Adrienne Bailon

Adrienne Eliza Bailon-Houghton (née Bailon ; born October 24, 1983) is an American television personality, singer, and actress.

She is a former member of the girl groups 3LW and The Cheetah Girls.

Bailon was born to a Puerto Rican mother, Nilda Alicea and an Ecuadorian father, Freddie Bailón, on October 24, 1983.

She grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Bailon has an older sister, Claudette.

She attended PS 110-The Monitor in Brooklyn and the High School for Health Professions and Human Services, but did not pursue a career in the medical field because of her musical endeavors.

Bailon commented "I really wanted to be an Obstetrician! I wanted to bring babies into the world..."

Bailon was discovered by Latin pop singer Ricky Martin in October 1999 while she was performing in a church choir at Madison Square Garden.

Martin asked for the four best singers in the group, and Bailon was one of the four elected by Martin to perform as back-up singers as part of his Livin' la Vida Loca Tour concert show later that night.

Following the performance, Bailon became a member of the girl group 3LW, joining Kiely Williams and Naturi Naughton, the other two members of the group.

Bailon stated that she was spotted by a producer while on a field trip to Beth Israel, and was later offered a slot in the female trio.

Bailon said "... coming from very humble beginnings in the projects of the Lower East Side and not having any "Hollywood" connections.... It did not seem realistic. I sang in church, acted in all the church and school plays.... So when the opportunity came to join a girl group I was ready!"

With the original line-up of 3LW formed, the group was signed to Epic Records, and work on their debut album began in 1999.

Their first single, "No More (Baby I'ma Do Right)", was released in the fall of 2000.

The group's self-titled debut album, 3LW was released on November 14, 2000.

The album went on to be certified platinum by the RIAA, selling 1.3 million copies in the United States.

"No More" was a chart success, and was followed by "Playas Gon' Play" in early 2001.

In the summer of 2001, the group embarked on the MTV Total Request Live tour along with Destiny's Child, Dream, Nelly, Eve, and Jessica Simpson.

In 2001, 3LW recorded a song with various artists including Michael Jackson, Usher, Beyoncé, Luther Vandross, Celine Dion and Mariah Carey in response to the 9/11 attacks called "What More Can I Give".

In late 2001, they collaborated with Lil' Romeo and Nick Cannon for "Parents Just Don't Understand" on the Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius soundtrack.

3LW spent the first half of 2002 in the studio, recording an album tentatively titled Same Game, Different Rules.

The album and its intended lead single "Uh Oh" were presented to the label, who felt it did not have enough urban radio appeal.

The tracks from Same Game, Different Rules were leaked to the Internet in MP3 format, and Epic considered dropping the girls.

A fan support campaign for 3LW, named "Never Let Go of 3LW" after their song "Never Let Go" spread to the radio, and the act was retained, despite the album loss.

Recording a new set of tracks, the group returned in the summer of 2002 with the P. Diddy-produced single "I Do (Wanna Get Close To You)", featuring Loon.

That same summer, the group performed a concert special on Nickelodeon titled Live on Sunset.

By August, the group was set to release its newest LP, A Girl Can Mack, when member Naturi Naughton left the group for good due to internal disputes.

A Girl Can Mack's release date was pushed back a month, but sales were still disappointing, with it debuting at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 and selling 53,000 copies in the first week.

Approaching the time that the group was ready to deliver their second album, Naughton publicly announced that she was no longer a member of the group.

Naughton alleged she had had a number of conflicts and arguments with Bailon, Williams, and their management, which led to a heated altercation in August 2002.

Not long after, Naughton claimed she had been forced out of the group.

Williams and Bailon continued as a duo while using the "3LW" name, causing the press to jokingly refer to them as "2LW".

According to a cover story for the October 2002 issue of Sister 2 Sister magazine, Kiely & Adrienne said they received death threats and that they had to beef up security.

The departure of Naturi greatly affected the group's popularity and album sales.

From 2013 to 2022, Bailon was a co-host of the daytime talk show The Real; for which she has since won a Daytime Emmy Award.

From 2022 to 2023, Bailon-Houghton was a co-anchor of the entertainment news show, E! News.

As an actress, Bailon appeared in The Cheetah Girls films, Coach Carter and All You've Got.

She has guest starred in numerous television series including That's So Raven (a role she reprises in the spin-off series Raven's Home), and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.

In 2013, Bailon became the first Latina host of a daytime talk show in the US.

She also competed in The Masked Singer in 2019 as the Flamingo, finishing in third place.