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Cheryl Ann Cole (née Tweedy; born 30 June 1983) is an English recording artist, songwriter and television personality. She rose to fame in late 2002 when she auditioned for the reality television show Popstars: The Rivals on ITV. The programme announced that Cole had won a place as a member of the girl group, Girls Aloud. She has been part of the group ever since, and during that time it has achieved 20 top-ten singles (including four number one singles) in the UK and six platinum albums (two of which went to number one) and earned five BRIT Award nominations from 2005 to 2010. In 2009, Girls Aloud won "Best Single" with their song "The Promise". In early 2013, Girls Aloud announced that they had split up.
Cole embarked on a solo career and released her first solo studio album 3 Words (2009) through Polydor records, "3 Words" saw the release of three successful singles, the lead single from the album "Fight for This Love" debuted at number one on the UK charts becoming the best selling single of the year. "3 Words" and "Parachute" both peaked within the top five of the UK charts. 2010 saw the release of Cole's second studio album Messy Little Raindrops, which produced two singles, the first being "Promise This" which went straight to number one. Cole released her third solo album A Million Lights on 18 June 2012, with lead single "Call My Name" being released on 11 June 2012, the single became Cole's third number one single. During her solo career Cole has earned three BRIT Award nominations.
Cole has become a recognised and photographed style icon; referred to as a fashionista by the press. She has been photographed for the covers of British Vogue, Elle and Harper's Bazaar, while also becoming the new face of cosmetic company L'Oréal. Cole was married to England footballer Ashley Cole from July 2006 until September 2010, when she divorced him following the announcement of their separation earlier that year. Cole became a judge on The X Factor in 2008, becoming the winning judge twice out of the three series she judged. In 2011, Cole left the UK version of The X Factor to judge the American version. However, Cole was sacked from the show. Cole's net worth was estimated at £15 million in April 2012.
Cole was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyneside, and grew up on council estates in the districts of Walker and then neighbouring Heaton. She is the fourth of five children of Joan Callaghan, and the first of her two children born to her partner Garry Tweedy following the collapse of her marriage to the father of her three other children. Cole's parents were together for more than a decade but never married each other; they separated when she was eleven years old. She has a brother, Garry (born in Newcastle in 1987), and three elder maternal half-siblings: Joseph, Gillian and Andrew.
As a small child in about 1990, she appeared in a television advert for British Gas.
As she was interested in dancing from an early age, Cole started sequence dancing at the age of four, before joining The Royal Ballet's summer school at the age of nine. She won modelling competitions, including the titles of Boots Group's "bonniest baby", Mothercare's Happy Faces Portrait competition, "Best Looking Girl of Newcastle", The Evening Chronicle's "Little Miss and Mister", and "Most Attractive Girl" at the MetroCentre. She then appearing in a second British Gas adverts, an SCS furniture store advert, and an Eldon Square Christmas advert with younger brother Garry as well as appearing in dance recitals on some television shows. She attended Walker Comprehensive School in Newcastle between September 1994 and July 1999, and left at 16 with few qualifications. During her time there, she was suspended twice: once for fighting with another pupil and again for swearing on a bus. After leaving school in 1999, she took a job as a waitress in a restaurant.
Cole auditioned for the reality television show Popstars The Rivals in 2002 with the song "Have You Ever". Several thousand applicants attended auditions across the UK in hope of being selected. Ten girls and ten boys were chosen as finalists by judges Pete Waterman, Louis Walsh and Geri Halliwell. These finalists then took to the stage, participating in weekly Saturday night live performances which alternated weekly between the girls and boys. Each week, the contestant polling the fewest phone votes was eliminated, until the final line-ups of the groups emerged. Cole joined Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts, and Kimberley Walsh to form the new girl group Girls Aloud, as determined by a public vote administered through the show on 30 November 2002.
