Cheryl went from a Newcastle council estate to five UK number ones
Cheryl Tweedy nearly went out twice in the 2002 talent show that formed Girls Aloud. Instead she became the first member voted into the group, which reached number one in record time and became Britain's best-selling girl group of the century. Solo, she became the first British woman with five chart-topping singles.
A Geordie born on 30 June 1983, she was raised in social housing in the Newcastle suburbs of Walker and Heaton. Dance came early: sequence dancing from four, a British Gas advert at seven and a Royal Ballet summer course at nine. In 2002 she auditioned for Popstars: The Rivals, which was building a boy band and a girl group to battle for the Christmas number one. On 30 November she became the first contestant to secure a place; the final vote later added Kimberley Walsh, Nicola Roberts, Sarah Harding and the Irish singer Nadine Coyle.
Their debut single, Sound of the Underground, beat the rival boy band to the 2002 Christmas top spot, setting the record for the quickest journey from formation to number one. Over the next decade Girls Aloud strung together 20 consecutive top ten hits and won a Brit Award for The Promise in 2009, their collaborations with the Xenomania songwriting team earning unusual critical respect for a reality-show act. By 2010 the group had amassed £30 million. They split in 2013 and reunited for a tour in 2024.
Television made Cheryl a household name. Replacing Sharon Osbourne on The X Factor in 2008, she mentored two consecutive winners, Alexandra Burke and Joe McElderry. A move to the American version in 2011 ended after about three weeks, but she returned to the British panel in 2014 and 2015 and later judged The Greatest Dancer.
Her solo career began as a dancer and guest singer on a will.i.am track, then produced four albums between 2009 and 2014, with five singles reaching the top including Fight for This Love. She fronted L'Oréal for nearly a decade, appeared on Vogue covers, made her West End debut in 2023 and is due to coach on The Voice UK in 2027.
Source: Cheryl (singer)
