FEATURE:
The Digital Mixtape
IN THIS PHOTO: Spice Girls in N.Y.C., April 1997 (Left: top to bottom: Geri Halliwell-Horner (née Halliwell; ‘Ginger Spice’), Emma Bunton (‘Baby Spice’) and Melanie Chisholm (‘Sporty Spice’). Right: back to front: Victoria Beckham (née Adams; ‘Posh Spice’) and Melanie Brown (‘Scary Spice’)/PHOTO CREDIT: Michael O'Neill
that the Spice Girls will perform together again. Whether there are tensions within the group that can’t be healed or it is about timing, we do wish that one day they would reconsider taking to the stage again. Maybe a festival appearance or another tour. The Spice Girls’ final album, Forever, turns twenty-five on 1st November. One celebration that we have before then is the fiftieth birthday of Mel B. On 29th May, fans will mark the birthday of an artist who, with Emma Bunton, Victoria Beckham, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Horner, transformed music in the 1990s. They made a huge impact and created this phenomenon. