Spice Girls

The girls were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe", in 1996. The song spent seven weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart and helped establish the group as an "international phenomenon".^[2] The Spice Girls have sold more than 55 million records worldwide ^[3] with only three albums (the first two with Geri), landing them the title for fastest selling girl group ever. The demand for their first two albums was unprecedented among pop groups since the Beatles.^[4] Their first album, Spice, sold more than 23 million copies worldwide ^[5]^[6]^[7] making it the all time best-selling album by a female group. Measures of their success include international record sales, a 2008 reunion tour, merchandising, record breaking achievements such as "Wannabe" becoming the biggest single released by a female group and iconic symbolism such as the union jack dress, "Girl Power", and their nicknames.

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, which were adopted by the group and media alike. According to biographer David Sinclair, "Scary, Baby, Ginger, Posh and Sporty were the most widely recognized group of individuals since John, Paul, George and Ringo"^[8] In 1997, the Spice Girls released a movie called Spiceworld: The Movie.

The members went their separate ways in 2001 (although a break-up was never formally announced) to focus on their solo careers. On 28 June 2007 all five re-formed before the launch of their Reunion Tour in December, alongside the release of their Greatest Hits album. In December 2007, the Spice Girls made a program called Giving You Everything, which showed the beginning to the current reunion of the Spice Girls. In February 2008, the Spice Girls announced that they were ending their tour in Toronto on 26 February 2008.

Spice Girl History

Beginning

In the mid-1990s, father-and-son management team Chris Herbert 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 mid- to late 1990s: "the whole teen-band scene at the time was saturated by boy bands like 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys. 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".^[9] In February 1994, Heart Management – which comprised the Herberts together with financier Chic Murphy – placed an advertisement in The Stage trade magazine asking "are you street smart, extrovert, ambitious and able to sing and dance".^[10] Hundreds of girls responded and the applicants were whittled down to a final five that included Victoria Adams, Lianne Morgan, Melanie Brown, Geri Halliwell and Michelle Stephenson.^[10] The group was given the name Touch,^[10] and moved into a house together in Maidenhead, Berkshire, (owned by Murphy) where they were subsidized by Heart Management and each was claiming unemployment benefit. However Lianne Morgan was axed from the lineup due to her age and was replaced by Melanie Chisholm who was the same age as the other girls. During the first two months the group worked on demos and dance routines at the Trinity Studios in Knaphill. According to Stephenson, the material the group was given was "very, very young pop" and included the song "We’re Gonna Make It Happen", a record that never came to light.^[11] 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. Bob Herbert stated that "she just wasn't fitting in...she would never have gelled with it and I had to tell her to go".^[12] However, Stephenson stated that it was her decision to leave the group, because of the illness of her mother, who was diagnosed with breast cancer. Victoria later dismissed this claim, saying she "just couldn't be arsed" to put in the work the rest of the group was doing.^[13] 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 Pepe 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 Halliwell.^[13]

The group felt insecure about the lack of a contract and were frustrated by the direction in which Heart Management was steering them. In October 1994, armed with a catalogue of demos and dance routines, the group began touring management agencies. 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.^[14] 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.^[15] 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 them.

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

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 debut single by an all-female group but also the biggest-selling single by an all-female group 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 11. At the time, this was the highest-ever debut by a British (or non-American) act in the US, beating the previous record held by the Beatles for "I Want to Hold Your Hand." "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 due to the sheer volume of interest in the group^[16]. In just seven weeks Spice had sold 1.8 million copies in Britain alone,^[17] making the Spice Girls the fastest selling British act since the Beatles. In total, the album sold 3 million copies in Britain^[17] 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.^[18] In the United States Spice became the biggest-selling album of 1997, peaking at number one and being certified 7x Platinum by the RIAA^[19] In Total the album sold 23 millions copies worldwide ^[5]^[6]^[7] and is the best-selling album of the all time by a female group.

Riding a wave of publicity and hype, the group released their next singles, "Say You'll Be There" (replacing 'Love Thing') and "2 Become 1" (the Christmas Number 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 in the world.

