Cheryl pictured holding hands with rarely seen son Bear, 7, as she takes him on stage for first time

GIRLS Aloud singer Cheryl brought her rarely seen seven year old son Bear on stage during a soundcheck for their tour in Sheffield.

The 41-year-old singer, who shares 7-year-old Bear with former partner and One Direction singer Liam Payne, has chosen to keep the youngster out of the public eye.

However, while preparing for her band's concert at Sheffield Arena, Cheryl brought Bear on stage holding his hand.

The doting mum looks unrecognisable as she is usually dressed in sparkly sequin numbers when performing on stage with her bandmates.

Instead, she can be seen in a casual pink tracksuit and baseball cap.

Meanwhile, Bear is sporting a red hoodie with his back to the camera.

The group decided to reunite and go on an arena tour around the UK to mark their 20th anniversary and celebrate their late bandmate Sarah Harding, who died after battling breast cancer in 2021.

Rita Ora, husband Taika Waititi, Ashley Roberts, Rylan Clark and Graham Norton were amongst those who danced in the balcony at the gig- held exclusively for lucky O2 and Virgin Media broadband customers who had won tickets to their London show.

The girls played through a series of hits including Love Machine, Sound of the Underground, The Promise and Biology.

And everyone was moved to tears when the group paid a heart-breaking tribute to Sarah Harding.

They revealed they would be singing along to Sarah in an unreleased version of I'll Stand By You.

Cheryl and Nadine were seen hugging on stage, before comforting a crying Kimberley Walsh.

In the audience, Rylan appeared very moved and clapped for the very special moment, while Denise Van Outen also looked emotional.

The girls came back together this year after having a long break from performing, and were more confident than ever.

They are now planning a new documentary with ITV after cameras followed them on tour.

Cameras captured scenes backstage and some of the private moments when they remembered bandmate Sarah.

Cheryl previously revealed when Bear had realised that both of his parents are famous. 

Speaking to , she explained the youngster thinks it's "pretty cool" that his mum and dad are famous pop stars.

Asked if her son might make an appearance on stage at some point during the tour, Cheryl said: "The problem is that I want Bear to have a normal childhood.

"I don't want people recognising him on the street. But he's twigged that I'm famous. The other day he said, 'How lucky am I to have famous parents?' I said, "It doesn't matter." He goes: 'Yeah. But it's pretty cool.'"