The Spice Girls are a British pop group that achieved popularity in Europe and a number of other countries in the second half of the 1990s. Their albums have sold more than 50 million copies worldwide.
How did it all start? And it all started quite quietly, by 1993 the pop music scene was captured by boy bands, East 17 and Take That were perhaps the most famous of them. And two managers, father and son - Bob and Chris Herbert, decided to create a group consisting only of girls. Many music analysts then thought that this would be a complete failure, because female fans did not need girl groups at that time, and guys also listened more to boy bands. So, in March 1993, a small advertisement appeared in a London newspaper: “A competition is being announced for girls with good vocal abilities to participate in a new group.” About 700 applicants responded to that advertisement. There were several auditions, the final of which was almost missed by future participant Melanie C due to a severe cold.
But the auditions ended, and four girls were selected for the future group. Here are the names of those lucky girls: Melanie Chisholm, Victoria Adams, Melanie Brown and Michelle Stevenson. The group was planned to consist of five people, and then the vacancy of the fifth girl was offered to Geri Halliwell, who had not passed the casting before, but was sent to audition, which was successful. So, the group was formed and became known as Touch. Meanwhile, the band's managers (the same two who made up The Herberts' production company) continued to seek a record deal for the band, as well as giving the band songs written by outside writers and giving the band dance teachers to learn how to dance. But the group members quickly began to show independence, they wanted to write songs themselves and come up with dances for them, and naturally conflicts arose between managers and girls.
The group existed in this composition for about 7 months, when, due to personal problems, Michelle was forced to leave the group. To replace her, they pulled out another girl who was auditioning for the group at the very beginning. Her name was Abigail Kis, and almost nothing is known about her, only that after a month spent getting to know the group, she refused to participate for the sake of her boyfriend. And then the group’s singing teacher remembered one of his former students, to whom he once gave singing lessons and was then delighted with the girl’s voice and hearing. He tracked her down and offered her a place in the group, and she accepted. The girl's name was Emma Lee Bunton, and she was the youngest in the group, then she was only 17 years old.
It's 1994. One day, while working out in the gym, Geri and Melanie C suddenly came up with the word Spice, and they liked it so much that they immediately suggested to the others: “Shouldn’t we rename our group Spice?!” Everyone liked the name, but it only turned out that a group with that name already existed in England. Without further ado, and adding Girls, the group has since become known as the Spice Girls, and this is the name that brought them such success in the future, and the name by which they are still known and which is always implied when their slogan is pronounced, which has become their calling card -Girl Power.
Meanwhile, conflicts with managers who imposed songs and style on the girls in everything became more frequent, and in the end they got tired of it and fired them, becoming completely independent. Then they lived in a tiny London apartment, and continued to intensively train in dancing, singing, and also wrote songs themselves. The group was then taken on as producer by Simon Fuller, who was already quite famous. A year and a half later, in August 1995, this man received a contract for the girls with Virgin Records to release the group’s discs around the world. Meanwhile, the girls continued to write songs and work in the studio on recordings, and also improved their dancing skills. And now, their time has come. In June 1996, a Wannabe video appeared on British MTV, which aroused unprecedented interest in the girls who appeared in the video, then completely unknown to anyone. In July, the single Wannabe is released, which the very next week soars to the top of the UK hit parade, where it remains for the next 7 weeks - a completely unprecedented period for this hit parade!
The following years were filled with nothing but the stunning success of the Spice Girls. Climbing to the top of the British and American charts with each of his singles, not to mention the rest of the world, completely “stealing” the 1997 Brit Awards, and then presenting his own film “SpiceWorld” at the Cannes Film Festival, simultaneously with the release of his second album, Touring Europe for 6 months, performing at Prince Charles's birthday party, meeting Nelson Mandela during concerts in South Africa, and collecting countless awards - these are just some of the things the Spice Girls have achieved.
1998 was the year of incredible popularity of the Spice Girls in America, where both of their albums managed to simultaneously appear in the Top 10 of the Billboard chart! And at the Brit Awards "98 in February, the girls received a special prize for the biggest sales in the world, and then performed a stunning live remix of the song Stop. It was time to go on a world tour, and The SpiceWorld world tour began with a concert in Dublin on February 24, where the amazing show received rave reviews from all over the local and non-local press. The girls traveled throughout Europe, America and Canada during the tour, visiting nearly 100 cities as part of their tour. When tickets to New York's Madison Square Garden for the July 1st concert arrived at sale, all 14 and a half thousand tickets sold out in a record 12 minutes, and tickets for one of their Los Angeles shows sold out in 7 minutes.
