Cheryl Cole

Cheryl Cole is an English singer, songwriter, dancer and model from Newcastle upon Tyne, England. She is best known as one of the five members of Girls Aloud, the girl group formed on ITV’s reality television programme Popstars The Rivals, where she is selected in late 2002.

Solo career

Her first solo vocal appearance is on American rapper will.i.am’s track Heartbreaker in 2008. She first appears in the video as a dancer after taking street-dancing classes during filming of The Passions of Girls Aloud, and will.i.am later asks her to add vocals to the song. In April 2009 she begins work on solo material.

Her debut album, 3 Words, is recorded in Los Angeles and London and released in the UK in October 2009. The album is built around a contemporary R&B, dance-pop, house and pop sound, and she works mainly with will.i.am, who is its executive producer. Other collaborators include Fraser T. Smith, Syience, the Danish production team Soulshock & Karlin, Taio Cruz, Wayne Wilkins and Steve Kipner.

3 Words spends two weeks at number one and is certified platinum by the BPI, later reaching triple platinum. Its lead single, Fight for This Love, is written by Andre Merritt, Steve Kipner and Wayne Wilkins, and produced by Kipner and Wilkins. It reaches number one in the UK and Ireland, later also topping the charts in Denmark, Norway and Hungary, and is certified platinum in the UK. The follow-up single, 3 Words, features will.i.am and reaches number four in the UK and number seven in Ireland, while Parachute reaches the top five in the UK and Ireland and is certified silver in the UK.

From May to July 2010 she supports the Black Eyed Peas on British dates and some European dates of The E.N.D. World Tour.

Second album

Her second solo album, Messy Little Raindrops, is released in November 2010. Wayne Wilkins produces most of the album, and she again works with will.i.am, while J. R. Rotem, Starsmith, Al Shux and Free School also contribute. Guest vocals come from August Rigo, Dizzee Rascal, Travie McCoy and will.i.am.

The lead single, Promise This, is released in October 2010 and becomes her second UK number one. The album also reaches number one in the UK, number two in Ireland and number seven in Europe.