With solo album sales totalling 20 million under her belt, Melanie C has come a long way from her tracksuit-wearing days as Sporty Spice. Jane McGowan finds out more
If I had my time again, I would tell my younger self to just sit back enjoy the ride,” says former Spice Girl Melanie C as she chats about life in Britain’s biggest ever girl group. “It was actually just two years from the first single until the time Geri left, but back then it felt like an eternity,” she adds.
Incredibly, it’s been 21 years since the release of Wannabe, the song that not only launched the feisty all-singing, all-dancing, all-female pop band on to the world, but also unleashed the phenomenon of ‘Girl Power’ – a movement espoused by the famous five (Mel B, Emma, Victoria and Geri) to let girls know they could achieve whatever they wanted.
“All of us are still so proud of that,” says Melanie, acknowledging their collective bond despite recent rumours of rifts over a failed reunion. “We never set out to launch Girl Power, but we were in a male-dominated industry and we were told, ‘Girls don’t sell records; girls don’t sell magazines’, and that really got our backs up. We ended up doing a lot better than most of the boys out there.
“Nearly every day, women come up to me and tell me how much they were affected by the Spice Girls and what we were doing. It’s probably the thing I am most proud of from what was really an incredible time.”
Fancy another musical interview? You can check out our interview with X Factor cheeky chappy Olly Murs by clicking here
Nowadays, 43-year-old Melanie lives a more measured existence, dividing her time between writing, performing and being a mum to eight-year-old Scarlet, who as yet has not committed herself to a life on the stage: “She’s tried ballet, but she thought that was a bit boring,” Melanie laughs. “But she does love coming to the shows and singing along, so you never know.”
Melanie says she was about her daughter’s age when she caught the performing bug. After attending a local dance school in her native Merseyside, Melanie headed south to study at The Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts. “I grew up idolising Madonna. Seeing her on stage I was just like, ‘Wow! I want that to be me’. Back then, that was really just a fantasy, but I knew I wanted to perform so I thought it would be more realistic to have some formal training and try and get a job in the theatre.”
It was while Melanie was busy auditioning for roles in the West End that she came across a newspaper ad looking for singers interested in forming a girl group. That group would of course become the Spice Girls, who would go on to sell more than 85million records worldwide.
“Once the five of us were together, something just clicked,” she explains. “We were all very ambitious and very determined and we didn’t have any doubts about our success. We set out what we wanted to do and we did it.”
Following Geri’s shock departure in May 1998, Melanie was the first to shake off the Spice mould to secure a Top 10 hit with Bryan Adams. With sales of more than 20million albums under her belt, Melanie’s solo success has also topped that of any other member, including Geri. Her latest offering, Version of Me which was released late last year, has been warmly welcomed by fans and critics alike. Melanie is dedicating most of 2017 to promoting it, which is why she will be heading to ‘Supervet’ Noel Fitzpatrick’s One Live extravaganza in Guildford’s Stoke Park on July 8.
Editor's Note: Unfortunately three days after this interview went to print, OneLive Festival was cancelled. Melanie C will still be appearing at Kew the Music. For more info visit melaniec.net
“It’s a privilege to actually still be making music,” she says with genuine gratitude. “And it’s fantastic to get out on the road. You spend so much time making the record and promoting it but when you get to play live in front of an audience, that’s when you get to enjoy the fruits of your labour.”
But for all you die-hard Sporty fans out there, Melanie assures me there will be plenty of classic tunes to keep your toes tapping.
“There will be a few oldies, don’t worry. Even if people aren’t familiar with the new stuff they will definitely be able to sing along with something.”
- Melanie C is supporting All Saints at Kew the Music on July 13. For tickets visit kew.org
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