Nadine Coyle was a member of Girls Aloud , one of the biggest British girl groups of all time. Now, she lives in relative anonymity in California.
Nadine Coyle performs in Lord of the Dance, 2014.
Brian Doherty
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — A few miles past the Orange County line on Pacific Coast Highway sits a small pub, steps from the beach. Yelp reviewers of Nadine's Irish Mist praise the joint's authentic Irish food and impeccable bloody marys. What they don't mention, though, is the identity of the pub's owner, who happens to be one of the most celebrated Irish singers of the past decade.
Nadine Coyle, 29, moved to California seven years ago, when she was still a member of Girls Aloud, a British girl group that sold 10 million albums worldwide, racked up a record 21 consecutive top ten hits on the UK chart from 2002 to 2009, and won a Brit award. The group was between albums when they first visited Los Angeles to record an unreleased cover of Chris Isaak's “Wicked Games.”
“I thought it was just the most amazing place I had ever seen,” she said in her strong Irish accent, sitting in the pub Tuesday afternoon.
During the trip, she was in a cab with Brian Higgins — the songwriter and producer behind Girls Aloud's hits — on her way to replace a lost phone. Stopped at La Cienega Boulevard, she remembered telling him, “Brian, I'm going to move here.” Today, she's lived in Southern California longer than she lived in London.
Tuesday was the first time Coyle had been to the pub since January. “That needs painting,” she said, looking around noticing minor touch ups the building needs.
But the absence is justified. Four months ago, she gave birth to her first daughter, Anaiya, and has signed on to perform in Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games, the latest incarnation of the popular Irish musical created by dancer Michael Flatley.
Flatley approached her last year about the project after she had recently finished the Girls Aloud ten year reunion tour — the group's first since a three-year hiatus. “I was still in tour mode,” she said, and Flatley's offer was appealing.
“He knows exactly what he's talking about because he's been doing it for all these years, so everything is so professional,” Coyle says. “It's got the Irish connection, and yet it's such a huge show and I was being booked to go on there and sing as part of the show. Not Nadine from Girls Aloud doing this show, but as a different type of thing.”
She has 24 performances scheduled at the London Palladium beginning in September and sings three songs in the show, including “Dangerous Games.”
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