How Girls Aloud have buried the hatchet – and got Sarah Harding’s mum’s blessing – for a reunion tour that will feature the late singer’s vocals
They have kept in close contact since her daughter died so tragically young, sharing tears, embraces and treasured memories.
And in many ways, the most recent meeting between Girls Aloud — Cheryl Tweedy, Kimberley Walsh, Nicola Roberts and Nadine Coyle — and Marie Hardman, mother of their late bandmate Sarah Harding, was no different to the ones that have gone before.
Old photographs of Sarah were shared, as the five women remembered the vivacious blonde who so sadly died from breast cancer just two years ago, aged 39.
But I can reveal this meeting had one significant difference: Cheryl and her fellow stars made their trip to her home just outside Manchester for one reason — they hoped to gain Marie’s blessing for the four of them to reunite for a tour to mark Girls Aloud’s 21st anniversary.
Her agreement, I’m told, was vital to them.
Sarah Harding, pictured alongside her mother, died from cancer in 2021 – but her vocals are to be used on a reunion tour
Nadine Coyle, Kimberley Walsh, Nicola Roberts and Cheryl met with Sarah’s mother and have now received their blessing to involve their late bandmate’s voice in an upcoming tour
Why? Well, I can also reveal that, beyond their deep desire to respect the wishes of Sarah’s mother, even more poignantly, they wanted to seek permission for the string of concerts to feature Sarah’s voice.
In a music industry first, the late singer’s vocals will be mixed in with the rest of the band’s for their live performances.
I’m told that the group have alighted on technology which will allow fans to hear Sarah sing once more, in performances of some of the band’s greatest hits alongside her former bandmates. Footage and photographs of Sarah will also be screened around the arena venues, which are yet to be announced.
A band source tells me: ‘The girls wanted to include Marie from start to finish. They wanted her to feel part of all of this and not do anything at all that might not be right for her.
‘Marie, of course, was absolutely thrilled that there would be a tour, but also that Sarah will be very much included in it to the extent that nobody thought would be imaginable.
‘It was important to the girls that they ran through everything with Marie. They love Sarah so much, it wasn’t an option not to include her in the reunion because she was one of theirs and she loved the band so much. There was sheer jubilation on both sides. Nobody wants to forget Sarah.’
Such feeling extends right down to the bottom line, too. Sources tell me that profits from the tour, which the band announced on Wednesday, will be shared five ways, with Sarah’s estate benefitting too. One insider says: ‘That’s the right thing to do. There were five girls in the band.’
The reunion was something in the back of the singers’ minds for several years following their acrimonious final split in 2013. However, it was always assumed that Sarah would be firmly alongside them as they took to the stage once more.
What is perhaps more of a surprise is that Nadine was in the room at all. Because until Sarah’s death she was at war with Cheryl, Kimberley and Nicola in a truly bitter falling-out.
Indeed, the women had barely spoken for six years, with potshots coming from both sides in the aftermath of their break-up.
Girls Aloud rose to fame in 2002 on TV show Popstars: The Rivals
It’s said that Nadine wanted a solo career but was always aware that Cheryl would have a more successful one — after all, with her footballer husband Ashley Cole (who she divorced in 2010 during a hiatus in Girls Aloud’s career), she was considered to be a ‘brand’ in her own right, despite not being the most vocally talented. Nadine, who had always thought she was the best singer, was said to be irked by Cheryl’s success and the group split – with Nadine, 38, and Sarah going their separate ways, while Cheryl, 40, Kimberley, 42, and Nicola, 38, formed a close trio.
While Kimberley and Nicola remained silent about the fall-out in public, Cheryl and Nadine very publicly went to war.
Nadine claimed she was told just minutes before going on stage for the final night of their greatest hits tour that the rest of the group wanted to split. Furious, she lambasted the rest of the band, ranting: ‘I didn’t want the band to end, it was as simple as that. I didn’t think we were going to end — we had done all the promo saying we were all together, having a great tour, wearing Victoria’s Secret wings and stomping up and down the catwalk every night, loving every single minute of it. And then, on the very last night of the tour, our management and publicist came up to me and said the girls wanted to split up the band. I was thinking, ‘What?!’
‘I was in hair and make-up, about to get into my costume, and the show was starting in 20 minutes. I was shocked.
‘I went back to my make-up lady and told her, and was like, ‘F***! I don’t have a job! What am I going to do?’ I screamed and cried on stage and off stage.’
Known for her feisty character, Cheryl then hit back spectacularly, accusing Nadine of being ‘full of s***’ and accused her of holding the band to ‘ransom’.
