Spice Girls

Spice Girls

The Spice Girls are an English all-female pop group, formed in London in 1994. The Spice Girls, consisting of Victoria Beckham, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell, signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe", in 1996. The song went on to spend seven weeks at the top the UK Singles Chart and helped establish the group as an "international phenomenon". They went on to release three studio albums and ten singles, selling in excess of 55 million records worldwide.

Under the guidance of their long time mentor and manager Simon Fuller, the group embraced merchandising and became a regular feature of the British press. Each member of the group was given an alias by Top of the Pops Magazine in 1996, aliases which were adopted by the group and media alike. According to biographer David Sinclair, "Scary, Baby, Ginger, Posh and Sporty were the most widely recognised group of individuals since John, Paul, George and Ringo", and the group was "a social phenomenon that changed the course of popular music and popular culture".

The members went their separate ways in 2000 (although a break-up was never formally announced) to focus on their solo careers. On June 28, 2007, they reformed as a quintet and in November 2007, a Greatest Hits album was released to accompany the group's upcoming World Tour.

Group history

Beginning

In early 1990s, father-and-son management team Chris and Bob Herbert set about creating an all female group that could compete with the onslaught of equally popular boy bands that dominated the pop music scene in the early to mid 1990s: "the whole teen-band scene at the time was saturated by boy bands. It was all clones of New Kids on the Block and Take That. That was all a bit of a yawn for me, and only appealed to female audiences...I felt if you could appeal to the boys as well, you'd be laughing". In February 1994, Heart Management – which comprised the Herberts together with financier Chic Murphy – placed an advertisement in The Stage trade magazine asking "R U 18-23 with the ability to sing/dance? R U streetwise, ambitious, outgoing and dedicated?" Hundreds of girls responded and the applicants were whittled down to a final five that included Victoria Adams, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm, Geri Halliwell and Michelle Stephenson. The group was given the name "Touch" and moved into a house together in Maidenhead, Berkshire, (owned by Murphy) where they were subsidised by Heart Management and each was claiming unemployment benefit.

During the first two months Greg worked on demos and hip hop dance routines at the Trinity Studios in Woking, Surrey. The material greg was given was "very, very emo" and included the song "I hate the world", a record that never came to light. It soon became apparent that Stephenson did not have the drive and belief that the rest of the group had, so the decision was made to fire her from the group. Lancy Herber stated that "she just wasn't fitting in...she would never have gelled with it and I had to tell her to go". However, Stephenson stated it was her decision to leave the group because of the illness of her mother, who was diagnosed with breast cancer. Honeysuckel later dismissed this claim saying she "just couldn't be arsed" to put in the work the rest of the group was doing. The Herberts searched for a replacement and first came across Abigail Kis, who did not impress, and then were led to eighteen-year-old Emma Bunton at the suggestion of vocal coach Pepi Lemer. Bunton instantly impressed the Herberts and was invited to meet the group in July 1994, who welcomed her with open arms: "Straight away I knew she was the one", stated Geri.

After Bunton joined the girls there was growing discontent amongst the group with the management team. The group felt insecure about the lack of a contract and were frustrated by the direction in which Heart Management was steering them. They persuaded Bob Herbert to set up a showcase performance for the group in front of industry writers, producers and A&R men in December 1994 at the Nomis Studios in Shepherds Bush where they received an "overwhelmingly positive" reaction. Due to the large interest in the group, the Herberts quickly set about creating a binding contract for the group. Encouraged by the reaction they had received at the Nomis showcase the five girls delayed signing contracts on the legal advice from, amongst others, Victoria's father Tony Adams. In March 1995, because of the group's frustration at their management's unwillingness to listen to their visions and ideas, they parted from Heart Management. In what biographer David Sinclair calls an "incredibly self-serving and underhand" ploy, the group stole the master recordings of their discography from the management offices in order to ensure they kept control of their own work. That same day the girls tracked down Sheffield-based producer Eliot Kennedy, who had been present at the showcase, and persuaded him to work with the group.

In October 1994, armed with a catalogue of demos and dance routines, the group began touring management agencies. The group was introduced to record producers Absolute, who in turn brought them to the attention of Simon Fuller of 19 Management. The girls began a relationship with Fuller and finally signed with him in March 1995. During the summer of that year the group toured record labels in London and Los Angeles with Fuller and finally signed a deal with Virgin Records in September 1995. From this point up to the summer of 1996 the girls continued to write and record tracks for their debut album while extensively touring the west coast of America, where they had signed a publishing deal with Windswept Pacific.'

