Melody Thornton (born September 28, 1984) is an American R&B singer, dancer, songwriter, model, and television personality who rose to stardom as a member of the successful pop group the Pussycat Dolls. The youngest member of the group, Thornton assumes the second most prominent vocal role, after lead vocalist Nicole Scherzinger, and is distinguished for her melismatic vocal runs. According to Slant Magazine, she is often recognized as "the group's best vocalist".

Early life

Thornton graduated from Camelback High School in Phoenix, Arizona in 2003. She was born to a Mexican mother and an African American father. Her talent was first discovered at an elementary school talent show when she sang Mariah Carey's remake of Badfinger's "Without You".

Pussycat Dolls

In 2003, soprano vocalist Thornton was recruited in the Pussycat Dolls order to add vocal strength to the group. She saw the Pussycat Dolls on MTV and heard they were auditioning for a new group member. Thornton went to the audition and was recruited in December 2003. For her audition, Thornton only sang and was still accepted into the group. As with the other Dolls, she is a salaried employee of Interscope Records. Her nickname for the group is "Baby Doll" because she is the youngest of the group. As of 2009, she announced during a concert that she usually indroduces herself as "Baby Doll", but she wants the world to know her as "Melody".

The Pussycat Dolls achieved worldwide success in 2005 with their album PCD, which debuted at number five on the U.S. Billboard 200 Chart and produced the hits "Don't Cha", "Buttons", and "Stickwitu", the last of which earned the group a Grammy Award nomination. Following the departure of Carmit Bachar in March 2008, the group continued as a quintet and in 2008 released their second studio album, Doll Domination, which included the hits "When I Grow Up" , "I Hate This Part" and "Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)".

Solo career

Thornton started her solo career collaborating with rapper Jibbs on the song "Go Too Far" from his debut album Jibbs Featuring Jibbs. She has stated on her Official MySpace Blog and in several interviews for fans to keep an ear out for her music. Thornton stated that she would like to have her solo album released soon with collaborations with many artists that she admires. In an interview at the Cabanna Club in Hollywood, she confirmed that she has been recording and writing songs for her solo efforts. Thornton recently stated on an interview with Chilosagirl that she would like to have a few Spanish songs to show her heritage and to get her learning her Spanish background.

Vocal and dancing abilities

Thornton is best known for her melismatic vocal runs, ad-libs and falsetto registrated harmonies. Despite her vocal talent, Thornton had not received any formal vocal tuition before auditioning for the group, and is the only current member to have never received any formal dancing tuition before being accepted into the group.

While Nicole Scherzinger contributed most of the group's lead vocals on the first album, PCD, Thornton also added prominent vocals to many tracks, mostly in the form of background melismas. With Carmit Bachar's departure from the group, Thornton performed "Fever" and "Hey Big Spender" alone during live concerts in the PCD-related tours and live sets.

She also released her very first Pussycat Doll solo song called "Space" which was included in the deluxe edition of Doll Domination.

Thornton is currently the only member of the Pussycat Dolls (with the exception of Scherzinger) to provide lead and background vocals to the group's songs, such as "Beep", "Buttons", "I Don't Need A Man", "Stickwitu", Wait A Minute"Hot Stuff (I Want You Back)", "Bite The Dust", "Sway", "Tainted Love/Where Did Your Love Go" " We Went As Far As We Felt Like Going" "Right Now" and "Flirt" from PCD, "When I Grow Up" (Video Version), "Whatcha Think About That", "Elevator", "Love The Way You Love Me", "Magic", "In Person", "Takin' Over The World" " Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps " and "Top Of the World" from Doll Domination. Thornton also provides lead vocals for the song "Painted Windows", an unreleased album track from the album re-release Doll Domination 2.0.