Paula Julie Abdul was born on June 9, 1962, in San Fernando, California. Her mother, Lorraine Rykiss, is a Jewish Canadian concert pianist and her father, Harry Abdul, is a Syrian-Brazilian orphan who was born to parents of Sephardic Jewish descent. Because of her Arabic surname, she is often mistakenly perceived as being of African-American or mixed-race descent. Her parents divorced when she was seven years of age and she and her older sister, Wendy, lived with their mother in the San Fernando Valley. She began to take dance lessons at the age of 8, and demonstrated a real talent … Continue reading →