PLEASE CALL OFFICE FOR AVAILABILITY: 0844 770 7788
DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED:
The Spice Girls are a BRIT Award-winning British all-female pop group, which formed in London in 1994. The Spice Girls signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe", in 1996. The song went on to spend seven weeks at the top of the UK singles chart and helped establish the group as an "international phenomenon" who went on to release three studio albums and ten singles, selling in excess of 55 million records world wide.
The group embraced merchandise and became a regular feature of the British press. Each member of the group were given aliases 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 recognised group of individuals since John, Paul, George and Ringo", stating that the group were "a social phenomenon that changed the course of popular music and popular.
In early 1992, father-and-son management team Chris and Bob Herbert set about creating an all female group that could compete with the onslaught of 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 March 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 consisted of Victoria Adams, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm, Geri Halliwell and Michelle Stephenson. The group were given the name "Touch" and moved into a house together in Maidenhead (owned by Murphy) where they were subsidised by Heart Management and each was claiming unemployment benefit.
During the first two months the group worked on demos and dance routines at the Trinity Studios in Woking. According to Stephenson, the material the group were given was "very, very young pop" and included the song "We're Gonna Make It Happen", 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. 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". However, Stephenson stated 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 were doing. The Herberts searched for a replacement and first came across Abigail Kas, 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.
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 Momis 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 Momis showcase the five girls delayed signing contracts on the advice of 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 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.
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 bubble!!" 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 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 record previously held by 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.
On May 31, 1998 Geri Halliwell announced her departure from the Spice Girls. Through her solicitor, Julian Turton, 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, the autobiographies of Victoria Beckham, Geri Halliwell, 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.
In November 2000 The Spice Girls released their last album, 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.
Since the group's break-up, rumours have persisted of a reunion. UK national tabloid The Mirror NETQUOTEVAR:24 even dedicated front-page space and half of their double page, daily entertainment news to what was supposedly their scoop, that the girls were back, reforming for the Live 8 concerts. Organiser Bob Geldof confirmed at a press conference on May 31, 2005 that he had been in contact with all of them and was serious about wanting them to reform but it was all five of them or nothing. In the end, the girls were unable to reform due to prior obligations in the US by Melanie B. The girls also hoped to perform at the Concert for Diana but were unable due to timing constraints and that Emma was heavily pregnant at the time.
On June 28, 2007 after months of speculation, the Spice Girls announced an eleven date world wide tour entitled "The Return of the Spice Girls" kicking off in Los Angeles on December 7, 2007.
The tour will support the November release of a greatest hits album through Virgin Records. In addition, filmmaker Bob Smeaton will oversee an official documentary on the reformed band, which will be distributed worldwide at an undisclosed date. On the documentary, Geri said, "You are going to get to know what is behind the stories that you've heard, it's going to be the most honest story you've ever heard, you're going to get to see the dark side of the Spice Girls, the gritty side, the tears". The Spice Girls confirmed that all of their previous hits will be performed and that Geri will also join the girls to perform the number one hits that the girls achieved without her. They also have confirmed that the recording of new material is a possibility.
The group admitted the reunion is unlikely to become permanent. "We want our kids to see what we do," said Beckham, who is married to soccer superstar David Beckham. "I might even get to be the cool one in my family for once".
