Cheryl Tweedy Girls Aloud Nightclub incident FHM 100 Sexiest Women

Cheryl Cole
Background information
Birth name Cheryl Ann Tweedy
Born June 30, 1983 (1983-06-30) (age 23)
Origin Flag of England Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Genre(s) Pop
Occupation(s) Singer
Instrument(s) Vocals
Years active 2002Ñpresent
Label(s) Polydor, Fascination
Associated
acts Girls Aloud

Cheryl Ann Cole, nŽe Tweedy, (born 30 June 1983) is an English singer and member of the girl group Girls Aloud. She is married to the Chelsea and England footballer Ashley Cole.

Girls Aloud

Main article: Girls Aloud

Cole was working as a waitress when she entered the UK talent-search show Popstars: The Rivals. In the final show she received the most votes in the poll which chose the girls for the all-female group Girls Aloud, and was the first to be picked for the group. She has co-written a number of songs whilst in the group, including:

* "Big Brother" (What Will The Neighbours Say?)
* "History" (Wake Me Up single)
* "Crazy Fool" (Whole Lotta History single)

Nightclub incident and conviction

On 11 January 2003 Tweedy was involved in an altercation with a nightclub toilet attendant, Sophie Amogbokpa, in the Drink nightclub in Guildford. Tweedy was subsequently charged with racially aggravated assault (she had allegedly called Amogbokpa a "Jigaboo"[3] among other racial slurs)[4] and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. During her trial Tweedy claimed she acted in self defence (claiming she had been punched first) and denied using racially abusive language.

The jury found her guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, but cleared her of racially aggravated assault.[5] The judge sentenced her to 120 hours of community service and ordered to pay her victim £500 in compensation, as well as £3000 prosecution costs.

[edit] Media attention

Sometimes referred to in the press as "Chezza", she has gained celebrity status through her role in Girls Aloud and her good looks, coming second in the FHM 100 Sexiest Women poll in 2005, beating Britney Spears and her bandmates Sarah Harding and Nadine Coyle, and finishing behind Kelly Brook. In 2006, she finished sixth, while in January of the same year she topped a 'wish-list' poll run by Sun Online to identify the female celebrities that readers would most like to appear topless on the newspaper's Page 3. Cole finished seventh in 2007's FHM pol