With an astonishing 21 Top 10 hits and charisma to spare, Girls Aloud were one of the biggest and brightest groups of the 00s – and Nicola Roberts, enigmatic and riveting, was a crucial element. As she heads to London’s West End in the musical Hadestown, she’ll be joining us to answer your questions.
Roberts was just 16 when she auditioned for the reality talent show Popstars: the Rivals, which whisked her from school in Runcorn, Cheshire, to pop fame. Stationed in Girls Aloud, the quintet hit Christmas No 1 with their debut single Sound of the Underground and the hits just kept coming: from quirky neo-rock’n’roll (No Good Advice, Love Machine) to chart-topping power ballads (The Promise, I’ll Stand By You) and melancholic pop such as Call the Shots, its poignant middle eight made unforgettable by Roberts.
