Sarah Harding - Early Life

Early Life

Harding was born in Ascot, Berkshire. She was raised together with her two half brothers in Staines, Surrey, then Stockport, Greater Manchester. She grew up in a musical household and has attributed her "musical genes" to her musician father, John Adam Hardman, who introduced her to the studio at a very young age. She attended Hazel Grove High School from 1993 to 1998, and later attended Stockport College where she studied hair and beauty. When she was 15, her father left her mother. Harding's parents subsequently divorced. She has no contact with her father, who remarried in 2007.

She then worked as part of the promotions team for 2 nightclubs in The Grand Central Leisure Park in Stockport as well as waitressing at Pizza Hut, driving a van, debt collecting and as a BT telephone operator. She also toured North West England performing at pubs, social clubs, and caravan parks to support herself. In 2002, she was recording dance tracks when she decided to audition for Popstars: The Rivals. She auditioned both for being a contestant on UK talent-search shows Fame Academy and Popstars: The Rivals and it was in the latter where she found fame, pulling out of Fame Academy after being accepted into the first sound of Popstars. Harding also entered FHM's High Street Honeys 2002, the magazine's national beauty contest. Her pictures appeared in the top 100, but Harding withdrew upon achieving success on Popstars.