Sarah Harding from Girls Aloud’s sad passing was announced by her mother Marie on September 5th. Sarah’s mother in announcing her untimely passing at the age of 39 made a plea, for Sarah to be remembered as a bright shining star and not for her battle against Breast Cancer.
View this post on Instagram
Following the announcement tributes for the Girls Aloud singer came pouring in from her bandmates and those who knew her. The singer rose to fame when she won the final place in Girls Aloud on the talent show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002.
The singer joined Chery Tweedy, Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh to make up the band lineup. The band achieved success with four number 1 singles and twenty consecutive top ten singles in the UK. The band’s debut single “Sound of The Underground” remained at the top of the UK charts for four consecutive weeks. The single also went on to achieve Platinum status in March 2003.
The band’s debut album of the same name reached number two in the UK Official Albums Chart and was also certified Platinum. The band went on to release memorable singles “No Good Advice” (May 2003), “Life Got Cold” (August 2003), “Jump” (November 2003), “Love Machine” (September 2004), “Long Hot Summer” (August 2005) and “Biology” (November 2005) to name but a few.
The band disbanded on March 20th 2013 during their Ten: The Hits Tour and pursued solo projects. Harding released her solo EP Threads on August 7th 2015 and was also known for her acting, modelling, philanthropy and appearances on reality TV. The singer went on to win the twentieth series of Celebrity Big Brother in 2017 and met ex-partner Carl Johnson on the series.
The singer bravely announced her Breast Cancer battle on August 26th 2020 and felt that she should inform the public of her illness. The singer later announced on October 20th that the disease had sadly spread to other parts of her body.
The singer then released her book Hear Me Out on March 20 detailing her Breast Cancer battle. The title of the book comes from the single of the same name released from the band’s album What Will The Neighbours Say released on November 29th 2004.
The singer also released a single “Wear It Like A Crown” written 10 years ago on March 24th for The Christie NHS Foundation which topped the downloading and streaming charts. The singer moved in with her mother in March before sadly losing her fight to the disease on September 5th.
The singer’s bandmates announced that the singer was to join them for a tour next year and have been paying tributes to their bandmate. Coyle and Roberts expressed their absolute devastation of the singers sad passing, Walsh stated that her heart was broken and Tweedy expressed her condolences by stating that the singer would forever be in our hearts.
Pete Waterman a judge on Popstars: The Rivals described the singer as “A lovely, lovely person” and “a delightful young kid”, adding: “She was great – enthusiasm, full of life. This is a tragedy.”
Louis Walsh who co-created and managed the band said, he would remember the singer with great fondness. Chad Johnson who briefly dated the singer, when they met whilst in the Big Brother House in 2017 expressed his condolences and revealed that the singer had a wish to be a mother. The singer herself also expressed her regret in her book about not becoming a mother.
Johnson also revealed that he kept in touch with the singer and that their plans to meet up proved difficult due to their work schedules. Johnson expressed that he was unaware of how ill the singer was and believed that they would reunite.
Tributes continued with Geri Halliwell from the Spice Girls, Michelle Heaton from Liberty X, the singer’s former partner Callum Best, Lady Victoria Hervey, Davina McCall who was the judge on Pop Stars: The Rivals, her friend Lizzy Cundy and Martin Kemp from Spandau Ballet all offering their condolences.
The song that has been played in remembrance of the singer is the band’s single “The Promise”, which was the band’s fourth number 1 single released on October 15th 2008. The singer sang in the chorus “Here I am, a walking Primrose Wondering when I’m gonna see you again” The lyric is viewed as poignant now.
The singer was said to have enjoyed life and in remembering the singer best, bandmate Roberts in her tweet called the singer Electric girl and further said “You gave it everything and still with a smile”
