Bradford pop singer Kimberley Walsh is going back to her roots... by writing her autobiography.

Although most famous for her ten-year career with record-breaking pop group Girls Aloud, Kimberley, 31, of Sandy Lane, Bradford, was studying for an English degree at Trinity & All Saints College in Horsforth and had ambitions to be a journalist when she was plucked from academia by the TV talent show Popstars: The Rivals, from which the band was formed.

The Headline Publishing Group has now announced that it has acquired rights to publish Kimberley’s autobiography, which is likely to be out in September this year.

Georgina Moore at Headline said the book would naturally focus on Kimberley’s life in and around Bradford before she achieved fame with Girls Aloud.

Sarah Emsley, who acquired the book from Hillary Shaw at Shaw Thing Management, said: “Girls Aloud were a true British success story and I couldn’t be more thrilled that Kimberley has chosen this moment to tell her story.

“Her book is sure to be packed full of the warmth and laughter that makes Kimberley such a national treasure and reading it will feel like curling up on the sofa for a gossip with an old friend.”

Kimberley said: “People have been asking me to tell my story for years but it never felt right while the band was still together. Now, as we all turn the next page in our lives, it feels like the perfect time for me to share with my fans what my life is really like.”

The publicity for the book says: “In 2002 – along with Cheryl Cole, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding and Nicola Roberts – Kimberley won a place in the Popstars the Rivals band Girls Aloud, and her life changed forever. Now, ten years later, and at the moment of the split of the most successful girl band the UK has ever seen, the time has come for Kimberley – a professional, hardworking businesswoman as well as a multi-talented actress and songstress – to tell us her full story.

“What’s it like behind the scenes of a such a hugely successful super group? Was there any truth in the rumours of endless feuds within Girls Aloud? How did she manage to maintain such a strong loving relationship with her partner Justin during the ten years she was in the band and on the road? How does it feel when your best friend becomes the most famous person in the land? And, after her magnificent performance on Strictly, what’s next for the nation’s favourite northern lass?”