Cheryl Cole

Cheryl Ann Cole (née Tweedy; born 30 June 1983) is a British singer and member of the band Girls Aloud. As part of Girls Aloud and as a featuring artist, Cole has had 21 UK Top Ten singles. In 2008, Cole became a judge on the British reality TV show The X Factor. She is married to the Chelsea and England football player Ashley Cole.

Cole was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England and lived in an inner city district called Heaton. She is one of five children - one younger brother, Garry, and two half-brothers - Andrew and Joseph, and one half-sister Gillian.

In addition to dancing, Cole won many modelling competitions, including Boots Group's bonniest baby, Mothercare Happy Faces Portrait competition, Best Looking Girl of Newcastle, The Evening Chronicle "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. Interested in dancing from an early age, Cole joined the Royal Ballet's,summer school at the age of nine. She sang, modelled and appeared in recitals on some television shows.

Career

Girls Aloud

Cole auditioned for Popstars The Rivals in 2002, singing S Club 7's "Have You Ever". She was the first person to be chosen for Girls Aloud which has gone on to be one of the most successful British pop groups of the decade.

After taking streetdancing classes during the filming of Passions of Girls Aloud series, Cole was picked to appear in the music video for will.i.am's single "Heartbreaker". She was later asked to sing additional vocals on the track. The song was released in the UK on 5 May 2008, but had already entered the top ten on download sales, peaking at number 4 in the UK Singles Chart.

Solo Career

On 27 April 2009, MTV UK confirmed that Cole was working on solo material and that a solo album would be released in the interim period prior to the scheduled release of the next Girls Aloud album in Autumn 2010.

The X Factor

On 10 June 2008, it was announced Cole would replace Sharon Osbourne as a judge for the fifth series of The X Factor. Cole was given the Girls category, subsequently ending up as the winning judge, with Alexandra Burke winning the show on 13 December 2008.

Personal life

On 11 January 2003, Cole was involved in an altercation with a nightclub toilet attendant, Sophie Amogbokpa, in "The Drink" nightclub in Guildford (now called "Harper's"). Cole was subsequently charged with racially aggravated assault (she had allegedly called Amogbokpa a "jigaboo") and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. During her trial, Cole claimed she acted in self-defense (claiming she had been punched first) and denied using racially abusive language. The jury found her guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, but cleared her of racially aggravated assault. The judge sentenced her to 120 hours of community service and ordered her to pay her victim £500 in compensation, as well as £3,000 prosecution costs.

In July 2006, she married footballer Ashley Cole in Barnet, North West London.


Recognition

In 2006, Lily Allen included a song entitled "Cheryl Tweedy" as a b-side on her debut single, "Smile". Tweedy took the song as a compliment to her, but Allen later pointed out that it had been tongue in cheek.

After reaching #7 in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women 2008 poll, Cole was voted "Sexiest Woman In the World" in the 2009 poll.

In February 2009, Cole appeared on the cover of British Vogue. Media coverage of her appearance boosted Vogue's circulation to 240,000 - its best ever February figure.