Cheryl Ann Tweedy, (born 30 June 1983) is an English singer and member of the girl group Girls Aloud. She is married to Ashley Cole
She was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Throughout her childhood she performed in a large number of modelling and fashion shows. She entered ballroom competitions, sang, acted and won a ballet competition.
She won the following competitions as a child: Boots 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.
She appeared in two British Gas adverts, an SCS advert, and an Eldon Square Christmas advert with younger brother Garry. In addition to Garry, Cheryl has another two brothers and a sister. Cheryl also has two stepsisters, Frankie and Amy. She also has three step nieces - Jordan, Eden and Mercedes.
Main article: Girls Aloud
Cole was working as a waitress when she entered the UK talent-search show Popstars: The Rivals. In the final show she received the most votes in the poll which chose the girls for the all-female group Girls Aloud, and was the first to be picked for the group. She has co-written a number of songs whilst in the group, including:
On 11 January 2003 Tweedy was involved in an altercation with a nightclub toilet attendant, Sophie Amogbokpa, in the Drink (now Harpers) nightclub in Guildford. Tweedy was subsequently charged with racially aggravated assault (she had allegedly called Amogbokpa a "Jigaboo" among other racial slurs) and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. During her trial Tweedy claimed she acted in self defence (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 to pay her victim £500 in compensation, as well as £3000 prosecution costs.
Sometimes referred to in the press as "Chezza", she has gained celebrity status through her role in Girls Aloud and her good looks, coming second in the FHM 100 Sexiest Women poll in 2005, beating Britney Spears and her bandmates Sarah Harding and Nadine Coyle, and finishing behind Kelly Brook. In 2006, she finished sixth, while in January of the same year she topped a 'wish-list' poll run by Sun Online to identify the female celebrities that readers would most like to appear topless on the newspaper's Page 3. Cole finished seventh in 2007's FHM poll. In July 2006 Cheryl signed a deal worth a reported £200,000 to become the face of Coca-Cola Zero for its UK launch. English singer Lily Allen has a song titled "Cheryl Tweedy", in which Allen states she wishes she looked like Cheryl Tweedy, which Allen has later claimed to be ironic and should be seen as more of an insult as opposed to a compliment. Lily Allen posted the following on her blog on Monday, May 14, 2007: “After reading cheryl tweedys comments branding me a "chick with a dick". I was feeling pretty low. Cheryl if you're reading this , I may not be as pretty as you but at least I write and SING my own songs without the aid of autotune . I must say taking your clothes off , doing sexy dancing and marrying a rich footballer must be very gratifying , your mother must be so proud , stupid bitch.�.
Consequently, her cachet in the tabloids has been huge. For example, during a recording at Top of the Pops, Mike Skinner of The Streets dedicated his song "When You Wasn't Famous" to Cheryl, 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.
Cheryl 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.
During the Germany 2006 World Cup where Cheryl was supporting fiancé Ashley Cole, she was continuously photographed with the wives and girlfriends of other England football stars, and a media frenzy occurred over their partying and shopping sprees.The British media deemed them the "WAGS" (wives and girlfriends), and criticized their antics. Cheryl later said the other "WAGS" lived off their partners' money, and did no work themselves, whereas she had had a career with Girls Aloud before meeting Ashley, and did not "borrow his plastic" when she went shopping. She spared Victoria Beckham, stating that she's "witty" and "ambitious" and that they have a lot in common, particularly their careers in girl bands.
Cheryl appeared on Comic Relief Does The Apprentice in 2007 to raise money for Comic Relief.
Even before marrying Ashley Cole, Cheryl won the title of "Sexiest Footballer's wife" in FHM's 2006 Bloke Awards,[10] and as Cole's fiancée she was a prominent "WAG" (acronym for "wives and girlfriends") during the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.
She and Cole were married at Wrotham Park, just north of Barnet, Hertfordshire on 15 July 2006 - although they were to marry at Highclere Castle, Berkshire (according to a guard at the premises). 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.[11]. Cheryl had a dress designed by Roberto Cavalli, reportedly worth £110,000 (€145,000), flown to England.[12] The wedding was paid for by OK! Magazine, with whom the couple signed a £1 million deal to publish pictures of the wedding.[13]
