Cheryl (singer)
Cheryl Ann Tweedy[1] (born 30 June 1983; professionally known as Cheryl) is an English singer and television personality. Born and raised in Newcastle upon Tyne, she rose to fame in late 2002 upon winning a place in Girls Aloud, a girl group created through ITV's Popstars: The Rivals. While still in the group, she began a solo career in April 2009, and between then and 2014, she released four studio albums – 3 Words (2009), Messy Little Raindrops (2010), A Million Lights (2012) and Only Human (2014). Collectively, the albums included ten singles, five of which – "Fight for This Love", "Promise This", "Call My Name", "Crazy Stupid Love" and "I Don't Care" – reached the top position on the UK Singles Chart. Cheryl was the first British female solo artist to have five number-one singles in the UK, and she held the record until Jess Glynne overtook her in 2018.
"Cheryl Cole" redirects here. For the American politician, see Sheryl Cole.
Cheryl
- Cheryl Cole
- Cheryl Fernandez-Versini
- Singer
- television personality
2002–present
Liam Payne (2016–2018)
1
Vocals
Cheryl became a judge on the UK show of The X Factor in 2008. She mentored two of the eventual winners of the competition (Alexandra Burke in series five and Joe McElderry in series six), before resigning in 2011 after series seven and joining the panel of the US version of the series, which she left during the auditions stage. She returned to judge series eleven and twelve in 2014 and 2015 of the UK series. From 2019 to 2020, Cheryl was a judge on The Greatest Dancer. In 2023, she made her stage debut in the West End play 2:22 A Ghost Story.
Cheryl has become a recognised and photographed style icon, being referred to as a "fashionista" by the press. She has been photographed for the covers of British Vogue, Elle and Harper's Bazaar, and fronted cosmetic company L'Oréal from 2009 to 2018. Her net worth was estimated at £20 million in October 2014.[2][3]
Early life
Cheryl Ann Tweedy[4] was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on 30 June 1983,[5] and grew up on council estates in the suburbs of Walker[6] and Heaton. She is the fourth of five children of Joan Callaghan,[7] and the first of her two children with Garry Tweedy following the collapse of her marriage to the father of her three other children. Cheryl's parents were together for more than a decade but never married; they separated when she was 11 years old.[8]
At the age of seven, Cheryl appeared in a television advertisement for British Gas.[9] Interested in dancing from an early age, she began sequence dancing at the age of four,[10] and participated in a short summer holiday course at the Royal Ballet School's Summer School at the age of nine.[11] She occasionally appeared doing dance recitals on different television shows in the UK, such as Gimme 5, in 1993.[12]
Artistry and influences
Cheryl has a mezzo-soprano range.[147]
She spoke about her vocal ability saying, "I am very aware of my ability, I know I'm no Mariah Carey but I think the emotion in the song is what matters."[148] In a review for her debut studio album 3 Words, Tom Ewing of The Guardian opined that "She's not as full a singer as the belters and divas she presides over each week [on The X Factor], but she's an expressive performer and a less showy backing lets that come through."[149] 3 Words is a pop and R&B record which incorporates elements of dance, disco and electropop in some of its tracks,[149] while Messy Little Raindrops was described as a combination of "anthemic dance and synth-led R&B".[56] A Million Lights, her third studio album, also incorporates R&B and dance.[150] She incorporated dubstep into A Million Lights, MTV citing "Girl in the Mirror" as an example.[151]
Cheryl has named Britney Spears and Beyoncé as a few of her inspirations, performance and fashion-wise.[152][153] She spoke on the reason Beyoncé was an influence on her, saying, "I love Beyoncé, I just think she is such a beautiful person inside and out, apart from what she does on the stage which is obviously incredible and aspirational. I just like her as a woman. She's empowering."[154] She has cited Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, a former member of American band TLC, as another influence saying, "I wanted to be [Lopes] – I used to wear baggy jeans and Timberlands like a tomboy."[155] Other influences she has cited are Rihanna, whom she described as "a perfect pop star",[156] and Mary J. Blige, saying, "Mary's voice sounds so grown up and you can hear that she has experienced a lot in her life, her songs help me with every heartache."[157] Cheryl has influenced other artists, including Selena Gomez.[158] The 2006 Lily Allen song "Cheryl Tweedy" was written about her.[159]
In June 2012, Cheryl performed "Call My Name" live on The Voice UK. In response to criticism about lip-syncing, she deemed it complimentary and said, "If you think my live vocal sounds so good it must be mimed, I'm happy."[160]
Personal life
Relationships
Cheryl began dating England and Chelsea footballer Ashley Cole in September 2004, announcing their engagement after he proposed in Dubai in June 2005.[180] The couple were married at a ceremony at Barnet, north west London on 15 July 2006.[181] They signed an exclusive deal with OK!, reportedly worth £1 million, regarding the rights of the photographs.[182] On 23 February 2010, Cheryl announced she was separating from Cole,[183][184] and on 26 May, she filed for divorce at London's High Court citing "unreasonable behaviour" from her estranged husband. The divorce papers state that Cole admitted being unfaithful to Cheryl with a number of other women.[185] She was granted a decree nisi on 3 September.[186] She continued to use her married name, but later began using the mononym Cheryl for her music releases.[163]
On 7 July 2014, Cheryl married French restaurateur Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini after a three-month courtship.[187][188][189] Following their separation, Cheryl began dating singer Liam Payne, whom she had previously judged as a contestant on The X Factor.[190][191] She was later granted a decree nisi from Fernandez-Versini on 20 October 2016,[192] and the divorce was later finalised.[193] On 22 March 2017, she gave birth to her son with Payne.[194][195][196] Cheryl and Payne announced they had ended their relationship in July 2018.[197]
Family genealogy
In December 2016, Cheryl appeared on the BBC One genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?, during which she researched her maternal family.[198] Research shows that her paternal line is from Tyneside[199] and that there were a number of coal miners amongst Cheryl's forebears. When tracing further back, in one of the branches of her paternal line, researchers find that her ancestry includes several mariners.[199] The investigation into Cheryl's maternal line shows that her grandmother, Olga Ridley, was one of twin girls born to Edith Annie Burton, the housekeeper for a widower named Joseph Ridley who already had a number of children from his marriage. Joseph Ridley had fought in World War I in the Durham Light Infantry as a Pioneer in France and, from an examination of the census, before the war he had been a grocery warehouseman.[199]
Assault conviction
On 11 January 2003, Cheryl was involved in an altercation with a nightclub toilet attendant, Sophie Amogbokpa, and subsequently charged with racially aggravated assault over the incident.[200][161] At her trial on 20 October she was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm but cleared of the racially aggravated assault charge,[201] and sentenced to 120 hours of community service. She was ordered to pay her victim £500 in compensation, as well as £3,000 prosecution costs. Judge Richard Howard said, "This was an unpleasant piece of drunken violence which caused Sophie Amogbokpa pain and suffering."[201]
Political views
Cheryl is a lifelong supporter of the Labour Party.[163][202] She proclaimed her support for same-sex marriage in 2012.[203]
Solo tours
As solo supporting act