‘She was the one who wanted to make a solo record. She wants to come out and say we broke the band up? No! She shouldn’t tell porkie pies.
‘OK, so do you want us to tell the truth? She wasn’t going to make another Girls Aloud record until she got a solo deal. I feel she held us to ransom and then made her solo record deal. It’s the truth. She’s saying that we broke the band up. So there you go.’
It was a sad end for the five, who found fame in 2002 on TV show Popstars: The Rivals before becoming one of the most successful female bands in British history, with 20 consecutive top ten singles.
In 2012, they were named the UK’s biggest-selling girl group of the 21st century, with over 4.3 million singles sales and 4 million albums sold here alone.
With fame came a suitably lively social life. Regulars in VIP areas of London’s high-end nightclubs, the girls made celebrity love matches. Nadine enjoyed a romance with Desperate Housewives actor Jesse Metcalfe, while Cheryl married former England left back Cole.
The girls even moved into neighbouring flats in the upmarket Princess Park Manor — formerly a psychiatric hospital — in the North London enclave of Friern Barnet. Cheryl and Nicola shared an apartment, and Kimberley and Nadine paired up too. Sarah, though, had her own place.
The serious illness of any young woman — never mind one as vivacious and talented as Harding — is a tragedy. And it was in the wake of this terrible news that saw Cheryl, Kimberley and Nicola reunite with Nadine
In 2012, they were named the UK’s biggest-selling girl group of the 21st century, with over 4.3 million singles sales and 4 million albums sold here alone
‘She was the more independent, free spirit,’ a friend tells me. ‘She was that bit older and was happier to do her own thing.’
As their success continued, Nadine expressed her desire to go it alone. Cheryl, though, was desperate to keep the band together — a decision that cost her then husband a big money move to Real Madrid.
She confided in me one night as we partied at the West End nightclub Paper that she had told Ashley he couldn’t move abroad because she had to stay with the band.
‘I’m a Girl Aloud,’ she said. ‘I can’t leave the girls and move to Spain, so Ashley couldn’t go.’
Yet Nadine was at that moment plotting a way out of the band.
‘That was a pivotal moment for the fall-outs that were to come,’ says my source. ‘Cheryl made a huge decision that meant her husband’s career went in a totally different direction.
‘While all that was going on, Nadine wanted to be a solo star. It put massive pressure on things — of course that caused a rift.
‘When you’ve got five people all wanting different things, it’s tricky.’
Increasingly, Nadine became the black sheep of the band. I recall a night at the K West hotel in West London. The band were partying there after appearing on Children In Need: Sarah, as ever, knocking back shots with journalists while Cheryl, Kimberley and Nicola huddled in a corner. Nadine, though, was alone.
As Nadine ploughed her own furrow, Sarah, too, moved away from the rest of the band. Nicknamed ‘hardcore’ for her tendency to party hard, Sarah struggled to hold down relationships, dating everyone from TV presenter Steve Jones to George Best’s model son, Calum. She later got engaged to DJ Tom Crane, a relationship which didn’t last.
A mixed bag of fortunes awaited them after they split: Cheryl, of course, divorced Cole, had a significant stint as an X Factor judge, before having a son with One Direction singer Liam Payne in 2017. Kimberley, meanwhile, appeared on Strictly, Nadine starred on I’m A Celebrity, and Nicola largely left the limelight.
Then, in 2020, the band were devastated when Sarah told them she had breast cancer. Friends say she shared the news with them before choosing to announce the news on social media.
She wrote: ‘Earlier this year I was diagnosed with breast cancer and a couple of weeks ago I received the devastating news that the cancer has advanced to other parts of my body.’
She explained she was ‘undergoing weekly chemotherapy sessions’ adding that she was ‘fighting as hard as hard as I possibly can’.
The serious illness of any young woman — never mind one as vivacious and talented as Harding — is a tragedy. And it was in the wake of this terrible news that saw Cheryl, Kimberley and Nicola reunite with Nadine.
A source said: ‘At that point a silly row seemed totally insignificant and the girls all started speaking again.
There were reunions where there were lots of tears, laughter and more tears, but it brought the girls back together.’
Happily, following Sarah’s death in 2021, the four women are once again close friends. It was as a foursome that they decided the best way to remember their adored Sarah would be to sing alongside her again.
‘Sarah absolutely loved performing, so just imagine how happy she would be to know that she will have a starring role on the tour next year,’ said the friend.
No doubt Sarah would also be quietly content that, finally, her friends have managed to finally bury the hatchet.
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