The group's debut single "Sound of the Underground" peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the 2002 Christmas number one. Girls Aloud hold the record for the shortest time between formation and reaching number one. The group released their debut album Sound of the Underground in May 2003, which entered the charts at number two and was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) later the same year. Since 2003, Girls Aloud have released twenty additional singles, with all but one charting within the top ten, and 15 reaching top five positions. Their singles "I'll Stand by You", "Walk This Way", and "The Promise" have charted at number one. Two of their albums have reached the top of the UK Albums Chart: their greatest hits album The Sound of Girls Aloud and 2008's Out of Control, both of which entered the chart at number one, with over one million copies of the former being sold. All five of their studio albums have been certified platinum by the BPI. They have been nominated for five Brit Awards, and in 2009 won "Best British Single" at that year's Brit Awards for "The Promise". The group has sold ten million records worldwide. Girls Aloud have become one of the few UK reality television acts to achieve continued success, and had amassed a fortune of £25 million by May 2009. The 2007 edition of Guinness World Records listed them as "Most Successful Reality TV Group", while they also hold the record for "Most Consecutive Top Ten Entries in the UK by a Female Group" in the 2008 edition.
On 11 January 2003, Cole was involved in an altercation with a nightclub toilet attendant and was subsequently charged with assault and racially aggravated assault over the incident. She was subsequently cleared of the racially aggravated assault charge but found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm at her trial on 20 October, and sentenced to 120 hours of community service. She was also ordered to pay her victim £500 in compensation, as well as £3,000 prosecution costs. Judge Richard Howard said: "This was an unpleasant piece of drunken violence which caused Sophie Amogbokpa pain and suffering."
Cole began dating England and Chelsea footballer Ashley Cole in September 2004, announcing their engagement after he proposed in Dubai in June 2005. The couple were married at a ceremony at Barnet, North West London on 15 July 2006. They signed an exclusive deal with OK!, reportedly worth £1 million, regarding the rights of the photographs. In January 2008, a hairdresser named Aimee Walton alleged in The Sun that she had engaged in drunken extramarital sex with Ashley Cole. Subsequently, glamour model Brooke Healy claimed that she had spent the night and had sexual relations with Ashley Cole in December 2006. The couple, however, reconciled.
In June 2008, it was announced Cole would replace Sharon Osbourne as a judge for the fifth series of The X Factor alongside Dannii Minogue, Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh. Cole was given the girls category (made up of female contestants between 16 and 25) and subsequently ended up as the victorious judge when Alexandra Burke was crowned the fifth winner of The X Factor on 13 December 2008. Cole returned for the sixth series in 2009 and was given the boys category (made up of male contestants aged 16 to 25). Cole emerged as the winning judge for a second consecutive year after Joe McElderry was crowned the sixth winner of The X Factor. Simon Cowell, creator of The X Factor, said, "I knew she was going to be good because she speaks like normal people speak. People can relate to that. And I think that is the best sign of a judge." Cowell has referred to Cole as "one of the best I've ever worked with." Cole was interviewed during an episode of the fourth series of Piers Morgan's Life Stories. The show, which aired on 23 October 2010, drew an audience of 7.2 million: the highest figure in the chat show's history. As a member of Girls Aloud, Cole has also appeared in the fly on the wall documentary Girls Aloud: Home Truths, the E4 documentary series Girls Aloud: Off the Record, an episode of Ghosthunting With..., and a one-off variety show entitled The Girls Aloud Party.
In March 2009, Cole climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of Comic Relief. The trek raised £3.4 million for the charity. Between 3 February and 23 March 2009, Cole raised money for Comic Relief by providing the voice for the BT Speaking Clock.
