Cheryl Ann Tweedy (born 30 June 1983) is an English singer, songwriter and television personality. Born and raised in Tyneside, 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) – which collectively produced ten singles, including five number ones ("Fight for This Love, "Promise This", "Call My Name", "Crazy Stupid Love" and "I Don't Care"). Cheryl has the second most number one singles for a British female artist with five records, behind Jess Glynne, who now totals with six.
Cheryl became a judge on the UK version of The X Factor in 2008. She mentored two of the eventual winners of the competition (Alexandra Burke in series 5 and Joe McElderry in series 6), before resigning in 2011 and joining the panel of the American version, which she left during the auditions stage. She returned to judge series 11 and 12 of the UK version. Series creator Simon Cowell referred to her as "one of the best I've ever worked with".