However, before the American leg of the tour, one event occurred that undoubtedly became a sensation for many months. One of the clues came during their last European concert at the end of May, before heading to America, when only four members took the stage. The girls explained Jeri's absence due to her poor health. But alas. The Fab Five became a foursome on Sunday, May 31, 1998, when Ginger Spice, Geri Halliwell, officially left the group "due to differences of opinion," according to a press release. Incredibly, Geri's departure only showed how much the Spice Girls had become youth idols when, in the same week, tragic columns in English newspapers of attempted suicides, both unsuccessful and unfortunately successful, were replenished by many young girls who were so affected by the split in the group . Thousands of their peers and contemporaries were in tears. However, the four Spice did not think of disappearing, and on June 9 they came to a charity concert to help Pavarotti’s children, where they sang with him, and then that same week their big tour of North America began. They declared, "We're as strong as ever," and indeed, there was no sign of the band breaking up. The tour ended with a stunning show at Wembley Stadium in London on September 20, 1998, in front of over 50,000 fans.
In November-December 1998, the girls recorded another hit, Good-bye, which was released on Christmas. The single took its rightful place at number one in the UK charts, thus bringing the total number of Christmas chart toppers to three. Only the Beatles can boast the same result.
Three years of hard work that the Spice Girls did, and of course the girls had to take a time out. According to them, over all these years they had at most 10 free days a year. And the first half of 1999 was thus chosen by the girls in order to relax. Back in September 1998, Melanie Bee married band dancer Jimmy Gulzar, and in February they had a daughter, Phoenix Key. Just a few weeks later, another couple, Victoria Adams and David Beckham, gave birth to a son, Brooklyn Joseph. The couple got married on July 4th in Ireland. Victoria Adams became known as Victoria Beckham.
But the Spice Girls have always been known as workaholics, so after resting for six months and getting a good night's sleep, in August 1999 they returned to the studio to record their much-anticipated 3rd album by fans. And shortly before this, after a very successful try at a solo career as a duet with Bryan Adams on the song "When You"re Gone", one of the group members, Melanie C, flew to Los Angeles to record her own solo album Northern Star, which was released in November 1999.
Mel B's solo efforts, with the singles "I Want You Back" and then "Word Up", also led her into a solo career, which resulted in an album released in October 2000, entitled "Hot". The rest of the group members also managed to try themselves in solo work on songs, and in other new areas of show business. Victoria played the role of a model, and Emma began to appear more and more on television as the host of music shows. She had her own show, simply called Emma, on VH-1 for several months, and then in August 2000 she was given the opportunity to host the hit UK music show CD:UK, where she received rave reviews for her work as a TV presenter.
The girls made a career not defending themselves from critics, but simply not paying attention to them. Breaking many worldwide popularity records, they played for the Royal Family, won countless awards and entertained millions, made a successful film and redefined pop music. Their achievements were recognized at the Brit Awards 2000 with a non-competitive award for "Outstanding Contribution to British Pop Music". It is clear that the limit of these girls' capabilities is somewhere far in the sky.
After releasing two successful albums (with 53 million records sold, an unsurpassed record for a girl group before the rise of Destiny's Child), Halliwell left the group to pursue a solo career. The four remaining members of the group released a relatively unsuccessful album in 2000, followed by who also took up their own projects, although the breakup of the group was not officially announced.
Not long ago, the Spice Girls officially announced their reunion and announced a world concert tour on their official website.
The tour will begin with a performance on December 7, 2007 in Los Angeles. In two months, the Spice Girls also plan to visit Las Vegas, New York, London, Cologne, Madrid, Beijing, Hong Kong, Sydney, Cape Town and Buenos Aires.
Rumors about the revival of the group have been circulating in the media for a long time, but received official confirmation only now.
“It’s all nostalgia. But if new fans want to join the old fans, that will be great. I would like to believe that our songs are universal and exist outside of time. I hope young people will like them too,” said Jerry Halliwell, one of the band members.
