Antin began exploring the idea of a modern burlesque troupe during 1990 with Carla Kama and Christina Applegate as performers. The troupe began to perform in 1995, with a repertoire of 1950s and 1960s popular music standards while dressed in lingerie or old-fashioned pin-up costumes. They secured a Thursday night residency at a Los Angeles nightclub, the Viper Room, where they stayed from 1995 to 2001. They appeared briefly in the 1998 films Matters of Consequence (dancing to Mancini's "Hub Caps and Tail Lights", and Keely Smith's "When Your Lover has Gone"), and The Treat (directed by Jonathan Gems). From 1995 to 2003 there were numerous guest vocalists, and many changes to the dance personnel.
In parallel with the Pussycat Dolls franchise as a recording act, a resident live show commenced at the "Pussycat Dolls Lounge" adjacent to Pure Nightclub in Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip. This show contains "cast members" who continue the burlesque-style show which began in Los Angeles during 1995. The saloon brings sex appeal into an interactive setting with non-stop performances, where Dancers fill the room as eye candy, dancing inside a rhinestone-encrusted bathtub and on raised platforms throughout the 4,500-square-foot venue. The casino allows visitors to play blackjack, roulette or watch go-go Dancers perform.
The troupe received wider press coverage during June 1999, when Playboy featured a Pussycat Dolls pictorial, featuring at least seven contemporary members posing semi-nude (Kasey Campbell, Kiva Dawson, Antonietta Macri, Erica Breckels, Katie Bergold, Erica Gudis and Lindsley Allen). Three years later, The Pussycat Dolls moved to the Roxy. They were featured in magazines, television specials for MTV and VH1, ad campaigns, and films. Some of The Pussycat Dolls appeared in the 2003 film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, dancing to Mancini's "The Pink Panther Theme". They were also featured in Pink's "Trouble" music video. Along with Applegate, Christina Aguilera and Carmen Electra (who was the group's lead performer for many of their shows) the troupe was featured in a Maxim magazine shoot in 2002, which increased public interest in them (Aguilera later appeared in the similarly themed 2010 film Burlesque directed by Robin Antin's brother Steve).
With only two studio albums, the band became the best selling girl group of the past decade, digital era, and fourth of all time. Since the group's formation in 2003, the Pussycat Dolls have sold 54 million records worldwide. VH1 included the Pussycat Dolls one of the 100 Greatest Women in Music in 2012. Billboard also ranked the group as one of the best selling acts of the 2000−09 decade. The Pussycat Dolls are one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. James Montgomery of MTV commented that the success of the group's debut album PCD made the Dolls "the heirs to the Spice Girls' bedazzled throne". PCD has sold over 1,246,769 copies in the United Kingdom, making it the best selling American girl group release there, also becoming one of the best selling albums of the 2000–09 decade. The success of the group's debut album led them to become the most successful girl group in the world since the Spice Girls in the late 1990s.
The group's debut album, PCD, was released in September 2005 and sold 3 million copies in the United States. The album's lead single, "Don't Cha", was a commercial success, topping the charts worldwide, and reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The group's second single, "Stickwitu", peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Performance By a Duo or Group, but lost. It was also the group's second consecutive number one in the United Kingdom. The group became one of the top-selling artists in 2006, while the album appeared at number twelve on the Billboard 200-year-end chart that year. "Beep" reached number two in the United Kingdom and number thirteen on Billboard Hot 100.
In 2006, the group ran into trouble in Kuala Lumpur with the authorities for sexually explicit dancing. The performance, part of their PCD World Tour, was not well received in the Muslim state which frowned upon the group's "eye-popping attire" and "sexually suggestive stage routines". Absolute Entertainment, the company behind the group's appearance in Malaysia, was fined $3000 for the incident.
The group was selected to perform for the introduction for ABC's coverage of the NBA. The Pussycat Dolls first opened for the Black Eyed Peas Honda Civic Tour in North America. To further promote the album, Snoop Dogg was added to a remix of "Buttons", which became a worldwide hit reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100, and top five elsewhere. The Pussycat Dolls embarked on their PCD World Tour with Rihanna as the opening act in the UK leg. Two final singles would be released from the album, "I Don't Need a Man" and "Wait a Minute", with the former becoming a moderate success and the latter becoming the group's fifth top 40 single on the Hot 100. At the beginning of 2007, the group toured North America as a support act for Christina Aguilera's Back to Basics Tour. To date, PCD has sold 10 million copies worldwide. The Pussycat Dolls performed at the Manchester Evening News Arena in a concert that was recorded and streamed via MSN Music.
