Her father Syrian Jew was born in Aleppo, Syria, raised in Brazil and later emigrated to the U.S states. Abdul's mother, also Jewish, is originally from Minnedosa, Manitoba, with origins from Russia and Ukraine.
Abdul was discovered by The Jacksons, after a few band members had seen her while he participated in a Los Angeles Lakers game. She was signed to do the choreography for the video for the single "torture".
Abdul choreographed videos for several singers in the 1980s, including many videos for Janet Jackson during her Control era.
In 1987 Abdul used her savings to make a song demo. Although her voice was relatively untrained, her exceptional dancing proved marketable to the visually oriented, MTV driven pop music industry.