Albums:
1996 Spice
1997 Spiceworld
2000 Forever
2007 Greatest Hits
A real phenomenon in the history of modern music! The Spice Girls are the most famous girl group with millions of fans around the world. Its participants combine intelligence and beauty, kindness and fun, inexhaustible energy and a sense of style. The Spice Girls group, whose line-up was not formed immediately, burst onto the UK scene back in 1996. Her calling card was her special style and the phrase Girl Power. Literally after a year of the girls’ work, the whole world started talking about them, comparing them with the legendary Beatles.
Interestingly, the composition of the Spice Girls group was different at first. Bob and Chris Herbert, father and son, decided to create a girl group, since male groups confidently ruled the stages. Experts immediately predicted failure for them, but that was not the case. Around 1993, a casting was announced, which attracted about seven hundred applicants. After auditions, the producers chose four girls: Melanie Chissom, Michelle Stevenson and Melanie Brown. They invited her to play the role of the fifth vocalist. However, the Spice Girls, whose lineup is given above, had a different name: Touch. The girls got to know each other, learned to sing together, danced, and prepared for future performances. However, the team immediately did not like the fact that the producers gave them ready-made songs and choreographed dances. They wanted to do everything themselves.
Michelle left after seven months and was replaced by Abigail Keys, who also left the group a month later. So among the “peppercorns” appeared seventeen-year-old Emma Lee Bunton, who was recommended by a singing teacher. So, this was the beginning of a new stage for the team, which was still not called the Spice Girls. The composition was formed, and the new name was invented by Geri and Melanie C. In 1994, the girls quit, but came together again to conquer the world with their own creations.
The lead singers of the Spice Girls became the wards of the famous producer Simon Fuller, who concluded several lucrative contracts for them and literally brought them to the star Olympus. In June 1996, the British channel MTV aired the Wannabe video, which reached the top of the charts within a month and stayed there for seven weeks. Then everything was like in a fairy tale: interest in the group increases sharply, it is in demand and popular. Concerts, new songs and videos, tours around Europe and the world were accompanied by receiving various awards. In 1998, America fell at the feet of the “peppercorns”.
The hard work, and perhaps that of the participants, affected their well-coordinated team. The Fab Five have become a foursome since Geri Halliwell, aka Ginger Spice, left. For fans of the depleted Spice Girls, it was a tragedy: young girls took their own lives and cried all night long. But the group did not disappear from the stage, but delighted fans with new hits and amazing shows.
However, over time, girls began to get married and become mothers. There was less and less time left for the group, especially since some members began to think about a solo career (Mel B and Mel C). Posh Spice (aka Vicky Adams) became a model and designer, and Emma became a TV presenter. It would seem that the triumphant march of the Spice Girls was over, but during the London Olympics in 2012, they performed in front of the audience with the same lineup. Fans immediately started talking about the reunion of the “peppercorns”. Why not?
Victoria Adams was born into a fairly wealthy family. In 1994, she came to the group’s casting, beat out several hundred competitors and became one of the “spice.” After the Spice Girls broke up, Victoria tried to sing solo, but it didn't work out well for her. Then she married the famous football player David Beckham, took her husband's surname and began designing clothes. Now Victoria Beckham is known as a successful designer, style icon, and mother of four children. Her clothing collections receive worldwide recognition and are sold in more than 60 countries. Last year alone, she earned $48 million.
Emma Bunton (Bebbie-Spice)
Emma Bunton joined the Spice Girls on the recommendation of her vocal coach. After the collapse of the group, the girl took up a solo career; her first two discs sold well in Britain and Germany, but the third was not successful. So Emma decided to leave the stage to become a mother, and she gave birth to two sons with singer Jade Jones. In the late 2000s, Bunton judged contestants on the X-Factor show and evaluated contestants on the British version of Dancing on Ice. Now Emma works as a DJ at one of the British radio stations, plays in musicals and periodically acts in films - Emma’s filmography already includes 9 films.
