Kym Marsh

Kimberley Gail Marsh (previously Ryder, Lomas and Ratcliff; born 13 June 1976) is an English actress, television presenter and singer.

Marsh was born on 13 June 1976 in Whiston Hospital in Whiston, Merseyside to Pauline and David Marsh, who lived in Garswood, Ashton in Makerfield, Metropolitan Borough of Wigan.

She has two older brothers and one older sister.

Her father was a joiner and in his spare time was the lead guitarist for the band Ricky and the Dominant Four who were a supporting act to The Beatles at The Cavern Club.

She attended Byrchall High School in Ashton-in-Makerfield and the Elliot Clarke Stage School in Liverpool for two years, leaving when she was 15.

Marsh provided session vocals for artists including Matt Darey, the group Freaky Realistic and the duo Hemstock & Jennings.

She sang in Norwegian on the latter's track "Arctic", which caught the attention of Paul van Dyk, and was remixed and re-recorded with additional vocals from Jan Johnston.

The track, renamed "Nothing But You", was released in the UK via Positiva and reached number 14 in the UK charts.

In late 2000, Marsh auditioned for the ITV talent show Popstars.

She was one of the five singers chosen for the newly formed band Hear'Say, along with Danny Foster, Myleene Klass, Suzanne Shaw and Noel Sullivan.

In 2001, she won a place in the band Hear'Say as a result of appearing on the reality television series Popstars.

In March 2001, Hear'Say released their first single "Pure and Simple", a cover of a track by Girl Thing.

She was hailed by her girl bandmates as 'the funniest out of the bunch’.

The song went straight to number 1 on the UK Singles Chart in March 2001, selling just under 550,000 copies.

The group then released their second single, "The Way to Your Love," in June 2001.

The song became their second consecutive number 1 single.

Shortly afterwards the group toured the UK.

Hear'Say enjoyed brief success, achieving two UK number one singles and a UK number one album, but Marsh left the band in 2002 to pursue a solo career.

In January 2002, Marsh announced that she was leaving Hear'Say.

Auditions were held to find a replacement for her, but the group split up in October 2002.

After a while out of the spotlight Marsh signed a solo record deal with Island Records.

Her first single, "Cry", went to number 2 in the UK Singles Chart and her second single, "Come on Over," made it to number 10.

She released an album titled Standing Tall in 2003, which peaked at number nine in the UK and spawned two UK top ten singles.

In July 2003, Marsh released her debut solo album, Standing Tall, which peaked at number 9 in the UK.

It contained three solo singles and twelve other tracks.

However, her make-or-break third single, "Sentimental", stalled at number 35, and that resulted in her being dropped by her record label.

Marsh made her television acting debut in 2005, in an episode of the BBC One soap opera Doctors, playing a character called Ruth Parry.

That same year, she also became a regular panellist on ITV's daytime show Loose Women for its eighth series.

From 2006 to 2019, she portrayed Michelle Connor on the ITV soap opera Coronation Street.

In early 2006, Marsh entered Making Your Mind Up with a song titled "Whisper to Me", a show intended to pick a singer and a song for the UK entry in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Marsh came fourth in the contest, which was won by Daz Sampson.

In 2006, she played sex worker Kay Price in the first 2 episodes of Channel 4's soap opera Hollyoaks: In the City.

Marsh joined the cast of Coronation Street, playing Michelle Connor from April 2006 a role she held until 2019.

She won the British Soap Award for Best Newcomer at the 2007 British Soap Awards, as well as winning the Newcomer category at the 2007 National Television Awards and being nominated for Best Female Dramatic Performance at the 2017 British Soap Awards.

For her role on the show she has subsequently received Newcomer awards at the 2007 British Soap Awards and the 2007 National Television Awards, among others.

Becoming a regular character, her storylines have included a serious relationship with Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson), discovering that her son had been swapped at birth, the death of her eldest brother Paul (Sean Gallagher) and the murder of her other brother Liam (Rob James-Collier), her failed engagement to Ciaran McCarthy (Keith Duffy), surviving a minibus crash, becoming pregnant with Steve's baby, learning that Steve has also impregnated Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson), delivering a stillborn son Ruairi and being stalked by her ex-boyfriend Will (Leon Ockenden).

Other storylines have focused on the relationships with her sisters-in-law, Carla (Alison King) and Maria (Samia Ghadie), as well as her relationship with Robert Preston (Tristan Gemmill) after the collapse of her marriage to Steve.

In 2010, she finished in fourth place on Popstar to Operastar, a reality show featuring well-known pop stars being trained to sing opera.

Since October 2020, Marsh has co-fronted the BBC One morning lifestyle programme Morning Live alongside Welsh presenter Gethin Jones.

From 2023, Marsh appeared in the revival of the BBC school drama series Waterloo Road.