Girls Aloud reunion: Their solo careers and tributes to Sarah Harding

Girls Aloud have called the shots - they are getting back together for a UK and Ireland tour in celebration of their music and their former band mate Sarah Harding, who died in 2021.

The group – comprised of Nadine Coyle, Cheryl, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh – said in a statement: "We’re so excited to announce that we will be touring the UK & Ireland in May and June 2024.

"A celebration of Sarah, our music and our incredible fans. We can’t wait to sing and dance with you all once again. - Cheryl, Kimberley, Nadine & Nicola."

Tickets go on sale on 1 December.

What brought Girls Aloud back together?

The girlband was formed on reality show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002, and after winning the show, they shared 10 years of chart-topping success together.

Coyle, Walsh and Roberts have posted the numbers 4, 3 and 2 to their respective Instagrams over recent days which initially sparked speculation they were getting back together.

In 2021, Harding died aged just 39, one year after announcing she had been diagnosed with breast cancer that had already spread to other parts of her body.

Losing their bandmate brought the girls back together and they have since reunited on several occasions to raise funds for breast cancer research.

In January, Cheryl told Metro of a potential reunion: "I’ve learnt throughout my life that you should never say never, because the universe has a funny way of going, 'Oh, really?' But right now, we’re not there. We want it to be fun, not sad. Girls Aloud weren’t sad, we were fun, happy, upbeat, everything that that’s not.

"I think more time would be needed before we even – none of us have even uttered a word [about] that. We just have spoken about Sarah. We’ve become really close together."

But following their split in 2013 the members of Girls Aloud all found solo success in different ways.

Here's what's happened to them in the last decade.

Sarah Harding

Harding's legacy lives on since her death in September 2021 – with cancer research funds being raised in her name through the Sarah Harding Breast Cancer Appeal.

Lorraine Kelly said recently: "Sarah was such a lovely girl... The work being done in Sarah’s name will save lives, which is tremendous."

After Girls Aloud went their separate ways in 2013, Harding announced plans to release a solo album which never materialised.

She embarked on an acting career, appearing in BBC drama Freefall in 2009 with Dominic Cooper, making a guest appearance in Coronation Street in 2015 and starring with Danny Dyer in comedy film Run For Your Wife.

Harding took part in Channel 4 skiing reality show The Jump in 2016 but she was forced to pull out mid-series after injuring her knee in a training session.

That same year she starred on the West End stage in Ghost: The Musical, but she was replaced mid-tour as she was still suffering pain in her knee.

The singer and actress also competed in the 20th series of Celebrity Big Brother in 2017 and during her time in the house entered into a romance with US reality star Chad Johnson, despite being open about having a boyfriend in the outside world. Harding went on to win the reality show.

She retired from public life in 2019 closing down her social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Her official website also went offline.

Cheryl

The 40-year-old artist's solo career has been so successful she is now known only by her first name Cheryl.

She has had a successful solo music career with hits including Crazy Stupid Love and Fight For This Love.

Cheryl has been a TV talent show judge on The X Factor and The Greatest Dancer and in 2022 made her West End debut in 2:22 A Ghost Story.

She was a super-WAG hanging out with Victoria Beckham at the 2006 World Cup during her marriage to footballer Ashley Cole and as the face of L'Oreal regularly walks the carpet at the Cannes Film Festival.

As well as being Cheryl Cole, she was also Cheryl Fernandez-Versini when she married French businessman Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini after a whirlwind romance in 2014.

Following her divorce from the restaurateur, she began dating One Direction's Liam Payne and is now mother to son Bear, born in March 2017. The couple split in 2018 but have remained amicable and are co-parenting their son.

Not content with being an all-singing, all-dancing superstar, Cheryl climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in 2009 in aid of Comic Relief and managed to reach the summit despite battling malaria.

Nadine Coyle

Northern Irish singer Coyle, 38, embarked on a successful solo career when Girls Aloud took a hiatus in 2009 – and even collaborated with US boyband Boyz II Men.

Coyle moved to Los Angeles in 2006 and lived there for nine years where she opened her own restaurant Irish Mist, which closed in 2015.

While she was there she met and dated American footballer Jason Bell, who is the father of her nine-year-old daughter Anaiya.

Coyle was due to embark on a solo tour in in 2018, but the entire tour was cancelled in April, just one month before it was due to take place.

In 2019 she took part in I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! and during her time in the jungle she admitted the truth behind the rumours that she did not get on with the other members of Girls Aloud.

Coyle said: "Everyone gets on with their lives. I mean I was friends with them all, it was fine. It was all nice and lovely and subtle.

"But I was always in the gay bars with all the guys, I would be out partying, me and 10 guys would be out partying, making the most of it. I was 18, 19-years-old, I would be going wild. [I’d go to bed] at 8am or 9am in the morning!”

Nicola Roberts

Like her other bandmates, 38-year-old Nicola Roberts has pursued a solo music career following the split of their band.

But after struggling to find make-up that suited her pale skin and red hair she also launched her own make-up range - Dainty Doll.

Roberts has helped raise awareness for anxiety after opening up about her own personal battle.

And in 2020 she was memorably crowned the winner of The Masked Singer, performing as Queen Bee.

Kimberley Walsh

Walsh, 41, had always said she would like to star in musicals - and in 2012 that dream came true when she replaced Amanda Holden as Princess Fiona in Shrek: The Musical, because the Britain's Got Talent judge went on maternity leave.

Since then Walsh has appeared on the West End stage in the musical version of hit films Elf, Big and Sleepless in Seattle.

She also had an acting role in Channel 4 school drama Ackley Bridge.

In 2012 Walsh took part in Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with Pasha Kovalev, and was runner-up on the show.

The singer is mother to three sons with partner Justin Scott, a former member of the British boy band Triple 8.

Remembering Sarah Harding

The death of their bandmate Sarah Harding in 2021 helped reignite the bond between the members of Girls Aloud.

Cheryl and Walsh had always been close and supported one another publicly at events. But Coyle put aside her rift with her former bandmates and they have all come together to raise funds to help beat cancer in Harding's name.

A year after her death they all hosted a special fundraising gala called The Primrose Ball in her honour.

The event, which was named The Primrose Ball in tribute to the band's hit single The Promise, which includes Sarah singing the lyrics: "Here I am, walking primrose."

Cheryl said on social media: "After an intensely emotional (& quite stressful) year of planning & organisation we managed to fulfil our last promise to Sarah."

Walsh revealed: "She asked us to do this, so it’s really important for us that we make it a big event, but it’s all about that."

But added in 2022: "We still don’t feel ready to get back on stage without Sarah... I just feel for all of us, it would just be too painful."

In July 2022 Roberts, Cheryl and Coyle all took part in the Race For Life for Sarah in London's Hyde Park. Walsh, who had a newborn baby at the time took part by walking remotely.

Coyle had revealed she was keen to reunite for their 20th anniversary, saying: "It would be really nice for the fans for us to do something. I am so proud of everything we achieved together as a band."

Read more: Girls Aloud

• Not to alarm you...but it looks like the Girls Aloud reunion is actually happening (HuffPost, 3 min read)

• Girls Aloud fans have mixed emotions about reunion rumours (HuffPost UK, 3 min read)

• Cheryl believes late bandmate Sarah Harding sent a sign through Girls Aloud song

• Nadine Coyle says Girls Aloud could reunite for 20th anniversary to honour Sarah Harding

Watch: Kimberley Walsh says Girls Aloud performing with out Sarah Harding may be too hard