Cheryl Cole: Her Story - the Unauthorized Biography by Gerard Sanderson Page A
Authors: Gerard Sanderson
Ads: Link
Friends ’, was the way she liked it.
Cheryl and Nicola had become very close during the series, but since Cheryl’s recent brush with the law, the pair of them had formed an even tighter bond. In fact, Cheryl admitted that her ginger bandmate made life more bearable through that tough time. ‘I couldn’t be in the band without Nicola,’ she told Top of the Pops magazine in 2004. ‘When we first met I thought she was shy but now I know different. Nicola is hilarious, I’ve never met anyone like her. Sometimes in the morning when I try to get her out of bed to go to the gym, she just grunts at us. She just growls like a dog. All she eats is McDonald’s, BurgerKing, Wimpy but she never puts a pound of weight on. It makes me sick – she does my head in, she’s so lucky.’
However, there were some downsides to living with Nicola – not only was she a messy girl who’d leave her floor covered in clothes and fake tan smeared all over the bathroom, she had a habit of borrowing things from Cheryl and never giving them back! Cheryl revealed to the Top of the Pops magazine: ‘She takes whatever you lend her – tweezers, lip liners, anything. You have to go into her room to look for things.’
But the girls didn’t exclude their bandmates from their close friendship. They always found time for each other when they weren’t working. The girls would enjoy hosting dinner parties for each other, where they’d serve up such tasty delights as a big Greek salad, tomato, avocado and mozzarella salad and chicken kievs, followed by lashings of Häagen-Dazs ice cream. While the public had been given a one-sided portrayal of Cheryl in the press, Kimberley had been captivated by the real Cheryl: a sensitive, funny Geordie who could ‘talk for England’.
‘She likes to laugh,’ Kimberley once commented on her pal in Smash Hits magazine. ‘Once she’s telling a story she’ll tell it thread to needle – from beginning to end – and you’ll not be allowed to move a muscle.’ She also described Cheryl as ‘cute and sweet’ and admitted that she always wanted to mother her. ‘When I first met her I thought she looked young, sweet and innocent … That’s not entirely the case – she’s not that innocent. She’s a bit of a party animal; when she goes out she has a good time.’
But there weren’t many opportunities to party at that point in time, as the girls were busy recording their debut album. Not that anyone expected much from the results. With ‘SoundOf The Underground’ still riding high in the charts, rival stars readily stepped forward to predict a short-lived career for the group. Duncan James, who had met Cheryl backstage at CD:UK during the Popstars programme, reckoned they’d go the same way as their predecessors Hear’Say. ‘Their first single will be their highest-selling song,’ he declared in the Sun. ‘It will be the peak of their career and if you start at the top the only way is down. It’ll be exciting for the first six months, but after that, they’ll be isolated, insecure and paranoid, not knowing who they can trust.’
Whether that warning was based on his own experiences was unclear, but the girls ignored his negative comments and believed that they could achieve whatever they wanted to and outlive the original Popstars band. ‘It really p***es me off when people keep going on about what happened to Hear’Say,’ Cheryl said in the Observer. ‘Gareth [Gates], Will [Young] and Darius and Liberty X are all doing okay. We’re doing okay. Hear’Say are the only ones that failed.’
But could the naysayers be right? An eleven-date UK tour planned for March, which would have seen One True Voice and Girls Aloud travel around the country’s arenas, had been scrapped due to poor ticket sales. Was this a sign that the girls were already on the wane? Not in the slightest, Louis Walsh argued. He blamed the lack of interest on the fact that no one wanted to pay good money to see Pete
Cheryl and Nicola had become very close during the series, but since Cheryl’s recent brush with the law, the pair of them had formed an even tighter bond. In fact, Cheryl admitted that her ginger bandmate made life more bearable through that tough time. ‘I couldn’t be in the band without Nicola,’ she told Top of the Pops magazine in 2004. ‘When we first met I thought she was shy but now I know different. Nicola is hilarious, I’ve never met anyone like her. Sometimes in the morning when I try to get her out of bed to go to the gym, she just grunts at us. She just growls like a dog. All she eats is McDonald’s, BurgerKing, Wimpy but she never puts a pound of weight on. It makes me sick – she does my head in, she’s so lucky.’
However, there were some downsides to living with Nicola – not only was she a messy girl who’d leave her floor covered in clothes and fake tan smeared all over the bathroom, she had a habit of borrowing things from Cheryl and never giving them back! Cheryl revealed to the Top of the Pops magazine: ‘She takes whatever you lend her – tweezers, lip liners, anything. You have to go into her room to look for things.’
But the girls didn’t exclude their bandmates from their close friendship. They always found time for each other when they weren’t working. The girls would enjoy hosting dinner parties for each other, where they’d serve up such tasty delights as a big Greek salad, tomato, avocado and mozzarella salad and chicken kievs, followed by lashings of Häagen-Dazs ice cream. While the public had been given a one-sided portrayal of Cheryl in the press, Kimberley had been captivated by the real Cheryl: a sensitive, funny Geordie who could ‘talk for England’.
‘She likes to laugh,’ Kimberley once commented on her pal in Smash Hits magazine. ‘Once she’s telling a story she’ll tell it thread to needle – from beginning to end – and you’ll not be allowed to move a muscle.’ She also described Cheryl as ‘cute and sweet’ and admitted that she always wanted to mother her. ‘When I first met her I thought she looked young, sweet and innocent … That’s not entirely the case – she’s not that innocent. She’s a bit of a party animal; when she goes out she has a good time.’
But there weren’t many opportunities to party at that point in time, as the girls were busy recording their debut album. Not that anyone expected much from the results. With ‘SoundOf The Underground’ still riding high in the charts, rival stars readily stepped forward to predict a short-lived career for the group. Duncan James, who had met Cheryl backstage at CD:UK during the Popstars programme, reckoned they’d go the same way as their predecessors Hear’Say. ‘Their first single will be their highest-selling song,’ he declared in the Sun. ‘It will be the peak of their career and if you start at the top the only way is down. It’ll be exciting for the first six months, but after that, they’ll be isolated, insecure and paranoid, not knowing who they can trust.’
Whether that warning was based on his own experiences was unclear, but the girls ignored his negative comments and believed that they could achieve whatever they wanted to and outlive the original Popstars band. ‘It really p***es me off when people keep going on about what happened to Hear’Say,’ Cheryl said in the Observer. ‘Gareth [Gates], Will [Young] and Darius and Liberty X are all doing okay. We’re doing okay. Hear’Say are the only ones that failed.’
But could the naysayers be right? An eleven-date UK tour planned for March, which would have seen One True Voice and Girls Aloud travel around the country’s arenas, had been scrapped due to poor ticket sales. Was this a sign that the girls were already on the wane? Not in the slightest, Louis Walsh argued. He blamed the lack of interest on the fact that no one wanted to pay good money to see Pete
Similar Books
