Cheryl Tweedy extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling. You can assist by editing it now. A how-to guide is available. (August 2008)

Cheryl Cole
Background information
Birth name	Cheryl Ann Tweedy
Born	June 30, 1983 (1983-06-30) (age 25)
Origin	Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Occupation(s)	Singer, television personality
Instrument(s)	Vocals
Years active	2002—present
Label(s)	Polydor, Fascination
Associated acts	Girls Aloud, will.i.am, Sugababes

Cheryl Ann Cole (née Tweedy; born 30 June 1983) is an English singer, and member of the band Girls Aloud. Cole is also a judge on the British reality TV show The X Factor since 2008.^[1][2] She is the wife of Chelsea and England footballer Ashley Cole. As part of Girls Aloud and as a featuring artist, Cheryl has been involved in 19 UK Top Ten singles.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Early career 1.2 Girls Aloud 1.3 Collaboration with will.i.am 1.4 The X Factor 2 Personal life 2.1 Nightclub incident and conviction 2.2 Media attention 2.3 Ashley Cole 3 Discography 3.1 Solo releases 4 References 5 External links

Career

Early career

Cole was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. She is one of five children, with three brothers, Andrew, Garry and Joseph, and a sister Gillian.

Interested in dancing from an early age, Cole joined the Royal Ballet's summer school at the age of nine.^[3] She sang, modelled and appeared in recitals and on some television shows.

As well as dancing, she 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 & Mister' and Most Attractive Girl at the MetroCentre.^[4]

She appeared in two British Gas adverts, an SCS advert, and an Eldon Square Christmas advert with younger brother Garry.

Aged twelve Cole signed to a management agency, Aim Development, based in CVC Studios Clara Vale near Newcastle alongside other acts such as 3NM and Xscape, and performed on stage at the Metro Centre's MetroLand, which has recently been closed due to low costom.

Girls Aloud

Main article: Girls Aloud

She auditioned for "Popstars: The Rivals" in 2002, singing S Club 7's 'Have You Ever'. She was the first person to be chosen for the band.

Collaboration with will.i.am

During the Passions of Girls Aloud series, Cheryl auditioned as a street dancer to gain a part in the music video for will.i.am's single Heartbreaker. Cheryl won the part and 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 and peaked at number 4 in the UK Singles Chart.

The X Factor

Main article: The X Factor (UK)

On 10 June 2008, it was announced that Cole would be replacing Sharon Osbourne as a judge for the fifth series of The X Factor.^[1][2]

In an interview with Cosmopolitan Magazine on August 9, 2008, a week before the 2008 series of The X Factor aired on ITV1, Cole's fellow judge Dannii Minogue believed that she could bring a new side to the talent show, saying: "One week Cheryl was talking about urban music and telling Simon Cowell, 'This is what the show needs; this is where you’ve been going wrong.' “^[5] Cheryl's performances on the show have been praised by many television critics ^[6], and her status as a sex symbol has reportedly attracted more men to the show. Cheryl will be mentoring the Girls category. She will mentor them at Cannes. ^[7].

Personal life

Nightclub incident and conviction

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"^[8] among other racial slurs^[9]) 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.^[10][11] The judge sentenced her to 120 hours of community service and ordered to pay her victim £500 in compensation, as well as £3,000 prosecution costs.

Media attention

In July 2006 Cole signed a deal worth a reported £200,000 to become the face of Coca-Cola Zero for its UK launch.^[12]

During a recording at Top of the Pops, Mike Skinner of The Streets dedicated his song "When You Wasn't Famous" to Cole, leading to much media speculation and many believing the song was about her. Skinner later corrected everyone by saying that he only dedicated the song to her because Girls Aloud were at the same taping of TOTP.^[13]

Lily Allen has a song about her called "Cheryl Tweedy", which is exclusively available as a bonus track on the Japanese edition of her 2006 CD Alright, Still.^[14]

Cole co-presented the August 25, 2006 episode of The Friday Night Project along with Kimberley Walsh and Sarah Harding, where she did impressions of Sharon Osbourne and Big Brother 7 winner Pete Bennett.

Cole appeared on Comic Relief Does The Apprentice in 2007 to raise money for Comic Relief.^[15]

Cole is a strict vegetarian, and was criticised by Gordon Ramsay on his show The F-Word when she asked for a vegetarian meal, saying "Didn't you get the message? Vegetarians aren't welcome here."^[16]

Cole was also featured in will.i.am's new music video for the single Heartbreaker^[17] and sings backing vocals on the track ^[18]

Ashley Cole

Even before marrying Ashley Cole, she won the title of "Sexiest Footballer's Wife" in FHM's 2006 Bloke Awards,^[19] and as Cole's fiancée she was a prominent "WAG" in Germany during the 2006 World Cup.

She married Cole in his home town of St. Albans, Hertfordshire , on 15 July 2006. When the two changed their plans, Tweedy and Cole had asked the staff there to lie to the press and not to disclose the fact they weren't actually getting married there.^[20] Cheryl had a dress designed by Roberto Cavalli, reportedly worth £110,000 (€145,000), flown to England.^[21] The wedding was paid for by OK! Magazine, who paid the couple £1 million to publish pictures of the wedding.^[22]

In late January 2008, The Sun newspaper reported that Ashley Cole had been sleeping with several other women during their relationship, and that the couple were in the process of separating.^[23]

In September 2008, Cheryl and Ashley appeared at number 18 on BBC Three's 50 most annoying couples.

It was seen on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross that Cheryl Cole had put her wedding ring back on since January when it was reported Ashley Cole had cheated on Cheryl.

Discography

Main article: Girls Aloud discography

Solo releases

Year	Single	UK Chart Position	Album
2008	Heartbreaker (will.i.am feat. Cheryl Cole)	4	Songs About Girls

References

External links

• Girls Aloud official site
• Cheryl Cole at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e Girls Aloud Cheryl Cole · Nadine Coyle · Sarah Harding · Nicola Roberts · Kimberley Walsh Studio albums Sound of the Underground · What Will the Neighbours Say? · Chemistry · Tangled Up · Out of Control Compilation albums The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits · Mixed Up Film and television Popstars: The Rivals · Girls Aloud: Home Truths · Girls Aloud: Off the Record · Ghosthunting with Girls Aloud · St Trinian's · Passions of Girls Aloud DVDs Girls On Film · Style Tours What Will the Neighbours Say? Live · Chemistry Tour · The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits Tour · Tangled Up Tour Related articles Discography · Videography · Girls Aloud: Live and Lovely!  · Songs · Fascination Records · Polydor Records · Xenomania · Dreams that Glitter - Our Story

v • d • e The X Factor (UK) Series 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 Presenters Current: Dermot O'Leary · Holly Willoughby Previous: Fearne Cotton · Kate Thornton · Ben Shephard Judges Current: Simon Cowell · Louis Walsh · Dannii Minogue · Cheryl Cole Previous: Sharon Osbourne · Paula Abdul (Guest) · Brian Friedman Winners Steve Brookstein  · Shayne Ward  · Leona Lewis  · Leon Jackson Coronation singles "Against All Odds" · "That's My Goal" · "A Moment Like This" · "When You Believe" Runners-up G4 · Andy Abraham · Ray Quinn · Rhydian Roberts