Girls Aloud: Kimberley Walsh

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Kimberley Walsh has the throatiest, smokiest Bradford-tinged speaking voice, which contrasts sharply with her honeyed, full-lipped looks. She is the organiser in the band. 'I'm the business one,' she says. 'I do all the accounts. I like to know the budget for everything and I sign everything off and they are all grateful because they are useless and they know they are.' For the first couple of years of the band's life, when Louis Walsh was meant to manage them but didn't, Kimberley juggled the diary as well as the numbers and the girls would call her to find out where they were meant to be. 'Maybe it's my upbringing, but I would always rather know what is going on.'

She is one of those people who is good with money precisely because she lived through early financial crisis. 'It was quite tough because my dad's business went bankrupt when I was about five and everything changed. We begged, borrowed and stole to stay in the house but there were a lot of arguments and I could see the strain it put on my parents.' Kimberley, 27, is the second of four children, and her parents divorced soon after the youngest, now 21, was born. 'Not very nice,' she says, 'but we kind of got it. We knew it was better that they weren't together and at each other's throats all the time.'

"My dad's business went bankrupt when I was five and everything changed"

She feels that, at 20, she was better equipped than some of the younger girls to deal with the shock of the situation. 'I was a bit hardened to it and a little bit more comfortable with myself but it still hit me pretty hard to be honest.'


From left: Cheryl Cole wears dress, £778, Jonathan Saunders at Selfridges (0800 123 400). Sarah Harding wears dress, £1,070, Marc Jacobs at Harvey Nichols (020 7235 5000). Nicola Roberts wears dress, £1,900, Collette Dinnigan (020 7589 8897). Nadine Coyle wears dress, £385, Sea New York at Joseph (020 7243 9920). Kimberley Walsh wears dress, £1,475, Zac Posen at Harvey Nichols (020 7235 5000)

Kimberley says she lives a simple life. She is hoping to spend most of January in the sun but it will have to be somewhere with lots of activities because 'Justin is mixed race, so he's not really bothered about sunbathing and he gets bored out of his head'.

Kimberley and Cheryl are the two most maternal members of the band and both are protective of Nicola. Not only is Nicola the baby but she has been consistently mocked for being ginger and scowly. Chris Moyles in particular called her 'horsey chops' and a 'sour-faced old cow'. Although he has since apologised, Kimberley is unamused. 'Why would you do that to a young girl?' she asks. 'It's hard enough being a teenager. We always told her she was unique. Now she feels happy and that's amazing. It's just growing up really; the only difference is that she's done it in front of people.'

Kimberley might go back to her von Trapp roots and pursue a career in musicals when Girls Aloud call it a day. In the meantime, Gary Barlow has roped her and Cheryl in to climb Kilimanjaro in February in aid of Comic Relief. Neither has done any training at all. 'I'm scared I won't get up it,' she says. If she approaches the mountain with customary Girls Aloud grit, she'll be the first to reach the summit.

Hair by Lisa Laudet at Frank agency. Make-up by Liz Martin at Naked.
Fashion assistants: Orsolya Szabo and Amy Li

Photographed in the Shooting Gallery at the luxurious Haymarket Hotel
1 Suffolk Place, London SW11 4BP, 020 7470 4000;
www.haymarkethotel.com. Rooms start from £250 plus VAT.

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