Cole's first solo performance was on American rapper will.i.am's "Heartbreaker" in 2008. She was picked to appear as a dancer in the video after taking streetdancing classes during the filming of the ITV2 series The Passions of Girls Aloud, in which the members of the band achieve something they had always wanted to do, other than sing. She was later asked, by will.i.am, to sing additional vocals on the track. In April 2009, Cole started working on solo material. Her debut album, 3 Words, was released in the UK on 26 October 2009. In July 2009, Girls Aloud announced they would take a year-long hiatus in the pursuit of solo projects, but would reunite for a new studio album in 2010. In August 2010, bandmate Nicola Roberts revealed that she wasn't anticipating a reunion of the band until 2012.
Cole was reunited with will.i.am for the album, in addition to collaborating with Fraser T Smith, Syience, Danish production team Soulshock & Karlin, singer-songwriter Taio Cruz, Wayne Wilkins, and Steve Kipner. Recorded in Los Angeles and London, Cole mainly collaborated with will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, the executive producer of 3 Words. It crosses from contemporary R&B, dance pop, house and a more general pop sound. Cruz was asked to write two songs for Cole, the first of which, "Break Your Heart", was written specially for Cole but Polydor label boss Ferdy Unger-Hamilton felt the song was too similar to Heartbreaker, the track Cole did with Will.i.am. When asked about the album's title Cole revealed she had already contemplated an album title which contained the phrase 3 Words before the title track was recorded. She had considered titles like Three Syllables, although the strongest contender was Unveiled as Cole "felt like she didn't have any protection without the girls " and because it correlated with the veil on the album cover. The album begins with its title track, a duet with will.i.am and Cole's favourite song on the album. She said the song was "totally different from anything I've done or liked before" and took its inspiration from Cole's newly acquired love for dance music on the charts, especially David Guetta & Kelly Rowland's "When Love Takes Over".
3 Words spent two weeks at number one. On 6 November 2009, BPI certified the album Platinum, denoting shipments of over 300,000 units. It later tripled this feat. The first single from the album, "Fight for This Love", was written by Andre Merritt, Steve Kipner and Wayne Wilkins, and produced by Steve Kipner and Wayne Wilkins. According to Cole, it was released as the lead single because she "connected with the song so well". Following a performance on The X Factor live results show, "Fight for This Love" became the fourth best-selling single of 2009 in the UK. It charted at number one on both the Irish and UK Singles Chart. In 2010, "Fight For This Love" went to number one in Denmark, Norway and Hungary. "Fight for This Love" gained positive to mixed reviews. Ruth Harrison from 'Female First' was impressed by the song after initially being worried that Cole would not be able to cope going solo. She said "Whilst it does sound just a little big Girls Aloud-y, we still love it, and can see it being a huge hit on the club circuit up and down the country ... we think this is going to send her well on her way to global superstardom." The single was later certified silver in the UK. Cole's second single "3 Words", which features will.i.am, went to number 4 in the UK and seven in Ireland. In 2010, the single was released in Australia and charted at number 5 and was certified platinum. The third single, "Parachute", charted in the top five in both the UK and Ireland. The single was certified silver in the UK. From May to July 2010, Cole was the opening act for The Black Eyed Peas at the British shows (as well as some European dates) of The E.N.D. World Tour. Chris Johnson of the Daily Mail wrote, "she was supposed to be the support act. But as it turned out, Cheryl Cole ended up being the main event".
Cole was given a one-off television programme for ITV1 titled Cheryl Cole's Night In, which aired on 19 December 2009. The programme, hosted by Holly Willoughby, featured music and interviews with Cole and some of her favourite performers. Alexandra Burke, Rihanna, Will Young, Snow Patrol and will.i.am made appearances. Cole told the press, "I couldn't be happier that ITV have asked me to round off the year with my own show, working with some of my favourite artists". The programme attracted 5 million viewers on its first airing, substantially less than the 8.1 million viewers that Strictly Come Dancing received during the same time slot. In late 2009, Cole became the new face of L'Oréal. However, her recent advertising campaign promoting the L'Oréal Elvive shampoo and conditioner range attracted criticism amid claims that she had deliberately deceived persons wishing to buy the product, since it shows Cole with hair extensions.
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