Kimberley Walsh: singer confirms Girls Aloud are set to release unheard new music in two months

Kimberley Walsh has revealed that Girls Aloud will be marking the 20th anniversary of their ‘Sound Of The Underground’ album with the release of new music.

The singer, 41, from West Yorkshire, shot to fame as one-fifth of the UK’s biggest selling girl group of the 21st century, alongside bandmates Cheryl, Nicola Roberts, Nadine Coyle, and the late Sarah Harding.

The pop group was formed on Popstars The Rivals in 2002 and went on to score 21 Top 10 singles and four Top 10 albums. They chose to disband in 2013, following their 10th anniversary tour, which saw them perform across the UK with consecutive nights in Newcastle, Manchester and London.

Now with just two months until their debut album, Sound Of The Underground, turns 20, Kimberley has revealed to MailOnline that they are set to release unheard music to mark the occasion.

The mother-of-three said: “We’ve got some fun alternative versions of songs lying around and little re-releases just to kind of mark that because, you know, it’s a big deal.

“20 years is a long time and the love that we still feel for Sound Of The Underground, and some of the songs from the first album are still huge. So it still feels like something to celebrate, but in a kind of sort of discreet way, I guess.”

In memory of band member, Sarah Harding, who passed away from breast cancer in September 2021, a never-before-heard demo version of their debut single was released last year. All profits from this release went to The Sarah Harding Breast Cancer Appeal, which is part of The Christie Charitable Fund.

Kimberley opened up about the prospects of heading back into the studio with her bandmates, saying: “We’re not really doing anything together as a group for obvious reasons.”

The singer has been keeping busy as a presenter on BBC’s Morning Live, alongside Gethin Jones and Kym Marsh. She is also a busy mum, with three boys, who she shares with husband Justin Scott, 40, who she married in 2016.

Kimberley’s bandmates also went on to pursue other ventures, with Nicola, Nadine and Cheryl all releasing music as solo artists. As well as appearing in reality TV shows as contestants, like Nicola on the Masked Singer and Nadine on I’m a Celeb, or in judging roles, like Cheryl on The X Factor.

The announcement of new music comes after Cheryl, 39, spoke about the prospects of a reunion, following the heartbreaking death of their bandmate, Sarah Harding.

Cheryl previously told The Metro: “To be honest, we found out Sarah was sick because we’d sat down together to talk about how, if, and what we would like to do to celebrate the 20 years. And then all that happened, and it changed the feeling of it. It just puts a funny taste in my mouth.”

She continued: “I’ve learnt throughout my life [though] that you should never say never, because the universe has a funny way of going, “Oh, really?”

“But right now, we’re not there. We want it to be fun, not sad. Girls Aloud weren’t sad, we were fun, happy, upbeat, everything that that’s not.”