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.^[20] At the 1997 Brit Awards, The Spice Girls performed Who Do You Think You Are to open the show with Geri Halliwell in a Union Jack mini-dress, causing it to become one of pop history’s most famed outfits. ^[21]

Spiceworld

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 when it shipped seven million copies over the course of two weeks. Gaining favourable reviews,^[22] the album went on to sell over 10 million copies in Europe,^[23] Canada,^[24] and the United States ^[19] 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, along with their first single after their June 2007 reunion, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)," remain their only two singles not to go to number one in the UK. Rumours spread about the song "Saturday Night Divas" being released as a single, but this never happened.^{citation needed} "Viva Forever" was scheduled to be released as a double A-side with "Never Give Up on the Good Times," but these plans were scrapped due to Geri Halliwell's departure from the group in May 1998.

On November 7, 1997 the Spice Girls fired Simon Fuller. The firing was reported on the front page of the Sun 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, claiming that he had become too controlling by restricting their personal and artistic freedom.^{citation needed} The group quickly found the burden of managing themselves time consuming, so they assigned various responsibilities to each member of the group: Melanie B. was responsible for tour control; Geri for sponsorship; Emma for personnel, schedule, and charities; Victoria for Merchandising and Finance; and Melanie C. for the 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 that 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.

Later that year, the Spice Girls were invited to sing on the official England World Cup song "How Does It Feel (To Be on Top of the World)."

Geri leaves the group

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."^[27] 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: she physically left a day before Melanie B's birthday, though she announced her departure two days later; the fact she abruptly left while on tour further fuels this rumour). Halliwell'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.^[28] The four remaining girls were adamant though that the group would carry on and that their approaching North American tour would continue as normal; however, 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).

Goodbye

While on tour in America the group continued to record new material and they released a new song, "Goodbye", in Christmas 1998. The song was 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

The Spice Girls returned to the studio in August 1999, after an 8 month recording break to start work on their third album. the album's sound took a mature direction when American producers like Rodney Jerkins, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis came on to collabrate with the group.

The Spice Girls came back at the 2000 BRIT Awards, and it was announced that they had received the Outstanding Achievement To Music Award. Despite being at the event, Geri Halliwell did not join her former bandmates on stage. In November 2000 the group released Forever. Sporting a new edgier R&B sound, the album received a lukewarm response^[29] and achieved only a fraction of the success of its two best-selling predecessors.

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. In the US, the album 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, where Westlife won the battle reaching number one in the UK, leaving the Spice Girls at number 2. 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. p

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: their last performance was in December 2000. 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 2001, the group announced that they were having a break and would be concentrating on their solo careers in regards to their foreseeable future, although they pointed out that the group was not splitting.

The Return of the Spice Girls

Ticket sales for the first London date of "The Return of the Spice Girls" World Tour sold out in 38 seconds.^[35] 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.^[35] Sixteen additional dates in London had been added^[36] and sold out. In America, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Jose shows also sold out, prompting additional dates to be added.^[37] It was announced that the Spice Girls would be playing dates in Chicago and Detroit (Auburn Hills) and Boston, as well as additional dates in New York to keep up with the demand. On the very first concert in Canada, they performed to an audience of 15,000 people, singing twenty songs and changing a total of eight times.^[38]

Along with the tour sell-out, the Spice Girls licensed their name and image to Tesco's UK supermarket chain.^[39] The band have reportedly been paid £5 million for their appearances in Tesco advertisements.^[40]

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. The first public appearance on stage by the Spice Girls was made at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, where the group performed at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. They performed two songs, 1998 single "Stop" and the lead single off their greatest hits album, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)". The show was filmed by CBS on November 15, 2007 for broadcast on December 4, 2007.^[41] They also performed the song live for the BBC Children in Need telethon on November 16, 2007 from Los Angeles,^[42] in elegant Roberto Cavalli gowns.^[42] The release peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the groups lowest charting British single to date. However, the album fared better, peaking at number two on the UK Albums Chart behind Leona Lewis' record breaking debut.^[43] Australia was the only country for the album to debut and reach number 1.^[44] This is the first Spice Girls album to reach number 1 in Australia. To date, their Greatest Hits album has been declared platinum in Australia and the UK, and gold in the United States, Canada, Brazil and New Zealand.

