GIRLS ARE PROUD
Inside Girls Aloud huge comeback tour as iconic band get blessing from Sarah Harding’s family to fulfil her dying wish
Sarah’s vocals will be part of their tour, which begins in May next year
THE year is 2006 and Cheryl Tweedy is talking about the future of Girls Aloud, three years before they split for the first time.
In a now viral clip, the then 23-year-old states: “There’ll be no reunions though. Could you imagine? A 30-odd-year-old singing, ‘I’m just a love machine’? Nah, no thanks.”
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Fast-forward to 2023 and Cheryl, now 40, is gearing up to hit the road with the group for the first time in more than a decade as they bring back their high-octane pop magic for a 15-date arena tour.
But this time, Cheryl, Kimberley Walsh, 42, Nadine Coyle, 38, and Nicola Roberts, 38, are doing it without their fifth bandmate, Sarah Harding, who died aged 39 from breast cancer in 2021.
It is only now, two years on, that the group say they finally feel ready to return to the stage, which they also revealed was one of Sarah’s dying wishes.
Recalling an emotional conversation with Sarah during her final months, Cheryl said: “She turned to me once and said, ‘You know, when I’m not here, you girls should do something’.
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“But when you’re face to face with someone that’s dying . . . we just thought some miracle was going to occur. We all thought we might be able to do something together.”
The group had been discussing a reunion before Sarah was diagnosed in 2020, but they could not bear the thought after she died.
Cheryl said: “It’s hard for us to be here without her. It was our 20th anniversary last year but we were in no emotional shape to even contemplate celebrating at the time.
“Everything went out the window when we learnt about her diagnosis. We just needed to be there for her and support her as much as we could.”
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Kimberley added: “We always talk about how much she loved Girls Aloud. She loved it.
“It was just the best time ever for her. We spoke so much about it in the few months before she passed away and how much she loved it.
“She made us watch old videos, the things we’d done together. She always said we had an amazing time together. She would love that we are doing this.”
But it has still been a highly emotional ride.
Nicola said: “It’s horrible that we’re in this situation. It’s not easy for us to sit and explain how we feel.
“It’s not going to be easy for us to put a show together with four people instead of five.”
But speaking on Heart Breakfast, Nadine also confirmed that Sarah’s vocals will be part of their tour, which begins in May next year, including her line about walking up London’s Primrose Hill in their 2008 No1, The Promise.
She explained: “They will remain the same, her vocal parts are big parts like Walking Primrose — she is the actual “walking primrose” — and “take a walk on the wild side”.
She’s got some iconic Sarah’s bits.
“They will be Sarah’s bits. Why would we? They are her bits.”
The Sun can also reveal that Girls Aloud privately asked Sarah’s family for their blessing to go ahead with the tour.
A source said: “Sarah was so special to the girls and they have been in touch with her family to make sure they are supportive of Girls Aloud returning.
Bad blood
“It has been a terribly emotional time and very hard for her family, but they feel like this is what Sarah would have wanted.”
Girls Aloud formed in 2002 on ITV’s Popstars: The Rivals and went on to become the most successful girl group of the Noughties.
They sold more than five million albums, scored 21 Top Ten hits, including four No1 singles, and won a Brit Award.
Among the party classics in their catalogue are debut single Sound Of The Underground, bass-pumping Something New and the fun and flirty Biology.
They are all expected to be part of the tour, which will kick off at Dublin’s 3Arena on May 18 and end at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena on June 29, with tickets going on sale next Friday.
But the girls do not plan to perform any new songs on the road, although Nadine has suggested they may get back in the studio later.
Quizzed on Radio 2 about the prospect of new music, she said: “Not right now. We have so many songs that even trying to decide a setlist is almost impossible. We want to do those first.”
Since their final split in 2013, the girls have all forged solo music careers, with Cheryl being the most successful, racking up five No1 singles, including 2012 smash Call My Name.
She also had a hugely successful run as a judge on The X Factor during its ITV heyday.
But she has retreated from public life more recently.
After a disappointing music comeback in 2018, she focused on raising her son Bear, six, who she had with her ex-boyfriend, One Direction’s Liam Payne.
Then last month, as rumours swirled of a Girls Aloud comeback, it was revealed that one of her companies was £1.35million in the red, despite her run in the West End show 2:22 A Ghost Story earlier in the year, which was praised by critics.
‘It’s gonna be unreal’
Girls Aloud officially went on their second hiatus in 2013, with a fair amount of bad blood between them.
In Kimberley’s autobiography, A Whole Lot of History, released later that same year, she said she never would have been friends with Nadine and Sarah if they hadn’t been put in a group together.
Then in 2017, Nadine claimed other members had taken their anger out on her because she got to sing more lines in their tracks.
She said: “It just happened that I always got more vocals, so in terms of people wanting their voice heard, that wasn’t happening.”
Reflecting now, Cheryl told Vogue: “At this age, you gain perspective and stop caring about the stupid stuff that would drive you crazy in your twenties. I’ve never felt more comfortable in my skin.”
This time around, they also have their kids to think about.
Cheryl has Bear, Nadine has daughter Anaiya, nine, and Kimberley has sons Bobby, nine, Cole, six, and two-year-old Nate.
They will all be on the tour, although Cheryl says her son may have a lot of questions, as he did when he recently watched one of their previous tours on TV.
She said: “He says to me, ‘You look different, you sound different, this is weird. Why the nakedness? What’s with your voice?’.”
Now the girls are back together, the sky’s the limit — and they are hoping to perform at Glastonbury, although their final gig is right in the middle of next year’s festival.
Nadine said: “We’ve spoken about this but we’d have to take our stage, so the logistics are hard. But we are touring at the same time so maybe we could get a jet in.”
Looking ahead to next year’s tour — for which they will rehearse for a solid month and undergo an intense workout regime — they are feeling positive.
But a laughing Cheryl said: “Just don’t call it a comeback — more as a celebration of a milestone.
“And it’s gonna be unreal. And it’s gonna be the nostalgia of your life.”
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And in a reference to her bandmate’s comment about the group never reuniting, Nadine added: “Cheryl, you thought your life would be over at 30, but look at us still able to do the same things we did at 17.
“That’s going to be so inspiring to so many people.”
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