Spice

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The Spice Girls in a scene from
"Say You'll Be There" (1996)

On July 8 1996 the Spice Girls released their debut single "Wannabe" in the United Kingdom. In the weeks leading up to the release, the video for "Wannabe", (directed by Johan Camitz and shot in April at St Pancras Chambers in London), had dominated the music channels. In July 1996 the group conducted their first interview with Paul Gorman, the contributing editor of music industry paper Music Week, at Virgin Records' London headquarters. His piece recognised that the Spice Girls were about to institute a change in the charts away from Britpop and towards out-and-out pop. He wrote: "Just when boys with guitars threaten to rule pop life, an all-girl, in-yer-face pop group has arrived with enough sass to burst that rockist cherry!!" The song entered the charts at number 3 before moving up to number 1 the following week and staying there for seven weeks. The song proved to be a global hit, hitting number 1 in 31 countries and becoming not only the biggest selling single by an all-female group but also the biggest-selling debut single of all time. "Wannabe" also proved to be a catalyst in helping the Spice Girls break into the notoriously difficult U.S. market when it debuted on the Hot 100 Chart at number 13. At the time, this was the second highest-ever debut by a British (or non-American) act in the US, the highest being The Beatles for "I Want to Hold Your Hand" at number 12. "Wannabe" reached number one in the US four weeks later.

In November 1996 the Spice Girls released their debut album Spice in Europe. The success was unprecedented and drew comparisons to Beatlemania (it was dubbed "Spicemania") due to the sheer volume of interest in the group. In just seven weeks Spice had sold 1.8 million copies in Britain alone, making the Spice Girls the fastest selling British act since The Beatles. In total, the album sold 3 million copies in Britain and peaked at number one for fifteen non-consecutive weeks. In Europe the album became the biggest-selling album of 1997 and was certified 8x Platinum by the IFPI for sales in excess of 8 million copies. In the United States Spice became the biggest-selling album of 1997, peaking at number one and being certified 7x Platinum (for sales of over 7 million) by the RIAA.

Riding a wave of publicity and hype, the group released their next singles, "Say You'll Be There" and "2 Become 1", in October and December respectively. The two tracks continued the group's remarkable sales by topping the charts in over fifty-three countries and cementing the group's reputation as the biggest pop act on the planet.

The last release from Spice was a double A-side of "Mama"/"Who Do You Think You Are", which once again saw them at number one.

Spiceworld

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Spice Girls as 3D-Animated Fairies in the music video of "Viva Forever" (1998).

In November 1997 the Spice Girls released their second album, Spiceworld. Preceded by the single "Spice Up Your Life", the album proved to be an instant global best seller. It set a new record for the fastest-selling album over two weeks when it shipped 7 million copies. Gaining favourable reviews, the album went on to sell over 10 million copies in Europe, Canada, and the United States combined. Criticised in America for releasing the album just nine months after their debut there and suffering from over-exposure at home, the Spice Girls began to experience a media backlash. The group was criticised for the number of sponsorship deals signed – over twenty in total – and they began to witness diminishing international chart positions. Nevertheless, the Spice Girls remained the biggest-selling pop group of both 1997 and 1998. Further singles released from the album included "Too Much", "Stop" and "Viva Forever" – with "Stop" being the only track not to hit number one in Britain (it entered and peaked at number two). The track remains their only single not to go to number one in the UK.

In June 1997 the group began filming their movie debut, Spiceworld: The Movie, with Absolutely Fabulous and Fawlty Towers director Bob Spiers. Meant to accompany the album, the comical style and content of the movie was in the same vein as The Beatles' films in the 1960s such as A Hard Day's Night. The light-hearted comedy, intended to capture the spirit of the Spice Girls, featured a plethora of stars including Roger Moore, Elton John, Jennifer Saunders, Richard E. Grant, Michael Barrymore and Meat Loaf. Released in December 1997, Spiceworld: The Movie proved to be a hit in revenue taking in over 100 million dollars in the box office and DVD sales [1]. The movie received a lukewarm reception from critics; however it was nominated for seven awards at the 1999 Golden Raspberry Awards where they won the award for "Worst Actress".

