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Nicole Scherzinger: I would've been 'Goth Spice'

Feb 26, 2013, 17:02 GMT

Nicole Scherzinger

Nicole Scherzinger was 'Goth Spice' when she was younger.

The 'Poison' singer used to be a rock chick and spent a year as a backing singer for band Days Of The New when they toured as a support act for the Foo Fighters.

After leaving the band, Nicole was working as a make-up artist for Lancome in 2001 and still dressing in black and leather when her mother convinced her to audition for 'Popstars' - which she won as part of girl group Eden's Crush - but at the time she didn't want to change her look to become a pop babe like the members of the all-conquering band.

Speaking in the new issue of Notion magazine, Nicole recalled: 'I was so theatre at the time I was like, 'I am not going to be a Spice Girl'. That is just not me.

'I mean I'm a Spice Girls fan now, but at the time I only wore black and I was Goth. I would have been Goth Spice. Ethnic Chanting Spice, that's who I thought I was.'

Although Nicole has done so much in her career since 'Popstars', including being the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls and being a judge on 'The X Factor', she still remembers the audition process vividly.

She reflected: 'I brought my little package that I'd put together with my pictures and I'd made my own home music video. I was on it. I gave them my package and I sang [Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You'] for them and the rest is history. That brought me to Los Angeles.'

Nicole also revealed she turned down the chance to sing Rihanna and Calvin Harris' hit single 'We Found Love' after vowing to 'take a break' from dance music.

She added: 'I passed on 'We Found Love'. I got the demo of that song and I was busy at the time. They'd sent me a few dance tracks and I wasn't able to get to them and I was like, 'Oh, there's so much dance and I want to take a break from it.' That was my fault. I slept on it.'