Geri Halliwell (Ginger-Spice)
Before joining the group, Geri Halliwell worked as a nightclub dancer, fashion model and television game show host. She gained the reputation of one of the most scandalous "spice" - numerous novels, sexy outfits and nude photos in magazines. All this made her incredibly popular. After the breakup of the group, the singer had the most successful solo career. In addition to music, the girl tried herself as a clothing designer and TV presenter. And in 2007, she entered into a contract with a major publishing house for six children’s books and published two autobiographies. Geri had many affairs and had a daughter with screenwriter Sasha Gervasi. And last year, Geri married the head of one of the Formula 1 teams, Christian Horner. Halliwell dreams of opening a private free school in London and introducing the most modern educational methods there. Rumor has it that she has started recording a new album, which she plans to release this year.
Mel C (Sporty-Spice)
Melanie Jane Chisholm, better known as Mel C, was nicknamed Sporty Spice for her style of dressing. Mel is the only professional vocalist in the group. After leaving the Spice Girls, the girl made a very successful solo career: she has six albums and 11 singles to her credit, which topped the UK consolidated chart. In addition, Melanie tried herself as an actress - she played in the London musical Blood Brothers. Now the singer is involved in charity work and continues to perform. Mel C is single and had a 10-year relationship with developer Thomas Starr, with whom she had a daughter, Scarlett Starr.
Melanie Brown (Scary-Spice)
Melanie Brown, or Mel B, has dreamed of a musical career since childhood. She, like other participants, saw an advertisement in the newspaper about recruitment to the group. In parallel with her participation in the Spice Girls, Melanie pursued a solo career, but this did not help her after the breakup of the group. The girl released several successful singles and then stopped talking. Mel B now lives in California with her husband, film producer Stephen Belafonte, and three daughters.
Do you remember how these five girls rocked it? In the 90s, only the lazy did not know the legendary"peppercorns" . Then every teenager on the planet was a fan of their songs, and posters depicting the group’s soloists decorated the room of any self-respecting schoolgirl. These girls were definitely role models. Admit that you also did ponytails like Baby Spice, dreamed of shoes with a huge platform like Scary Spice, and looked with envy at older girls who wore tops like Ginger Spice.
The most popular and commercially successful girl group, which began its existence in 1994 and disbanded in 2000, has released only three studio albums, selling more than 75 million copies worldwide. Despite the fact that the group has been gone for a long time, fans continue to love their work and dream of a reunion of the girls!
In the meantime, PEOPLETALK decided to find out how the fates of the members of the Spice Girls turned out after the breakup of the group and what they are doing today.
Victoria Beckham, née Adams, was born into a fairly wealthy British family. In 1994, having seen an advertisement in the newspaper about recruitment for a group and beating several hundred competitors at the audition, the girl became one of the “spice” players. After the group broke up, she tried to start a solo career, but failed. It was then that Victoria decided to try her hand at the fashion industry, and here her business went much more successfully. Today she is better known as a successful designer, style icon and wife of the famous football player David Beckham (39). She is also a mother of four children and the author of two books - an autobiography and a fashion guide. Her clothing collections receive worldwide recognition and are worn by celebrities such as Michelle Williams (34), Julianne Moore (54), (33), (42) and (39).
Baby Spice – Emma Bunton (39)
Emma, the youngest member of the group, joined the Spice Girls on the recommendation of her vocal coach. After the collapse of the group, the girl took up a solo career and even released three albums. But Emma did not achieve much popularity, so she easily left the stage for another important role - she became a mother. Now Emma Bunton is raising two sons with singer Jade Jones (36), participates in British television shows as a judge and presenter, and since 2009 has worked as a DJ on the waves of the British radio station Heart.
Ginger-Spice – Geri Halliwell (42)
The brightest and, perhaps, the most discussed member of the group. Before starting her music career, Geri worked as a nightclub dancer in Mallorca, a fashion model and a game show host on Turkish television. After she gained popularity, many British magazines published erotic photographs of the girl in which she was completely naked. What was more scandalous - her affairs, sexy outfits, nude photos or early departure from the Spice Girls - is difficult to assess. But all this certainly bore fruit and made Halliwell incredibly popular. After the group disbanded, she went on to have the most successful solo career of all the members. In 2006, Geri gave birth to a daughter from Hollywood screenwriter Sasha Gervasi (49). Now the singer has contracts not only for a new record, but also for a series of children's books.