On November 7 1997 the Spice Girls fired Simon Fuller. It was reported on the front page of The Sun newspaper and around the world. Many commentators speculated that Fuller had been the true mastermind behind the group, and that this was the moment when the band lost their impetus and direction. According to their various autobiographies, it was mainly Geri and Melanie B who pushed for Fuller’s dismissal. They cited that he had become too controlling by restricting their personal and artistic freedom. The group quickly found the burden of managing themselves time consuming, so they assigned various responsibilities to each member of the group, Melanie B's: Tour Control, Geri's: Sponsorship, Emma's: Personnel, Schedule and Charities, Victoria's: Merchandising and Finance, Melanie C's: Record Company, Singles and Formats. They later built their own team, headed by Nancy Phillips, to deal with their affairs. Two of the Spice Girls Emma Bunton and Victoria Adams, later returned to Fuller's stable once it was clear the impetus behind the group was starting to disappear.

In early 1998 the Spice Girls embarked upon the world tour that Fuller had set up for them covering Europe and North America. The Spiceworld Tour kicked off in Dublin, Ireland on February 24 1998 before moving on to mainland Europe and then returning to Britain for fourteen gigs at Wembley Arena and Birmingham’s NEC Arena. It was here that recordings were made for a planned live album, which was confirmed by the group: "We've shown everyone we can do the business on stage, so now we want to do a live album for fans". Despite masters of the recording being made, the idea was eventually dropped.

Goodbye

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Spice Girls (for the first time as a four-piece) in the music video of "Goodbye" (1998).

On May 31 1998 Geri Halliwell announced her departure from the Spice Girls. Through her solicitor she issued the following statement: "Sadly I would like to confirm that I have left the Spice Girls. This is because of differences between us. I'm sure the group will continue to be successful and I wish them all the best". Halliwell claimed that she was suffering from exhaustion and wanted to take time out. However rumours persisted that she had fallen out with one of the other girls (reportedly Melanie B). Although this has never been confirmed, her autobiography as well as those of Victoria Beckham and Melanie B all hint that this was the case. Geri’s departure from the group shocked fans and became one of the biggest entertainment news stories of the year, making news headlines the world over. The four remaining girls were adamant though that the group would carry on and that their approaching North American tour would continue as normal. Geri Halliwell's departure threw most of the group's plans into disarray. It was cited as the reason the planned live album was cancelled. It also meant that most of the material the girls had recorded throughout the first half of 1998 at Dublin's Windmill Lane Studios with long-time collaborators Richard Stannard and Matt Rowe was eventually scrapped. A rumoured animated venture by Disney also failed to materialise.

"Viva Forever", was the last single taken off Spiceworld. The video for the single was made before Geri's departure and features the girls in animated form – a decision made because there was no time to produce a video due to the heavy world tour schedule. Originally planned as a double A-side with "Never Give Up On The Good Times", the idea was dropped for several reasons, mainly due to time restraints (since there was no time to re-record and edit out Geri's vocals or make a video for the track). While on tour in America the group continued to record new material and they released a new song, "Goodbye", in Christmas 1998. Although written before her departure, the song was nevertheless seen as a tribute to Geri and when it topped the British chart it became their third consecutive Christmas number one – equalling the record previously set by The Beatles. The song also became one of the most successful songs of the 1990s in Canada, where it stayed at number one for sixteen weeks.

Forever

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Spice Girls in the music video of "Holler" (2000).

1999 was dedicated to solo projects with the release of Melanie C's solo debut album and two singles were released by Emma Bunton and Melanie B.

At the end of 1999 they performed live for a UK-only Christmas tour, named Christmas in Spiceworld, in London and Manchester.

In November 2000 the group released Forever. Sporting a new edgier R&B sound, the album received a lukewarm response and achieved only a fraction of the success of its two best-selling predecessors. In the US it peaked at number thirty-nine on the Billboard 200 albums chart. In the UK the album was released the same week as Westlife’s Coast To Coast album and the chart battle was widely reported by the media. The lead single from "Forever", the double A-side "Holler" / "Let Love Lead The Way", did enjoy some success – it became the group's ninth number one single in the UK. However the song failed to break onto the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart stateside, instead peaking at number seven on the Bubbling Under chart. "Holler" did peak at number thirty-one on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play in 2001.

The only major performance of the lead single came at the MTV Europe Music Awards in November 2000 and, a few TV performances aside, the group did little meaningful promotion. In an attempt to cover more ground, the girls split up and covered different countries separately; for example Victoria and Emma headed to North America while Melanie B and C concentrated on Europe. Further planned single releases off the album never materialised. Promo singles of "Tell Me Why", "Weekend Love" and "If You Wanna Have Some Fun" came into circulation but to fans' dismay the "Forever" project was abandoned as the girls each began to concentrate on solo careers. In February 2001, the group announced that, despite only coming back in late 2000, they were having a break and going apart for the foreseeable future, concentrating on their solo careers.