On February 1, 2008, it was announced that due to personal and family commitments their tour will come to an end in Toronto on 26 February 2008, meaning that tour dates in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Cape Town and Buenos Aires have been completely canceled.^[46] The demand for tickets was unprecedented, the Girls ended up performing 47 sell out shows, when they had originally planned to perform only 11. This however, did not fare well with the international fans. A statement read "Really sorry if we didn't get to see you this time round. We all have other commitments in our lives now, but who knows what will happen next."^[46]

During one of the Spice Girls' concerts at Madison Square Garden, Melanie Chisholm revealed that the girls would "be delighted" to perform for Nelson Mandela at his 90th birthday party this summer, but had yet to be formally asked.^[47] In March 2008 Melanie C and Emma attended the Capital Awards at which the Spice Girls were awarded the coveted 'Icon' award. Melanie C also recently stated that she had mixed feelings now that the tour has ended but also stated that "the tour may be over but the Spice Girls are very much still united."

Although there were rumors of a DVD release of the concert, the group's official website stated on April 2, 2008 that there would be no release, disappointing millions of fans. ^[48] Because of this numerous sites such as FaceBook, Bebo, and YouTube have held a petition to get a release on DVD.^[49] The Sun made note of one of the various fan groups in support for the DVD release (specifically a Facebook group), saying that the group should give the fans "what they really really want".^[50]

It has recently been announced that Victoria Beckham is to auction off all six of the costumes she wore in the tour. They range from £30,000 to £250,000 for the Swarovski crystal-adorned dress worn in songs such as "Goodbye" and "Let Love Lead the Way". She hopes to raise at least £1,000,000 for a charity her mother runs.

On June 3, 2008 Emma, Geri & Mel B attended the 2008 Glamour Awards where the Spice Girls were awarded the prestigious 'Band Of The Year' award.

While the Spice Girls said goodbye to their fans on their website, they also stated on their official blog, "Who knows what will happen next!"^[51]

The Spice Girls have been formally asked to sing for Prince Charles' 60th birthday. They have not given a reply to the royal prince.^[52]

Cultural impact

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" (quickly changed to "Ginger Spice" due to issues with the word "sexy" on children's television), and Melanie C became "Sporty Spice".^[53]

"Girl Power"

The "Girl Power" slogan was met with mixed reactions. 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 was the title of an album 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 and created for this the "10 Golden Rules of Girl Power":

In all, the focused, consistent presentation of "girl power" formed the centrepiece of their appeal as a band.^[54] 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.^[55] In summation of the concept, author Ryan Dawson said, "The Spice Girls changed British culture enough for Girl Power to now seem completely unremarkable."^[56]

"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^[57] but it was Geri Halliwell's Union Flag dress that appeared in media coverage over the world and eventually became a symbol of "Cool Britannia".

Iconic Status

The Union Jack dress Geri wore has acquired something of an iconic status, and sold at a cancer charity auction for £36,000 after interest from a frenzy of bidders.^[58] The dress was one of many items of Spice Girls memorabilia sold at the auction, where total sales reached £146,511 for charity.^[58]

The iconic symbolism of the Spice Girls in the 90s is also down to their merchandising and willingness to be apart of a media driven world. They advertised for many brands and even parodied themselves in the video for the song "Spice Up Your Life" in which the band fly in a space ship surrounded by billboards and adverts featuring them. Because of their regularity being seen in adverts and in the press and media the band solidified themselves as a phenomenon, an icon, of the decade and for British music.

The Spice Girls are revered as Gay Icons, especially in the UK. In a survey in which more than 5,000 gays and lesbians from the UK voted, Victoria Beckham placed 12 and Geri Halliwell placed 43 in the Top 50 gay icons of all time.^[59] Geri joked at the Video Music Awards in 1998 about her appearance as Ginger Spice: "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...I'm so flattered that we've got such a huge gay following, it's amazing."^[60]

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.^[61]

Career records and achievements

Discography

Contents

Overview

Spice Girl History

Beginning

Spice

Spiceworld

Geri leaves the group

Goodbye

Forever

The Return of the Spice Girls

Cultural impact

British music scene

"Girl Power"

"Cool Britannia"

Iconic Status

Career records and achievements

Discography

Albums

Singles

Tours

See also

References

Citations

Book references

External links