Nadine Coyle surprised on stage with a birthday cake from the rest of Girls Aloud

The Derry native said she was “emotional” and almost cried when Cheryl, Kimberley, Nicola and their dancers produced the cake and had the entire First Direct Arena in Leeds sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to the last, now aged 39. night.

The girl group are now more than halfway through their reunion tour, with another night in Leeds, followed by dates in Birmingham, London and Liverpool until the end of this month.

Thousands of fans attended the band’s two nights of Arena Tour in Belfast last month, and their first gigs since 2013 kept true to the popstars’ promise to celebrate their bandmate Sarah Harding, who was 39 when She died in 2021 following a chest injury. cancer.

Part of the set list featured the band’s famous cover of The Pretenders’ “I’ll Stand By You” playing, accompanied by a video of Sarah and her vocals, leaving many in the audience in tears.

Before the ballad began in Belfast, Nadine told the crowd: “We’re going to do a duet with Sarah tonight. It will be us, Sarah, you. Let’s do this together.

Sarah’s voice then began to play as her four bandmates sang on stage alongside their late friend.

Nicola Roberts re-shared a video of the singers and their team surprising Nadine on her Instagram, in which Kimberley Walsh can be heard saying Larkhill-born Nadine would never have allowed them to sing to her on stage if she had knew.

Nadine’s birthday is famous – or infamous – for another reason.

In 2001, before her career with Girls Aloud, she lied about her age to appear on another singing show, Popstars: Ireland, but was later caught on camera when she announced her date of birth.

She asked the entire nation to find her passport to prove that she was 18 years old, as she had said during the hearings.

Later it emerged that she was actually only 16 years old and therefore could not become a member of Group Six.

For anyone who doubts it, Nadine Coyle’s birthdate is actually June 15, 1985 – which still makes her a Gemini.

Cheryl even made a joke about the hilarious viral gaffe at one of their concerts in Belfast, telling the crowd: “We had to come to Ireland anyway… Do you know why? To make sure Nadine remembers her passport.

In a 2021 interview, Nadine even revealed that fans would throw passports at her on stage during performances, following this iconic moment.

Last year, she said people were still “gasping” at airports when they saw her passport, more than two decades later.

The rise of social media app TikTok has also seen its old clips take on new prominence, with young celebrities such as US pop star Olivia Rodrigo – who is just 21 – since they reacted to the pop culture legend of the passport.