Coleen Nolan

Coleen Nolan
Coleen Nolan in 2009
Born	Coleen Patricia Nolan (1965-03-12) 12 March 1965 (age 48) Blackpool, Lancashire, England
Other names	Coleen Richie
Occupation	Singer, author and television presenter
Years active	1974–present
Known for	Member of The Nolans
Television	Celebrity Big Brother winner Loose Women This Morning Dancing on Ice
Spouse(s)	Shane Richie (1990–1999) Ray Fensome (2007–present)
Children	Shane Roche Jr (b. 1988) Jake Roche (b. 1992) Ciara Fensome (b. 2001)
Parents	Tommy Nolan (deceased) Maureen Nolan (deceased)
Relatives	Bernadette Nolan Maureen Nolan Linda Nolan Tommy Nolan Anne Nolan Denise Nolan Brian Nolan
Website
www.coleennolan.com

Coleen Nolan (born 12 March 1965) is an English singer, television presenter and author of Irish descent. She was the youngest member of the girl group, The Nolans, in which she sang alongside her sisters. She has since then appeared on various television shows both as a presenter and panellist (most prominently on ITV's daytime show, Loose Women) as well as appearing on reality television programmes. In 2009, she toured again with the Nolans.^[1] On 15 August 2012, Nolan entered the Celebrity Big Brother 10 house, and finished series runner-up.

Career [edit]

Nolan joined her sisters in The Nolans in 1980 when she was fifteen years old, though her first television appearance with her sisters though was on 5 February 1974 when she was almost nine years old, as The Nolans appeared on the It's Cliff Richard! television series,^[2] and she had appeared with them in the video for their 1979 single, "I'm in the Mood For Dancing", though she was not actually a part of the group at this point and did not actually perform on the song. On 14 January 1987, she appeared alongside her sisters Anne, Bernie and Maureen in the BBC sitcom Filthy Rich & Catflap.^[3]

In 2000, Nolan became a regular panellist on ITV's daytime series Loose Women. She remained with the series on and off for eleven years (taking a break to have and care for daughter Ciara). Also in 2000 she played the part of Janelle Cooper in the short comedy film, Rattler.^[4] In late 2001 she co-presented This Morning on ITV1, alongside John Leslie, on a rota basis with Twiggy.^[5]

On 4 March 2002 she was a guest contestant on the BBC comedy panel game show Never Mind the Buzzcocks.^[6] On 25 May she appeared on An Audience with Brian Conley.^[7] Later in 2002 she took part in the first series of the reality television programme Celebrity Fit Club, which followed overweight celebrities as they tried to lose weight for charity.^[8]

On 7 January 2003 she appeared in the documentary We Are Family that chronicled the success stories of various musical acts that were made up of family members.^[9] In 2002 and 2003 she was a panellist on the chat show The Wright Stuff on Five, hosted by Matthew Wright.^[8]

On 3 June 2005 Nolan took part in the first series of the ITV daytime programme, Have I Been Here Before? presented by Phillip Schofield, which offered celebrity guests the chance to see if they have lived before, in a past life, through past life regression. Nolan was said to have been a "nervous 16-year old debutante".^[10] In September 2006 Nolan returned to Celebrity Fit Club as part of the judging panel in the fourth series. On 6 October she was a guest on The Sharon Osbourne Show and ten days later was a guest on the Irish chat show, broadcast and produced by RTÉ, The Podge and Rodge Show.^[8]

In 2007, she featured in television advertisements for the supermarket chain Iceland, along with her sister Bernie, and former Loose Women colleague Kerry Katona. She appeared in further commercials for Iceland during the next couple of years.

In early 2008 she brought out a DVD, A Brand New You, produced with Rosemary Conley.^[11] She made a guest appearance on Al Murray's Happy Hour on ITV on 19 September,^[8] and on 27 September she starred along with her sister Linda, her two sons Shane and Jake and her brother Tommy on the third series of All-Star Family Fortunes competing against Barry McGuigan and his family. She also made guest appearances on Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong (31 October) and The Paul O'Grady Show (18 December), both on Channel 4.^[8] Also in December she released a fitness DVD, Coleen Nolan's Disco Burn.^[11]

In 2009, Nolan took part in the fourth series of Dancing On Ice on ITV1, which began on 11 January. Of her appearance on the show Nolan said, "I've never really skated. When I was 14, I used to go to Disco Beat in Blackpool with my friend. We'd skate round once, hanging on to each other, and spend the rest of the night posing, like 14-year-old girls do. I could only go forwards, I couldn't stop!"^[11] She was eliminated in week ten, finishing in fourth place.