Sporty-Spice – Mel C (41)
Melanie Jane Chisholm, better known as Mel C, was nicknamed Sporty Spice for her style of dressing. The girl was the most invisible member of the Spice Girls; there was always much less information about her in the press than about her colleagues. After leaving the group, Mel went on to have a very successful solo career: she has six albums and 11 singles to her credit, which topped the UK composite chart (this is the third highest result in history, ahead of only Paul McCartney (72) and John Lennon (1940–1980)). By the way, she was the only professional vocalist in the Spice Girls. In 2009, Mel made her debut in the theater quite successfully. The singer is single, raising her daughter Scarlett Starr (6), regularly practices yoga and is working on her next record.
Scary-Spice – Melanie Brown (39)
Best known as Mel B and Scary Spice. Since childhood, Melanie dreamed of a musical career and even graduated from music school with a degree in drums. She, too, responded to an ad in the newspaper and soon became Scary Spice, a pseudonym Mel received because of her mannered accent and voluminous African hairstyle, as well as her extravagant manner of dressing. In parallel with her participation in the group, the singer pursued a solo career. So after the official breakup of the team, she had a backup option, but it never brought her success, and critics even nicknamed her “hopeless Spice.” Now Mel lives in California, raises three daughters (one of them with actor Eddie Murphy (54)), wrote an autobiography and, to spite everyone, continues to make music.
And at the end of our review, I suggest you remember how it was: let's watch a few Spice Girls videos and indulge in nostalgia!
Wannabe, 1996
2 Become 1, 1996
Who Do You Think You Are, 1996
Say You'll Be There, 1996
Spice Up Your Life, 1997
Stop, 1997
Too Much, 1997
Viva Forever, 1998
Goodbye, 1999
Holler, 2000
News continues to appear online about the imminent reunion of the legendary 90s pop group. Emma Bunton, Victoria Beckham, Gerry Halliwell, Melanie Chisholm and Melanie Brown are said to have already agreed to a meeting with producer Simon Fuller to review the terms of the deal.
Of course, it’s too early to say that the ex-soloists will start touring the world. But under favorable circumstances, they should definitely appear on all kinds of TV shows. Moreover, each of them will be paid for this... 10 million dollars!
The history of the creation of the Spice Girls group is still surprising, as is its lightning popularity. Perhaps the whole point is that all four soloists were accepted into the team practically from the street. That is, before they signed the producers’ contract, they were ordinary girls without connections or prestigious education...
It all started when producers Bob Herbert, Chris Herbert and Lindsey Casbon put out an advertisement in Stages magazine with an invitation to casting: “We are looking for girls aged 18 to 23 years old, able to sing and dance, beautiful, hardworking, honest.” More than 400 British women responded to the offer. But among them, four were ultimately chosen - Emma Bunton, Victoria Beckham, Gerry Halliwell, Melanie Chisholm and Melanie Brown. In the summer of 1996, the girls recorded their first single, Wannabe, and in the fall they presented a solo album. Then fame, tours and all kinds of musical awards awaited them. However, in 2001 the team began to disintegrate. Jerry was the first to leave. Then each of the participants also began to engage in solo projects. Only in 2007 and 2012 did all four soloists reunite again for a joint tour. In 2016, rumors appeared about a Spice Girls concert in honor of the group's 20th anniversary. However, this did not happen. Victoria Beckham and Melanie C refused to participate. Insiders assured that the stars were not satisfied with the monetary reward for their unplanned appearance on stage. Moreover, at this time each of them had their own life...
We tell you how the life of each lead singer of the Spice Girls turned out. We also compare their photographs at the peak of their popularity and in recent years.
Emma Bunton
Since childhood, Emma dreamed of becoming a famous singer, although there were no prerequisites for this. She was born in a small area of north London, her father was a milkman and her mother a karate trainer. As a child, Bunton attended a Catholic school, and shortly before the Spice Girls casting, she began making independent attempts to break into show business: in 1992, when she was 16, she starred in an episode of EastEnders, and a year later appeared in episode of the drama A Purely English Murder.
Banton, by her own admission, came to the Spice Girls casting out of curiosity. The girl did not expect to win. However, the producers saw talent in her and accepted her into the group. She was the youngest in the team, for which she received the pseudonym Baby Spice. Throughout her career in the group, she did not betray the image of a pretty girl - she wore short dresses in pastel shades (mostly pink) and collected her blond hair in two tails.
