Nia Peeples ( Pam Fields)

Virenia Gwendolyn "Nia" Peeples (born December 10, 1961) is an American R&B and dance music singer and actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Nicole Chapman on Fame. She is also known for her role as Karen Taylor Winters on The Young and the Restless and as Sydney Cooke on Walker, Texas Ranger. Peeples was born in Hollywood, California, the daughter of Elizabeth Joan (née Rubic), a flamenco dancer, and Robert Eugene Peeples. She was raised in West Covina. Her maternal grandparents were immigrants from the Philippines, and were of Filipino, Spanish, French, and German descent. Her father, who was originally from Mississippi, was of Scottish, Irish, English, Native American, and Italian ancestry. In 1988 she hit #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart with "Trouble," which climbed to #35 on the Hot 100. Her most successful pop single is "Street Of Dreams," which hit #12 on the Hot 100 in 1991. She made a music video in 1986 of "All You Can Dream", directed by Alan Bloom and conceptualised by Keith Williams, for the purposes of promoting the values of UCLA. She appeared in Prince's video for Raspberry Beret. On February 4, 2009, Peeples presented Debbie Allen with a Lifetime Achievement Award at The Carnival: Choreographer's Ball 10th anniversary show. Notably, Peeples portrayed performing arts student Nicole Chapman on the hit TV series Fame. In 1987 she was in the movie North Shore as Kiani. She hosted the short-lived American version of Top of the Pops as well as a weeknight dance music program called The Party Machine with Nia Peeples, and portrayed Texas Ranger Sydney Cooke in the CBS hit series Walker, Texas Ranger from 1999-2001. Nia Peeples joined the cast of The Young and the Restless in 2007, playing the role of Karen Taylor, and was released from the role in the spring of 2009. Her last air date was in May 2009. Peeples has been cast in the 2010 ABC Family TV series Pretty Little Liars, based on the book series by Sara Shepard. Peeples lives in a Malibu, California beach home with her surfer husband Sam, son Christopher (b.1990 with ex-husband Howard Hewitt), and daughter Sienna (b.1998 with ex-husband Lauro Chartrand). They were featured on the July 7, 2013 episode of Celebrity Wife Swap, in which Peeples traded places with singer Tiffany. She attended UCLA on a music scholarship, during which time she performed as Liberace's opening act in Las Vegas on weekends.