Free Cheryl Cole: Her Story - the Unauthorized Biography by Gerard Sanderson Page B

make it into the band was ‘… Sarah.’ The gasp of shock from the studio audience could be heard by viewers at home, and Sarah instantly dissolved into tears, while a dazed Javine merely stared blankly ahead of her. The revelation had come as a shock to everyone, most of all the soulful Londoner who had been told time and time again she had a guaranteed place in the band. Even Davina was shocked by the results and told her, ‘I don’t understand this – you are too good for the band. You are a star in your own right.’
    While Sarah went to join her new bandmates, with tears still streaming down her cheeks, members of Javine’s family ran up on stage to comfort their girl. However, even as their friend was coming to terms with losing out on this great opportunity, the chosen girls had to start looking to the future as Davina revealed that the name of the new band would be Girls Aloud, and that one of the songs making up the Christmas double A-side would be a cover of the East 17 classic ‘Stay Another Day’, which happened to be the first single Kimberley had ever bought!
    Later, after the girls had celebrated backstage with their families and friends, Cheryl and the band were whisked to a nearby hotel. The following morning they had to be briefed, meet the press and appear at their first photo-call, which would involve them standing in front of a big poster bearing the ingenius slogan ‘Bye Boys Buy Girls’. As she crawled into bed exhausted, Cheryl could sleep soundly knowing that, afterall these years of working so hard, she was now one-fifth of a pop band that had been signed to a major record label. And with Polydor behind them, she knew success was pretty much guaranteed.
    For the time being, however, Cheryl and her Girls Aloud bandmates had another battle to prepare for – the fight to gain the Christmas number one spot. The press said the boys had the battle all sewn up because they had legions of girl fans, and traditionally boybands do better than girls. But the girls were willing to work hard and it just so happened that their first single would turn out to be a surprise secret weapon that would eventually blow the boys out of the water.

_____ Chapter 9
BEAT THE BOYS
    It was 16 December 2002 – the day that One True Voice and Girls Aloud were set to go head to head in the charts. The boys’ debut song was a Pete Waterman-produced cover of a Bee Gees song called ‘Sacred Trust’, which was to be backed with a more soulful-sounding original song called ‘After The Love Has Gone’, which had been co-penned by band member Daniel Pearce.
    So confident was Pete that the boys would triumph with their double A-side that he pledged, ‘If this song gets to number two, I will commit suicide. I have got to beat Louis Walsh.’ Meanwhile, it emerged that Girls Aloud’s lead single would be a drum ’n’ bass-inspired dance track called ‘Sound Of The Underground’, that Samantha Mumba had turned down, with ‘Stay Another Day’ as the B-side. The girls were stunned when they were first played the track, as Nadine recalled. ‘The first time I heard it, I was like, what the **** is this? It had a drum ’n’ bass beat, these mad wee surfie guitar bits. It wasn’t like a pop record. We had to be taught how to sing like that.Not to leave anything spare.’ Kimberley agreed that the sound was closer to the underground than to the pop charts but was pleased that it didn’t have that cheesy Steps vibe to it. However, she did have concerns that perhaps the song might be a bit too cool for the pop-buying public. ‘I think we all thought it was ****ing crazy!’
    When the records were released to radio, the public were finally able to make their choice. The boys’ tune was universally lambasted as lacklustre and sounding closer to Pete Waterman’s eighties output than anything in the charts at the time, while the girls’ efforts stunned the nation with its catchy melody and credible, stylish and