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Ashley Roberts
Ashley Roberts 2018 (cropped).JPG
Roberts in 2018
Born
Ashley Allyn Roberts

(1981-09-14) September 14, 1981 (age 42)
Citizenship
  • United States
  • United Kingdom
Occupation
  • Singer
  • media personality
Years active 2001–present
Musical career
Genres
Instruments Vocals
Labels
  • Metropolis
  • Cherry Red

Ashley Allyn Roberts (born September 14, 1981) is an American singer and media personality. She is a former member of the pop group The Pussycat Dolls (2003–2010, 2019–2021), one of the world's best-selling girl groups. Roberts also had a brief career as a solo singer when she released the album Butterfly Effect (2014), and the singles "Yesterday", Woman Up" and "Clockwork".

Roberts has focused her career as a television presenter, particularly in the UK, and has presented the shows Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (2013–2016), the Emmy-nominated 1st Look (2016–2018), The Real Dirty Dancing UK (2022), and Dance Monsters (2022–present). She has also appeared on British reality television shows, including I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (2012), Dancing on Ice (2013–2014) which she served as a judge, The Jump (2015), and Strictly Come Dancing (2018).

In 2019, Roberts became the showbiz correspondent for the national Heart Breakfast radio show. Since 2022, she has been a presenter for Heart 00s, a spin-off from the Heart radio network.

Early life

Roberts was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and attended Shadow Mountain High School. She is the daughter of Pat Roberts, the former drummer of the Mamas & the Papas, and Peggy Lorraine, a Pilates instructor. She began dancing at the age of three and singing at eight. Roberts' hair was brunette during her teenage years.

Career

2001–2010: The Pussycat Dolls

Ashley Roberts - Tacoma Dome 2
Roberts in December 2006.

In 2001 Roberts moved to Los Angeles to study modern dance and appeared in various television commercials and music videos such as Counting Crows "Accidentally in Love", Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up", Jane's ...'s "True Nature", Aaron Carter's "Oh Aaron" and "Not Too Young, Not Too Old" and Pink's "Trouble". In 2003, Robin Antin saw her work in music videos and asked Roberts to join the Pussycat Dolls, along with Nicole Scherzinger, Melody Thornton, Carmit Bachar, Kimberly Wyatt and Jessica Sutta. The group achieved worldwide success with the singles "Don't Cha", "Stickwitu", "Buttons", and their multi-platinum debut album PCD (2005). During that time, Roberts also starred the dance film Make It Happen. The group's second and final studio album Doll Domination (2008) contains hit singles "When I Grow Up", "I Hate This Part" and "Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)".

Despite their commercial success, the group was plagued by internal conflict due to the emphasis on Scherzinger and the subordinate treatment of the other members. In February 2010, for these reasons, Roberts, Wyatt, Sutta, and Thornton had announced their departures from The Pussycat Dolls and the group disbanded.

2010–2019: Television and Butterfly Effect

In September 28, 2010, Roberts released a solo promotional single, a cover of Percy Faith's 1959 hit single "A Summer Place". Afterwards, Roberts took a two-year hiatus from her artistic career to follow guru Mata Amritanandamayi on spiritual retreats. In 2012 she signed a record deal with independent label Cherry Red Records and released "Yesterday" as her debut solo single. In November she competed in the British reality show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, airing on ITV, finishing as runner-up. From 2013 to 2014 Roberts was judge of dance figure skating series Dancing on Ice. In 2013 Roberts stabilized as television presenter, debuting in the variety show Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway from 2013 to 2016. In 2014 Roberts also presented WWE Legends' House.

That year, Roberts signed with Metropolis London and released her debut solo album, Butterfly Effect, on September 1, 2014, only in UK. The album served two singles: "Woman Up" and "Clockwork", which reached number 175 in UK and 18 in UK Indie Charts. In 2016 she left Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway and signed with NBC to present the travel and lifestyle program 1st Look, from 2016 to 2018. The work was nominated for Emmy Awards as Best Travel and Adventure Program. In 2018 Roberts competed in BBC dance show Strictly Come Dancing, in the United Kingdom, and finished as a finalist. In 2019, Roberts became the showbiz correspondent of the Heart Breakfast, Heart Radio show hosted by Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden. That following month, she made her West End debut, portraying Dawn, in the musical, Waitress.

