Cheryl Cole dropping her surname

Cheryl Cole is following in the footsteps of Madonna and Rihanna by dropping hersurname. The Girls Aloud star, who still has ex Ashley's last name, would now like to be known as Cheryl,reported the Sun. ''Cheryl is beginning a new chapter in her life so she doesn't want to be associatedwith negative stuff from the past, a source said. ''She's not removing Cole legally, it's just a careerstatement. She's in a really good place at the moment and wants to take life by the balls, the sourceadded. ''She can't wait to start performing live again and her new stage name has given her comebackan extra bit of spice.''