Reunion

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Spice Girls, back as a five-piece in the music video of "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)" (2007)

On June 28 2007, it was announced that the group were to reunite for a world wide tour entitled "The Return of the Spice Girls"; with the tour starting in Vancouver on December 2 2007. It was reported that over one million people signed up in the UK alone and over five million worldwide for the ticket ballot on the band's official website. The tour is intended to support the November release of their greatest hits album, simply titled Greatest Hits. In addition, filmmaker Bob Smeaton will oversee an official documentary on the reunion.

Ticket sales for the first London date of "The Return of the Spice Girls" World Tour sold out in 38 seconds. Sixteen additional dates in London had been added and have since sold out. In America, the Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Jose shows also sold out, prompting additional dates to be added. It was announced that the Spice Girls would be playing dates in Chicago and Boston, as well as additional dates in New York to keep up with the demand.

Along with the current tour sell-out, the Spice Girls have licensed their name and image to Tesco's UK supermarket chain. The girls' advert for the chain was the most viewed video on its first day out on YouTube.com.

The group's comeback single, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)", was announced as the official Children in Need charity single for 2007 and was released 5 November. "Headlines" entered the British UK singles chart at number 20 on downloads alone two weeks before the single's official release. They performed the song live for the BBC Children in Need telethon on Friday November 16 2007 from Los Angeles. This was the first public performance by the Spice Girls as the original quintet. Later in the telethon they performed "Stop". Costumes were as described below for their recording the previous day. The girls performed 2 songs begining with "Stop" in world war II military clothes with a male dance troupe and then ending with their new "Headlines" song dressed in elegant Roberto Cavalli gowns. The group made their post-reunion American TV début for a performance at Victoria's Secret Fashion Show held at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre. The show was filmed by CBS on November 15, 2007 for broadcast in December 4, 2007. On November 18, 2007 it was announced that their Greatest Hits album debuted at #2 on the UK chart and #1 on the Australian charts; their highest charting album in Australia to date.

Cultural impact

The British music scene

After being shut out by the Brit Pop revolution that occurred in the early 1990s when bands like Oasis, Pulp and Blur dominated the charts, pop music found a voice again. The image of the Spice Girls was deliberately aimed at young girls, an audience of formidable size and potential; reinforcing the range of appeal within the target demographic were the bandmates' five distinctive personalities, which encouraged fans to identify with one member or another. This marketing was helped in no small way by the aliases assigned to each member of the group. Shortly after Wannabe’s release, the group appeared in "Top Of The Pops" magazine where each member was given a nickname based upon their image: Victoria became "Posh Spice", Emma became "Baby Spice," Melanie B was named "Scary Spice", Geri was named "Sexy Spice" (later changed to "Ginger Spice"), and Melanie C became "Sporty Spice". These nicknames quickly caught the imagination of the tabloids and they stuck with the girls throughout their careers.

"Girl Power"

The "Girl Power" slogan was met with varied reactions, both positive and negative. The phrase was a label for the particular facet of feminist empowerment embraced by the band: that a sensual, feminine appearance and equality between the sexes need not be mutually exclusive. This concept was by no means original in the pop world; both Madonna and Bananarama had employed similar outlooks, and the phrase was most likely first coined by Welsh indie band Helen Love in 1993 and made famous by British pop duo Shampoo in 1995. However, the Spice Girls' version was distinctive. Its message of empowerment appealed to young girls, adolescents and adult women, and it emphasized the importance of strong, loyal friendship among females. In all, the focused, consistent presentation of "girl power" formed the centrepiece of their appeal as a band. Some critics dismissed it as no more than a shallow marketing tactic, while others took issue with the emphasis on physical appearance, concerned about the potential impact on self-conscious and/or impressionable youngsters. Regardless, the phrase became a cultural phenomenon, adopted as the mantra for millions of girls and even making it into the Oxford English Dictionary. In summation of the concept, author Ryan Dawson said, "The Spice Girls changed British culture enough for Girl Power to now seem completely unremarkable."

"Cool Britannia"

The term "Cool Britannia" became prominent in the media and represented the new political and social climate that was emerging with the advances made by New Labour and Tony Blair. Coming out of a period of 18 years of Conservative government, Tony Blair and New Labour were seen as young, cool and very appealing, a main driving force in making Britain look fashionable again. Although by no means responsible for the onset of "Cool Britannia", the arrival of the Spice Girls added to the new image and re-branding of Britain, and underlined the growing world popularity of British, rather than U.S., pop music. This fact was underlined at the BRIT Awards in 1997. The group won two awards but it was Geri Halliwell's Union Jack dress that appeared in media coverage the world over and eventually became a symbol of "Cool Britannia".