After the breakup of the group, Emma began a solo career as a singer: she released three albums and 11 videos. True, in 2007 she gave up trying to become a world beer singer, presenting her last video, All I Need to Know. Only in 2012, together with another ex-soloist of the Spice Girls, Melanie C, she presented a video for the single I Know Him So Well.
But Baby Spice managed to make a career as a DJ. Since 2009, she has been working at one of the British radio stations. She also often becomes the host of various talk shows. And in 2012 she became a judge in the British version of the Dancing on Ice program.
Outwardly, Banton remained virtually unchanged. Except that she became thinner and more mature.
Emma was also lucky in her personal life. Her relationship with singer Jade Jones, with whom she began dating back in 1998, developed into marriage. The couple have two sons, 10-year-old Beau and 6-year-old Tate.
Victoria Beckham (Victoria Adams)
Victoria, who before her marriage to football player David Beckham bore the last name Adams, was born into a fairly wealthy family, but far from show business. Her father was an electronics engineer and business owner, and her mother was a housewife. From early childhood, no one doted on the girl, and her desire to become a popular artist was unquestioningly approved. At the age of 17, she entered a prestigious art college and also sang in a little-known group called Persuasion. In general, before joining the Spice Girls, she already had good experience performing on stage.
In the Spice Girls group, Victoria was given the pseudonym Posh Spice for her ability to present herself and impeccable taste. True, during her career she often changed her image. Fans saw her with perfectly straight shoulder-length brown hair, a brunette with a short haircut, and even a blonde with a bob. Beckham also lost weight, then gained weight again, and also had several plastic surgeries. True, not all were successful. For example, she later didn’t like the “new” size 3 breasts and got rid of the implants. Only by 2000, that is, by the collapse of the project, Vicky finally found herself. And fortunately: for several years now she has been considered the main style icon of Britain. In addition, her solo singing career did not work out (she released only one album), and she devoted herself to fashion. For several years now she has been producing clothes and accessories under her own name.
Victoria's family life also turned out well. She has been married to David Beckham for 18 years and has four children: 18-year-old Brooklyn, 15-year-old Romeo, 12-year-old Cruz and 6-year-old Harper.
Jerry Halliwell
Jerry has an interesting background - her father is half English, half Swedish, and her mother is Spanish. She grew up in a middle-class family and went to an all-girls school. Before joining the Spice Girls, Halliwell worked as a dancer in a club, a model and a presenter on one of the Turkish channels. She came to the group's casting at the very last moment, but because of her bright appearance she was noticed and reached the final.
In the Spice Girls, Halliwell received the pseudonym Ginger Spice because of her fiery red hair. True, most often she was called Sexy Spice, since she always wore a low neckline and a mini. And in general in the group she was considered the leader. And not only because of the image. Jerry took part in writing singles and choreographed dances. In addition, she became the first girl to leave the project for a solo project.
Currently, Halliwell has three albums (the last one was released in 2005) and 12 videos. The most famous - It's Raining Men and Calling - are still considered hits. By the way, when she started singing solo, Halliwell radically changed her image. First, she dyed her hair blonde and made a bob, and then lost a lot of weight. Moreover, at one point the singer, with diets and training, brought herself to the point of anorexia and spent some time in the hospital.
In addition to his singing career, Jerry also tries his hand at writing. She has published a book about beauty and health, as well as several children's books.
At first, Ginger-Spice's personal life did not work out. In 2005, she dated screenwriter Sasha Gervasi, but the relationship did not work out. In 2006, Jerry gave birth to a daughter, Bluebell, from her former lover, whose godparents were Emma Bunton and Victoria Beckham.
After an unsuccessful romance, Halliwell was considered a single mother for a long time. Only in 2015, after 15 months of relationship, she married Formula 1 team leader Christian Horner. In 2017, the couple had a son, Montagu. Now she is finally happy and often shares happy family shots on the microblog.
Mel C (Melanie Chisholm)
Melanie Chisholm dreamed of becoming a singer long before she saw the Spice Girls casting ad. But when she appeared before the producers, she had three years of study at the College of Dance, Music and Theater Arts behind her.