When Take That abdicated as monarchs of the UK teen band scene in February 1996, there were several pretenders lining up, but few could have predicted that a female quintet would have more success in the Smash Hits-reading market than Boyzone or Peter Andre. The Spice Girls - Posh Spice (b. Victoria Caroline Adams, 17 April 1974, Goff's Oak, Hertfordshire, England), Mel B aka Scary Spice (b. Melanie Janine Brown, 29 May 1975, Leeds, Yorkshire, England), Baby Spice (b. Emma Lee Bunton, 21 January 1976, Barnet, London, England), Mel C aka Sporty Spice (b. Melanie Jayne Chisholm, 12 January 1974, Liverpool, Merseyside, England), and Geri/Ginger Spice (b. Geraldine Estelle Halliwell, 6 August 1972, Watford, Hertfordshire, England - this birth date is the matter of some conjecture) - met following an advertisement placed in The Stage by Bob and Chris Herbert. The girls had all variously undergone unsuccessful auditions for film and dance jobs, but their one common ambition of wanting fame bonded them together. The five ended up sharing a house in Maidenhead, Berkshire, in late 1993, and for a while they were like inseparable sisters. One original member was to miss out on the fame and fortune; the unlucky Michelle Stephenson (b. Abingdon, Hertfordshire, England) lasted about six months. She was one of the original successful five applicants but was replaced by Emma Bunton while the group was still being managed by the team of Chris and Bob Herbert.
The quintet started writing and demoing songs together, all financed by the Herberts. They would journey from Maidenhead to a dance studio in Woking, Surrey each day and rehearse. As their own confidence grew they began to have doubts about their managers, and ultimately packed up and left. It was discovered that they had not actually signed a contract with the Herberts. Simon Fuller took them on in May 1995 and changed everything almost overnight. A recording contract with Virgin Records followed and by June 1996, the single "Wannabe", an expression of the "girl power" philosophy, with a deliciously silly rap interlude, was on its way to number 1 in the UK and pop immortality.
The Spice Girls success story was down to a number of factors, other than the brilliant management of Fuller. They managed to add post-feminist attitude to a commercial pop package - the boys could still fancy them, although their first loyalty was to each other and their fellow females. However, they also had a set of highly hummable pop ditties, so that female bonding and the arcane mysteries of the "zigazig-ha" (their own code for sex) never got in the way of the pure disco thrill. "Wannabe" and the follow-up, "Say You'll Be There", had all the glorious catchiness of Take That or Wham! at their commercial peaks.
Things began to get out of hand by the end of 1996, when Halliwell's past as a nude model was splashed over the tabloid press, and an ill-advised interview with The Spectator magazine revealed her and Adams to be unlikely supporters of Conservative Prime Minister John Major. Nevertheless, nothing could stop the Spice Girls; as the lush ballad "2 Become 1" grabbed the coveted Christmas number 1 berth, boy bands wondered what had hit them and the Spice Girls prepared to ravish the USA. By February 1997 their mission was completed with ease when "Wannabe" effortlessly made number 1 in the Billboard singles chart, after only four weeks. Shortly afterwards, the album also topped the US chart and they became the first UK act ever to reach the top of the chart with their debut album.
Phenomenal success continued all over the world throughout 1997 with some well-chosen sponsorship deals, and the quintet's faces were published as regularly as the Beatles in their peak media year of 1964. The Spice Girls' second album Spiceworld was another slice of highly commercial pop music, featuring the UK number 1s "Spice Up Your Life" and "Too Much". Although the album debuted at number 1 in six countries its sales were nowhere near as high as expected, and it stalled at number 3 in the US. To put their sales into perspective, however, Spice and Spiceworld were easily the most commercially successful albums released by a UK act in the 90s and the former has now sold well over 20 million copies.
Towards the end of 1997 the Spice Girls unceremoniously dumped their svengali manager, Simon Fuller. The repercussions to this bold "go it alone" mission were watched with interest as many felt that this could be their first wrong move. The commercial success of their debut movie Spice World, premiered on 26 December 1997, indicated otherwise. The Motown Records-pastiche "Stop" only reached number 2 in the UK charts, breaking the group's run of chart-toppers. A potentially terminal threat to the future of the Spice Girls came at the end of May 1998, when Geri Halliwell, their de facto leader and undisputed driving force, announced she had left the group. Nevertheless, "Viva Forever", the first single issued since Halliwell's departure (although her vocals appeared on the single), proved that the Spice Girls phenomenon lived on when it entered the UK charts at number 1 in August 1998. A month later, Melanie B. collaborated with hip-hop artist Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott on the one-off single, "I Want You Back", which debuted at number 1 in the UK charts. The group then became the first artists to enjoy three consecutive UK number 1 Christmas singles since the Beatles, when "Goodbye" emulated the success of "Too Much" and "2 Become 1".
The individual members were starting to branch out into solo work by this point. Melanie C.'s duet with Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams, "When You're Gone", climbed to number 3 in the UK charts in December 1998. Mel B, briefly known as Mel G following her marriage to the group's Dutch dancer Jimmy Gulzar (the couple have since split-up), released a cover version of Cameo's "Word Up". The single was the first notable failure associated with the Spice Girls, stalling at UK number 14 in July 1999. In the same month Adams married football player David Beckham, a union which created the celebrity couple of the decade and the new millennium. Their celebrity star was mostly visual, and although Beckham was undeniably a genius on the soccer pitch he had difficulty in stringing together a coherent sentence in interviews. While Victoria Beckham was seen as a fashion icon, Melanie C. also reinvented herself as a rock singer, touring as a solo act and releasing the credible Northern Star. Later in the year, Emma Bunton's dull cover version of Edie Brickell's "What I Am" lost a highly publicised "battle of the singles" with her former bandmate Halliwell's "Lift Me Up". The following year, Victoria Beckham provided vocals for the True Steppers/Dane Bowers collaboration "Out Of Your Mind", a UK number 2 hit in August.
After a further flurry of solo work, including the release of Melanie B.'s debut album, the Spice Girls reunited to record Forever with leading R&B producer Rodney Jerkins. The album was premiered in October by their ninth UK number 1, a double a-side comprising the urban-orientated "Holler" and "Let Love Lead The Way". The album's disappointing sales in all territories led to many rumours concerning the future of the group, and the Spice Girls was put on indefinite hold shortly afterwards. Emma Bunton became the third member of the group to enjoy a UK solo number 1 single when "What Took You So Long" topped the charts in April 2001. The following November, an audacious plot to kidnap Victoria Beckham and her children was foiled by the English police.
In the early 00s the various members all involved themselves with solo recordings, and although the media spotlight is never far behind none of the others can command the front page in the way that the Beckhams can. With a greatest hits package still owing to Virgin, it was hardly surprising when, in June 2007, the group announced they were reuniting for a world tour. David Sinclair's 2004 book Wannabe covers the whole Spice Girls story with accuracy and deadpan humour.