Doll Domination was released on September 23, 2008 and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200, with 80,000 copies sold in its first week of release. The album's follow-up single, "Whatcha Think About That", failed to enter the Billboard Hot 100, however it did manage to peak at number nine on the UK Singles Chart. A third single from the album, "I Hate This Part", was released in United States in October, and peaked at number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also reached the top ten in multiple countries. On November 21, they performed a medley of "I Hate This Part" and "When I Grow Up" at the 2008 American Music Awards.
The album's fourth single, "Bottle Pop", received a limited release in Oceania regions and reached the top twenty in Australia and New Zealand. To further promote the album, the group embarked on their second world tour, entitled the Doll Domination Tour, on January 18, 2009, where Lady Gaga and Ne-Yo were featured as a support act on the European leg. The group toured North America, performing as the opening act for Britney Spears' The Circus Starring Britney Spears, as this constituted the North American leg of the Doll Domination Tour. In April, Scherzinger confirmed to Billboard that the album would be re-released. The repackaged versions spawned two more singles: the worldwide number one "Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)" (featured on the Soundtrack for Slumdog Millionaire), and Europop remix of "Hush Hush" (retitled "Hush Hush; Hush Hush"). The release of these singles led to a backslash from the members due to their label's decision to list the Artist of the songs with Scherzinger's name as a featured solo Artist with the group, leading to several emotional outbursts to the media, including one by Thornton during one of the group's appearances on tour.
The New York Times reported that Interscope executives were working on their own reality TV series called The Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll which would search for a new member for the recording group. Asia Nitollano became the group's seventh member after winning the reality show; however, she left for a solo career. A second season of the show commenced as The Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious which tried to find women to become part of a new three member all-female group, Girlicious. Interscope Records formed a London-based spin-off group called Paradiso Girls through an open audition. In 2010, they were dropped and further promotion of their planned debut album Crazy Horse was cancelled, disestablishing the group. Throughout 2011 and 2012 Antin spoke of casting new members for the Pussycat Dolls, with various new members named. In February 2013, Antin announced that she had scrapped plans for the new line-up to replace the former members of the Pussycat Dolls and would instead form a new group who will be the "next generation". They eventually became known as G.R.L. and released their debut single, "Vacation", on June 16 as a B-side track to pop singer Britney Spears' single "Ooh La La".
After the group's formal disbandment, all members continued on their solo projects. In 2010, Kimberly Wyatt joined a musical duo called Her Majesty & the Wolves and released their debut album on July 11, 2011. That same year, she was featured on the Aggro Santos song "Candy" which became a UK top five hit. On June 26, 2011, Melody Thornton announced plans to have her debut solo album released sometime in 2012. On March 15, 2012, she released her first mixtape, "P.O.Y.B.L", and contains 10 tracks of five remakes and four originals all written by Thornton. On June 3, 2011, Jessica Sutta announced that she had signed to Hollywood Records home to several Disney artists. Sutta's official first single, "Show Me", peaked at number one on the Hot Dance Club Songs in the United States. On November 7, 2012, it was confirmed that Ashley Roberts would compete in the twelfth series of the British reality show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! airing on ITV. In January 2013, Roberts became a member of the ice panel for the final two series of British skating show, Dancing on Ice on ITV. In June 2014, Roberts announced her debut album, titled Butterfly Effect, would be released on September 1, 2014.
Whilst being a contestant on the 12th series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, Ashley Roberts said, "Even in the group, I wasn't allowed to talk, we were told to be quiet. Only Nicole was allowed to talk. We would occasionally pitch in." She vented her frustration about it and revealed that nothing in the group was split evenly; "Why do you think the band broke up? U2 are still together and they split everything down the middle."
Margeaux Watson of Entertainment Weekly took a major swipe at the group for their overemphasis of Scherzinger as the lead singer. Watson said, "there are two kinds of girl groups: those anchored by a superstar (The Supremes, Destiny's Child), and those made up of charismatic personalities endowed with limited individual gifts (Spice Girls, TLC). The Pussycat Dolls are neither—they're a brand, not a band. This follow-up to 2005's multi-platinum PCD finds lead Doll Nicole Scherzinger in the spotlight, and she's no Beyoncé. As for the others, well...can you name them? Do you even know how many there are?"
In May 2011, Scherzinger was hired as a judge on the first season of the American version of The X Factor, alongside Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and L.A. Reid. After her stint in the United States, Scherzinger joined The X Factor UK for its ninth series as the fourth permanent judge. In May 2013, Scherzinger was confirmed as a returning judge for the tenth series of The X Factor UK. In January 2014, it was reported that Scherzinger left Interscope Records and signed a multimillion-dollar recording deal with Sony Records. Scherzinger's album, titled Big Fat Lie, was released in October 2014. Jessica Sutta released her debut album I Say Yes on March 3, 2017.
