Asia Nitollano (born February 14, 1988 in Mt. Vernon, New York) is an American singer, dancer and model, who won the television series Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll. She was also a dancer for the New York Knicks of the NBA. Nitollano is the daughter of R&B musician Joe Bataan and has a four-year-old daughter. She has African-American, Filipino, and Puerto Rican ancestry. Before her entry into the group, Nitollano was a dancer for the New York Knicks. In 2007 she became one of the nine finalists on the CW reality television series, Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll. During the season finale of the show, she was chosen to become the newest member of the group by judges Robin Antin, Ron Fair and Lil Kim. According to judge and Pussycat Doll founder Robin Antin, while Nitollano wasn’t the strongest vocalist of the final three, she had greater stage presence and is an all-round better performer due to her experience in dancing. In July 2007, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Nitollano, who was never contractually obligated to join the Pussycat Dolls, had decided to embark on a solo career. According to Dawn Ostroff, head of the CW Network, Nitollano was not fired from the group, but opted to go solo after the final episode of the show was aired or in short, after the season was completely filmed in the summer of 2006. Nitollano’s position in the group had been questioned for months, since she had never performed with the group (except on the finale of the show) and has been absent from the group’s high-profile performances, most notably Live Earth, held in July 2007. She has appeared in adverts for P. Diddy’s clothing line Sean John Women’s collection. As of July 2008 her MySpace page states she is working on a solo album. She is currently signed to Murder Inc. |
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