2019–present: The Pussycat Dolls reunion and more television

On November 29, 2019, The Pussycat Dolls confirmed their comeback and, on February 7, 2020, they released a new single, "React", with a live performance on the finale of The X Factor: Celebrity. They announced a 36-date world tour, but plans were canceled due the worsening situation arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and the group ended the reunion in 2021.

In 2020 she appeared in Celebrity Gogglebox, a British docu-series about a groups of people watching and reacting to television programming during the week. In 2022 she presentes the British reality show The Real Dirty Dancing UK. Since 2022 she presents the Netflix dance show Dance Monsters and Heart Radio show Heart 00's.

Products and endorsements

Roberts has launched her first line of lingerie designed for the beach in Sydney, Australia. In 2016, Roberts designed a women's shoe collection for spring/summer 2017 called ALLYN, after her middle name.

Filmography

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2010 90210 Penny Episode: "Into the Wild"
Dance Your ... Off Guest judge Episode: "Week 4"
2012 I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Contestant Series 12
2013–2014 Dancing on Ice Judge Series 8–9
2013–2016 Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway Presenter
2014 WWE Legends' House Presenter
2015 The Keith Lemon Sketch Show She-Ra / Caitlyn Jenner / Pink Episode: "2"
2015 The Jump Contestant Series 2
2016–2018 1st Look Presenter
2017 Let It Shine Guest judge Episode: "Semi-final"
2018 Strictly Come Dancing Contestant Series 16
2020 Celebrity Gogglebox Commentator Series 2
2022 The Real Dirty Dancing UK Presenter
2022–present Dance Monsters Presenter

Film

Year Title Role
2005 Be Cool Herself
2008 Make It Happen Brooke

Radio

Year Title Roles Radio
2019–2021 Heart Breakfast Correspondent Heart
2022–
present
Heart 00s Presenter

Discography

Studio albums

List of albums, with selected chart positions and certifications
Title Album details Peak chart positions
UK
UK
Indie
Butterfly Effect 159 36

Singles

List of singles, with selected chart positions and certifications
Title Year Peak chart positions Album
UK
UK
Indie
SCO
"Yesterday" 2012 Non-album single
"Clockwork" 2014 175 18 88 Butterfly Effect
"Woman Up"
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Promotional singles

Title Year Album
"A Summer Place" 2010 Non-album single
"All in a Day" 2013 Butterfly Effect

Other appearances

Title Year Album
"Played" 2008 Doll Domination

Music videos

Title Year Director Notes
"Yesterday" 2012 Don Tyler
"Clockwork" 2014 Ramy Dance
"Woman Up"
Guest appearances
"Oh Aaron" 2001 N/A Aaron Carter's music video
"Not Too Young, Not Too Old"
"True Nature" 2003 Jane's ...'s music video
"You Raise Me Up" Josh Groban's music video
"Trouble" Pink's music video
"Accidentally in Love" 2004 Counting Crows' music video
"Stars in Your Eyes" 2010 Her Majesty & The Wolves' music video
"2 da Left" 2011 Leo Moctezuma's music video
"Dirrty Up" 2012 Bobby Newberry's music video
"Toxic Love"
"Goodbye" 2015 Melody Thornton's music video

Stage

Year Title Role
2013–2015 Ant & Dec's Takeaway on Tour "Ant vs. Dec" segment mediator
2019 Waitress Dawn

Awards and nominations

Year Award Nominated work Category Result Ref.
2007
Grammy Awards "Stickwitu" Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals Nominated
2018
Daytime Emmy Awards 1st Look Outstanding Travel and Adventure Program Nominated

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Ashley Roberts para niños

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