Girls Aloud's Cheryl makes 'emotional' Sarah Harding promise as reunion tour confirmed

Cheryl has made an emotional promise to 'celebrate' Sarah Harding as she and her fellow Girls Aloud bandmates reunite for a massive arena tour next year.

After weeks of speculation, which the girls added to themselves by each posting a countdown marker on Instagram, it was finally announced on Wednesday night, just after 7pm, that the group who gave us massive hits like Call The Shots, Something Kinda Ooh and Biology, were getting back together and hitting the road, more than two decades after they were first formed on ITV talent show Popstars: The Rivals.

Girls Aloud hold the record for being the female group with the most consecutive top 10 hits in UK chart history, with other songs like I'll Stand by You, The Show and Love Machine helping them achieve that feat, with their run starting when debut single Sound of the Underground claimed the 2002 Christmas number one.

READ MORE: Girls Aloud announce reunion tour including two Newcastle dates

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Fans had been convinced that the band would reunite in 2022, to mark 20 years since their formation, however, after Sarah died, aged just 39, in September 2021, following battle with terminal cancer, any plans for a tour were shelved.

Cheryl was the last one of Girls Aloud to drop a hint about a major announcement, posting a 1 on her Instagram grid just after 6.30pm on Wednesday and telling fans that big news would be coming at 8.30am the following morning. However, after Ticketmaster leaked the news early, the full list of tour dates were then released, with the girls sharing them on their social media.

*Tickets go on sale from Ticketmaster on Friday, December 1

And Cheryl has also spoken about Sarah and how Girls Aloud plan to honour her with their upcoming tour. Talking about the nationwide jaunt, Cheryl said: "We all started talking about the possibility of doing something to celebrate Girls Aloud's 20 year anniversary a few years ago. The anniversary seemed like an obvious thing that we would celebrate."

She continued: "But when Sarah fell ill all priorities changed. She passed away a year before the anniversary and it just didn't feel right, it felt too soon. But now, I think there is an energy that does make it feel right."

Cheryl added: "It's the right time to celebrate Sarah, it's the right time to celebrate the band and the right time to celebrate the fact we can still do this 21 years later. That's a big honour in a late of ways."