Coleen Nolan

On 5 February 1974, Nolan made her first television appearance with her sisters when she was almost nine years old, as the Nolans appeared on the It's Cliff Richard! television series.[2] With the line-up featuring all six sisters and billed as The Nolan Sisters, they performed "Stuck on You". That same year they released their debut single, "But I Do", with Nolan singing lead vocals. Owing to her age, Nolan would not become a full-time member of the group until 1980, when she was fifteen, although she does appear in the music video to their 1979 hit "I'm In the Mood for Dancing", which reached number three in the UK singles chart.

The group had further UK top twenty hits with "Don't Make Waves" (1980), "Gotta Pull Myself Together" (1980), "Who's Gonna Rock You" (1981), "Attention to Me" (1981), "Chemistry" (1981) and "Don't Love Me Too Hard" (1982). In 1981, they won the Tokyo Music Festival with the song "Sexy Music".

On 14 January 1987, Nolan appeared alongside her sisters Anne, Bernie and Maureen in the BBC sitcom Filthy Rich & Catflap.[3] In 1991, the group won a 33rd Japan Record Awards Kikaku-shō (Prize for Planning) for Cover version of Japanese pops.[4] Nolan left the group in 1994 to concentrate on raising a family, although she did return briefly in 1995 to promote a re-recorded version of "I'm in the Mood for Dancing".

In 2000, Nolan became a regular panellist on ITV's Loose Women. She has been with the series on and off for the last 20 years. She left Loose Women on 28 July 2011[5] only to return again on 7 October 2013 as a regular panellist.[6] Since July 2014 Nolan has also been an occasional anchor of the show.

Nolan presented the programme, The Truth About... Eternal Youth about plastic surgery on ITV in 2009, and presented The Secret Guide To Women's Health in 2010 on Sky Real Lives.[7]

In 2000, Nolan played the part of Janelle Cooper in the short comedy film, Rattler.[8]

Beginning on 11 January 2009 Nolan took part in the fourth series of Dancing on Ice on ITV. 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!"[9] She was eliminated in week 10, finishing in fourth place. She went on to co-host the spin-off show Dancing on Ice Friday with Ben Shephard in 2010.[10] and on 27 February 2011, she hosted Dancing on Ice, in place of Holly Willoughby who fell ill.[11]

On 15 August 2012, Nolan was announced as the eleventh celebrity to enter the Celebrity Big Brother house on Channel 5.[12]

In 2013, Nolan was a resident agony aunt on the ITV chat show The Alan Titchmarsh Show, appearing on the show every Friday. In 2015 she took part in ITV's Give a Pet a Home series which worked alongside the RSPCA in Birmingham.[13] The show began airing in April 2015, with Amanda Holden as host.

In 2017, Nolan participated in Celebrity Big Brother again. In the house she struck up a friendship with Game of Thrones actor James Cosmo. On day 18 she was put up for eviction by Jamie O'Hara during a nominations twist in the superheroes shopping task. On day 19 it was revealed that Nolan received the most votes out of her, Chloe Ferry, Kim Woodburn and Jedward in a live flash vote. Also on day 19, she voted for Cosmo to gain eternal immunity which he eventually won after the most housemates voted for him. On Day 32 (3 February), she was announced as the winner of Celebrity Big Brother 19.

On 3 September 2018, Nolan announced that she would embark on her first solo concert tour, the Never Too Late Tour, in 2019.[14] Originally scheduled to begin on 11 January, the tour was postponed indefinitely on 6 September 2018.[15]

Nolan is the youngest of eight children and the only one born in England. She married Shane Richie in 1990, and they had two sons before splitting up in 1997[24] and divorcing in 1999.[25]

She gave birth to a daughter, Ciara, on 19 June 2001 and became engaged to her longtime boyfriend Ray Fensome (a musician from Leeds)[9] when he proposed on her 40th birthday in 2005. They married in November 2007.[26] On 6 February 2018, Nolan announced that she and Fensome were getting divorced after two years of marital difficulties.[26] The divorce was finalised in mid-December 2018, and Nolan said that she and Fensome have been able to remain good friends with each other since the divorce.[27]

In December 2020, she revealed live on Loose Women that she was dating a man two years after her divorce from Fensome.[28]

Her late mother, Maureen, had Alzheimer's. In 2006 Nolan opened the first Alzheimer's Society information centre on the Fylde coast.[29] Maureen passed on 30 December 2007.[30]

Nolan has, at various times, made controversial statements and opinions. In 2005, on Loose Women, she said 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.[31] She gained criticism from 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."[32] However, Nolan defended her comments with assumption, 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.[24][33] 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." In relation to her giving Ray Fensome permission to have a one-night stand, she said: "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."[34]

In January 2007, during a debate on Loose Women about gay adoption, Nolan said that gay people should not be allowed to adopt children,[35] followed by her opinion that "there's only so much I want to accept".[36][37] In May 2015 she compared gay rights with supporting ISIS and said that bakery owners should be permitted to discriminate against same-sex couples who wish to buy a wedding cake. Her comments were made on Loose Women after a Belfast bakery company was successfully sued for refusing to bake a cake in support of same-sex marriage. Following the show, some viewers took to Twitter and called for ITV to dismiss Nolan for making the comments.[37][38]

In August 2018 she and fellow panellists Linda Nolan, Janet Street-Porter, Linda Robson alongside guest Kim Woodburn caused controversy due to their actions in an on-air argument following a feud between Nolan and Kim Woodburn, which led to the latter leaving the show during an advertisement break. Woodburn, with whom Coleen had an onscreen history of a sour relationship due to comments and claims made from both parties (see Celebrity Big Brother), had been invited on the show to reconcile with Nolan and accepted although she claimed it was due to the money. The row led to over 8,000 complaints to Ofcom, with a majority having a focal point on Nolan and her fellow panellists 'bullying Woodburn'.[39] She took a break from Loose Women and also postponed her 'Never Too Late' solo concert tour.[40] In her defense, her management company said that she was not strong enough to handle the criticism and it was unknown when she would return but it was assured that she is still a member of the Loose Women panel. She returned to the panel on 3 December 2018 and apologised on This Morning in September 2018 if anyone was offended stating that "she wouldn't want to see anybody in that much distress".[41]

• Official website
• Coleen Nolan at IMDb