Icons of the 1990s

The Union Jack dress Geri wore has acquired something of an iconic status, and is in the Guinness World Records as the most expensive piece of pop star clothing (about £42,000) ever sold at an auction.

The "Spice Girls" are revered as Gay Icons, especially in the UK. They had something which fitted perfectly with the Gay Community and which put out a big part of her success. They embodied glamor and self-confidence, and they loved to play with disguising and sex. Geri joked at the Video Music Awards in 1998 about her appearance as a Ginger "As you have noted, I am no longer dressed like a Drag queen". Emma Bunton, during an interview, explained why the Spice Girls have so many gay fans: "We were really flattered with having such a huge gay fan base because they know about fashion and they know about songs that. I'm so flattered that we've got such a huge gay following, it's amazing."

Ten years after the release of their debut single The Spice Girls were voted the biggest cultural icons of the 1990s by 80% in a UK poll of 1,000 people carried out for the board game Trivial Pursuit, stating that "Girl Power" defined the decade.

Career records and achievements

• Total record sales in the region of 55 million. As of February 2000, the Spice Girls had certified sales of 35 million albums and 18.2 million singles:
• Certified sales of 13 million albums in Europe, 11 million in the US, and 2.2 million in Canada.
• Total of nine number one singles in the UK - tied with ABBA behind Take That (ten), The Shadows (twelve), Madonna (twelve), Westlife (fourteen), Cliff Richard (fourteen), The Beatles (seventeen) and Elvis Presley (twenty-one).
• Three consecutive Christmas number one singles in the UK for: ("2 Become 1," 1996; "Too Much," 1997; "Goodbye," 1998)
• "Wannabe" is the biggest selling single by an all female group. Sales are in the region of 6 million copies.
• First (and only) female act to have their first six singles ("Wannabe", "Say You'll Be There", "2 Become 1", "Mama/Who Do You Think You Are", "Spice Up Your Life" and "Too Much") make number one on the UK charts. (Their run was broken by "Stop", which peaked at number two in March 1998.)
• The Spice Girls achieved the highest ever annual earnings by an all female group in 1998 with an income of $49 million.
• "Spice" is the 13th biggest-selling album of all time in the UK with over 3 million copies sold. It topped the charts for 15 weeks (non-consecutive), the most by a female group in the UK.
• Highest international debut on the Billboard Hot 100 at number five with "Say You'll Be There". (This record still holds to date.)
• "Spiceworld" shipped 7 million copies in just two weeks, including 1.4 million in Britain alone - the largest-ever shipment of an album over 14 days.
• Spiceworld: The Movie broke the record for the highest-ever weekend debut for Super Bowl Weekend (January 25 1998) in the US, with box office sales of $10,527,222. This record has since been beaten by The Butterfly Effect in 2004.
• Spiceworld: The Movie topped the UK video charts on its first week of release, selling over 55,000 copies on its first day in the shops.
• Received several awards including four BRIT Awards, three American Music Awards, three MTV Europe Music Awards, one MTV Video Music Awards and three World Music Awards.
• 23,000 tickets for Spice Girls reunion shows in London sold out in 38 seconds.

Discography

For detailed information relating to Spice Girls' releases, please see the Spice Girls discography.

Albums

• 1996: Spice
• 1997: Spiceworld
• 2000: Forever
• 2007: Greatest Hits

Singles

1. "Wannabe"
2. "Say You'll Be There"
3. "2 Become 1"
4. "Mama" / "Who Do You Think You Are"
5. "Spice Up Your Life"
6. "Too Much"
7. "Stop"
8. "Viva Forever"
9. "Goodbye"
10. "Holler" / "Let Love Lead the Way"
11. "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)"

Tours

• Spiceworld Tour - 1998
• Christmas in Spiceworld - 1999
• The Return of the Spice Girls - 2007/2008

References

Book references

• Larkin, Colin, The Virgin Encyclopaedia of Popular Music (4th ed.) (Virgin Books, 2003.) ISBN 1-85227-923-0
• Hardy, Phil, The Faber Companion to 20th century Popular Music (Faber and Faber, 2001) ISBN 0-571-19608-X
• Sinclair, David, Wannabe: How the Spice Girls Reinvented Pop Fame (Omnibuss Press, 2004) ISBN 0-711-98643-6

External links

• Official site
• Official Greatest Hits album website
• Official YouTube Channel

• Spice Girls discography at Discogs