In April 2009, she presented the programme, The Truth About... Eternal Youth about plastic surgery on ITV1. In late April, her autobiography, Upfront and Personal was published.^[12]

The Nolans reformed in 2009 for a UK tour to mark the 30th anniversary of the release of I’m in the Mood for Dancing.^[1]

Nolan has a weekly column in Best magazine^[13] and a parenting column in the Daily Mirror.^[14]

In 2010, Nolan presented The Secret Guide To Women's Health on Sky Real Lives.^[15] She also co-hosted, with Ben Shephard, Dancing On Ice Friday on ITV1.^[16]

On 6 September 2010, Nolan returned to the ITV programme This Morning, presenting the viewer interactive segments. She left on 13 June 2012.^[17]

She was the new face of Park Christmas Savings and appeared in their TV adverts in December 2010.

On 27 February 2011, Nolan hosted Dancing on Ice, in place Holly Willoughby who was ill.^[18]

On 16 March 2011, Nolan announced she would be leaving Loose Women after 11 years on the show,^[19] she made her last appearance as a panellist on 28 July 2011.^[20]

On 15 August 2012, Nolan was announced as the eleventh celebrity to enter the Celebrity Big Brother house on Channel 5.^[21] On 7 September 2012 she was declared the runner-up of the series.^[22]

On 13 September 2012 she was a panellist for Celebrity Juice on ITV2.

On 15 February 2013 she stood in for Matthew Wright as host of The Wright Stuff on Channel 5.

Personal life [edit]

Nolan was born and brought up in Blackpool. She married Shane Richie in 1990, and they had two sons, Shane Roche Jr (born 2 December 1988) and Jake Roche (born 16 September 1992) together before splitting up in 1997^[23] and divorcing in 1999. She gave birth to a daughter, Ciara, on Tuesday 19 June 2001 and became engaged to her longtime boyfriend Ray Fensome (a musician who is from Leeds, West Yorkshire)^[11] when he proposed on her 40th birthday in 2005. They married in November 2007.^{[citation needed]}

Nolan has undertaken charity work for the Alzheimer's Society, including cycling the Nile River in Egypt.^{[citation needed]} Her late mother, Maureen, was a sufferer. In 2006 Nolan opened the first Alzheimer's Society information centre on the Fylde coast.^[24]

Nolan's mother died on 30 December 2007.^[25]

In March 2008, Nolan supported a Learn Direct national campaign to improve English and maths skills,^[26] and in April she helped launch Sentry Parental Controls, a real-time content-control software that that logs, notifies and blocks inappropriate internet content that may be unsuitable for children.^[27][28]

In January 2008, Nolan claimed that various slimming techniques had enabled her to drop five dress sizes and 5 stone (70 lb) in weight to 8 st 13 lb and size 10.^[11] Whilst participating on Dancing on Ice, Nolan had a cancer scare after finding a lump in her breast, but was later given the all-clear.^[29]

Controversies [edit]

Nolan has gained media attention at times for controversial statements and opinions. In 2005, on Loose Women she claimed that if her 16-year-old son passed his exams then she would pay for him to go on a sex trip to Amsterdam and that she had given her fiancé Ray Fensome permission to have a one-night stand during the proposed trip. She was criticised by Shane Richie, who said he was "disgusted and appalled" by her comments about their son, and that he hoped and assumed "it was said in total jest. I can assure everyone that having passed his GCSEs fingers crossed Shane Jr will not be going to Amsterdam". English doctor and author Miriam Stoppard said of Nolan's comments, "the world's gone insane" and claimed that Nolan seemed to be shirking her responsibilities to deliver sex education. However, Nolan defended her comments saying that she had told her son that she would pay for a long weekend for him anywhere in the world and that he had mentioned how he and his mates had "always wanted to go to Amsterdam to see the red light district. If he planned to go on a trip to Ibiza everybody would have thought that was fine, even though he would probably have unprotected sex with lots of girls."^[23][30] In the News of the World newspaper she said, "In an ideal world I'd never condone my son sleeping with hookers, but it's a fact of life that boys of his age have casual sex. So if I'm pushed, I'd rather he does it somewhere well-policed and where the girls have health checks than behind the wall of a club in Ibiza with absolutely no safeguards." And added about her comments about Fensome, "In all honesty, I couldn't care less [if he does]. What bothers me more is the thought of Ray going into a bar, chatting up a really stunning girl, having sex with her, spending the night and waking up with her the next morning. I couldn't cope with that."^[31]

In January 2007, Nolan courted further controversy when, during a debate on Loose Women about gay adoption, she stated her opinion that gay people should not be allowed to adopt children,^[32] and said that "there's only so much I want to accept".^[33][12]

Bibliography [edit]

• Upfront and Personal: The Autobiography (2009)
• Mum to Mum: Happy Memories and Honest Advice, From a Real Mum (2010)
• Envy (2010)

Appearances [edit]

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Official website
• Daily Mirror column
• Coleen Nolan at the Internet Movie Database