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Sarah Harding: Encouraged others to take precautionary measures
Photo: Yui Mok / dpa
Sarah Harding is dead. The singer of the British band Girls Aloud died of breast cancer at the age of 39.
She "fell asleep peacefully," says a message on Instagram attributed to Harding's mother Marie.
"She struggled so hard, from diagnosis to her last day."
The musician went public with her cancer diagnosis a year ago.
Harding announced in August 2020 that she had been diagnosed with advanced breast cancer.
"I fight as hard as I can," she wrote on Instagram about a picture of herself from the hospital.
She later stated that Christmas was likely to be her last.
Band colleagues "devastated"
In March 2021, she published an autobiography, among other things to encourage others to seek medical advice if necessary - even during the corona pandemic.
"As scary as it was to go public with my diagnosis, it was the right decision, and the amount of support I've received is incredible," Harding said at the time.
The women's band Girls Aloud was one of the most successful music groups in Great Britain in the 2000s.
She became known, among other things, with the song "Sound of the Underground" and the cover of the Van Halen song "Jump".
After her death, fans on the Internet as well as the greats of the British music and television scene reacted in dismay.
Harding's former Girls Aloud comrades-in-arms Nicola Roberts and Nadine Coyle were "devastated".
The band emerged as the winning quintet from the British talent show "Popstars The Rivals" in 2002 and was particularly successful in Great Britain, but also had many fans outside of the UK.
They split in 2013 after selling more than four million singles in the UK.
apr / dpa / AFP