. It’s going to be a great album and I think people will be really surprised."

Producers for the album include Ne-Yo, The-Dream, Stereotypes, Darkchild, Pitbull, Estelle and Bryan-Michael Cox.^[8]

Confirmed songs for the album include "Rainy Days", "Superbad" "Hello", "They Don't Really Know", "When He's Here" and "Only You".^[9] On May 6, 2010 Adrienne Bailon's official website posted a new song, "Take You Home" with rapper Ghostface Killah". It was called a "summer anthem", implying it could be the new single.^[10] It was officially released as the lead single off of her yet-untitled debut solo album, on May 11, 2010.^[11]

[edit] Personal life

In 2007, Bailon was dating Rob Kardashian and appeared on the E! reality series Keeping Up With The Kardashians several times.

In November 2008, nude photographs of Bailon ended up circulating over the Internet, taken for Kardashian on a laptop computer which Bailon has said was stolen while she was coming off a flight at New York's JFK Airport. The pictures were at first reported to be held for ransom as part of an extortion plot for $1,000, and were later leaked out.^[12] At the time, Bailon and her authorized publicist stated publicly that they would seek damages from whoever stole the computer and leaked the photos.

Johnathon Jaxson, a gossip blogger who claimed to represent Bailon publicly (in his regular gossip segment on Atlanta CBS affiliate WGCL-TV's morning show on November 11) confessed that the entire leak was a hoax perpertrated by him and Bailon to give a bump to Bailon's career.^[13] However, Jaxson has been chastised by the gossip community themselves as trying to drive more traffic to his own gossip blog, and was involved with a civil defamation lawsuit with Perez Hilton.^[14] Jaxson then made no further public comments on the matter while Bailon claimed the leak was not a hoax, nor planned by her.^[15] However, in the aftermath of the photos being released, Macy's cancelled the appearance of the Cheetah Girls within their 2008 Thanksgiving Day Parade, citing "scheduling issues".^[16]

As of 2009, Bailon and Kardashian are no longer dating.^[17][18][19].

[edit] Discography

Singles

• 2010: "Take You Home" (featuring Ghostface Killah)

Solo songs

• 2008: "What If" (from The Cheetah Girls: One World)
• 2008: "Stand Up" (from The Cheetah Girls: One World)
• 2009: "Uncontrollable" (from Confessions of a Shopaholic)
• 2009: "Big Spender" (from Confessions of a Shopaholic)
• 2009: "Only You" (featuring Jay-Z)
• 2009: "This Hot"
• 2009: "Superbad"

Guest appearances

• Xtreme feat. Adrienne Bailon – "No Me Digas Que No"
• Enemigo feat. Adrienne Bailon – "No Me Digas Que No"
• Xtreme feat. Adrienne Bailon – "Shorty, Shorty"
• Ghostface Killah feat. Adrienne Bailon – "I'll Be That"

[edit] Filmography

[edit] See also

Puerto Rico portal

• List of Puerto Ricans

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Adrienne Bailon

• Adrienne Bailon at the Internet Movie Database