Cole was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England and lived in an inner city district called Heaton. She is one of five children - one younger brother, Garry, and two half-brothers - Andrew and Joseph, and one half-sister Gillian.

In addition to dancing, Cole won many modelling competitions, including Boots Group's bonniest baby, Mothercare Happy Faces Portrait competition, Best Looking Girl of Newcastle, The Evening Chronicle 'Little Miss & Mister' and Most Attractive Girl at the MetroCentre. She also appeared in two British Gas adverts, an SCS advert, and an Eldon Square Christmas advert with younger brother Garry. Interested in dancing from an early age, Cole joined the Royal Ballet's,summer school at the age of nine. She sang, modelled and appeared in recitals on some television shows.

After reaching number 7 in FHM's 100 sexiest women 2008 poll, , Cole was voted "Sexiest Woman In the World" in the 2009 poll. In February 2009, Cole appeared on the cover of British Vogue.

Cole auditioned for Popstars The Rivals in 2002, singing S Club 7's "Have You Ever". She was the first person to be chosen for Girls Aloudwhich has gone on to be one of the most successful British pop groups of the decade.

After taking streetdancing classes during the filming of Passions of Girls Aloudseries, Cole was picked to appear in the music video for will.i.am's single "Heartbreaker". She was later asked to sing additional vocals on the track. The song was released in the UK on 5 May 2008, but had already entered the top ten on download sales, peaking at number 4 in the UK Singles Chart.

On June 10, 2008, it was announced Cole would replace Sharon Osbourneas a judge for the fifth series of The X Factor.

Cole climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in an event arranged by Gary Barlow. Also participating in the event were fellow Girls Aloudmember Kimberley Walsh, Gary Barlow, Ben Shepard, Alesha Dixon Denise Van Outen, Fearne Cotton Chris Moyles and Ronan Keating

On 27th April 2009, MTV reported that rumours suggesting Cole had been working on solo material had been confirmed and that a solo album would be released in the interim period prior to the scheduled release of the next Girls Aloudalbum in Autumn 2010.

In July 2006, Tweedy married footballer Ashley Cole in Barnet, North West London. They had been together since September 2004. In January 2008, the couple almost separated after allegations were made that Cole had an affair with a waitress, however he denied the allegations, and has stayed with Cheryl. She now vows never to let the press get so involved with her personal life as she feels if she had done this in the first place then none of the allegations would have happened.