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

From Strictly Come Dancing to The Masked Singer and fundraising for cancer research - the Love Machine singers all had successful solo projects.

Popstars - The Rivals winners, Girls Aloud, Nicola Roberts Nadine Coyle Sarah Harding Cheryl Tweedy and Kimberley Walsh in 2003
Girls Aloud won Popstars The Rivals in 2003 and are set to reunite for their 20th anniversary. (Getty Images)

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.

Nicola Roberts, Nadine Coyle, Kimberley Walsh, Cheryl Cole and Sarah Harding of girlband Girls Aloud live on stage during BBC Children In Need, London.   (Photo by Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images)
Girls Aloud had a 10 year chart-topping career together. (Getty Images)

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

Sarah Harding of Girls Aloud poses at a press conference to announce 'Girls Aloud Ten, The Hits Tour 2013' at The Corinthia Hotel on October 19, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)
Sarah Harding's legacy lives on since her death in 2021. (Getty Images)

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.

Sarah Harding reacts to winning during the live final of Celebrity Big Brother, at Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. (Photo by Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images)
Sarah Harding was overwhelmed to win Big Brother in 2017. (Getty Images)

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

Cheryl officially opens The Prince's Trust Cheryl's Trust Centre on February 20, 2018 in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. Cheryl's Trust launched in 2015 and the centre has been operating since November 2017. (Photo by Tommy Jackson/Getty Images)
Cheryl has been a solo singer, a talent show judge and an actor. (Getty Images)

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

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 03: Nadine Coyle attends the 2023 Candy Kittens Summer Party at Carrubo on August 03, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Lia Toby/Getty Images for Candy Kittens )
Nadine Coyle appeared on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! (Getty Images for Candy Kittens )

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

Nicola Roberts arrives at the V&A 2023 Summer Party at The V&A on June 21, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Shane Anthony Sinclair/WireImage)
Nicola Roberts launched her own make-up line. (Getty Images)

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

Kimberley Walsh at Global's Make Some Noise Appeal Day, set up by Global, to raise money to help disadvantaged children, young people and their families across the UK. (Photo by Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images)
Kimberley Walsh has had a career on the West End stage. (Getty Images)

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

 Kimberley Walsh, Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts and Cheryl attend the Primrose Ball, in honour of Sarah Harding, hosted by her fellow Girls Aloud bandmates and friends at The Londoner Hotel on October 8, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for The Londoner)
Since Sarah Harding's death the other members of Girls Aloud have been brought back together to honour her memory. (Getty Images for The Londoner)

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."

Former Girls Aloud band members (left to right) Nicola Roberts, Cheryl and Nadine Coyle take part in Race for Life for Sarah' at Hyde Park, London with Kimberley Walsh walking the 5k remotely. Picture date: Sunday July 24, 2022. (Photo by Jonathan Brady/PA Images via Getty Images)
Nicola Roberts, Cheryl and Nadine Coyle take part in Race for Life for Sarah in 2022. (Getty Images)

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

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