Cheryl Ann Cole (née Tweedy; born June 30, 1983 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England) is an English singer, songwriter, dancer, and model.Rising to fame in late 2002, Cole was selected to become a member of girl group Girls Aloud on ITV's reality television programme Popstars The Rivals.
With the group, Cole has marked much success by achieving twenty consecutive top ten singles (including four number ones) in the UK; five studio albums which have all been certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), two of which went to number one in the UK; and accumulating a total of five BRIT Award nominations from 2005 to 2010. Since Girls Aloud have pursued separate careers, she has released two consecutive number one albums in the UK: 3 Words and Messy Little Raindrops; scoring two number one singles in the UK ("Fight for This Love" and "Promise This").
Cole became a judge on the British televised singing competition The X Factor in 2008.
Cole has become a recognised and photographed style icon;referred to as a fashionista by the press.Her picture has been on the covers of British Vogue, Elleand Harper's Bazaar, while also becoming the new face of cosmetic company L'Oréal.Cole was married to England footballer Ashley Cole from July 2006until she divorced him in September 2010.
Cole was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England and grew up in poverty on council estates in the districts of Walkerand Heaton.She is the fourth of five children of Joan Callaghan,and the eldest child of Gary Tweedy. Cole's parents never married each other; they separated when she was 11. She has a brother, Garry (born 1987, Newcastle)and three elder maternal half-siblings: Joseph, Gillian and Andrew.As a small child in the late 1980s, 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 many 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 also appeared in two British Gas adverts, an SCS 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,but 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 school, 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 comprise the new girl group Girls Aloud, formed through the show by a public vote on 30 November 2002. 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. 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.
In March 2010, Cole stated that she had begun working on a follow up album to 3 Words, which she hoped to release "later on in the year".Cole's second solo album, titled Messy Little Raindrops, was released on 1 November 2010. The album's first single, "Promise This", was released on 24 October 2010 and became her second number-one hit in the UK.The album was largely produced by Wayne Wilkins,but Cole also reunited with will.i.am,with collaboration from J. R. Rotem, Starsmith, Al Shux, and Free School for the first time.The album also features guest vocals from August Rigo, Dizzee Rascal, Travie McCoy, and will.i.am.The album's lead single, "Promise This", went straight to number 1 in the UK, selling 157,000 in it's first week.A week later, Messy Little Raindrops was released, charting at number 1 in the UK, 2 in Ireland and 7 in Europe.Cole's first official book, entitled Through My Eyes, was published on 30 September 2010 by Bantam Press.The book is described as "a series of stunning exclusive new photos plus informal shots from her own personal collection ... a revealing and intimate portrait of the world of Cheryl Cole".[Through My Eyes offers a glimpse of Cole in the recording studio, backstage on tour, behind-the-scenes at The X Factor, at photo shoots and at award ceremonies. She said the book is "filled with pictures that capture those moments, [her] memories and the people [she's] closest to".Cole is the subject of several unauthorised biographies,as well as books detailing her relationship with and divorce from Ashley ColeOn 3 July 2010, Cole was admitted to hospital with suspected acute malaria. This was shortly after a visit to Tanzania, where it is believed she may have contracted the disease.[During an X Factor photoshoot in Cardiff, Cole has said that she noticed her lips were blue and has said "I thought, 'You're getting the flu'. Not for one second did malaria cross my mind."She has said that during the auditions she asked to lie down and this was when she collapsed, was rushed to hospital and diagnosed with malaria.Her collapse was televisedand she was forced to miss the rest of the auditions as well as bootcamp. Cole returned for the 'judges houses' stage of the show but had to film this at a country house in Berkshire as she was still too ill to travel.
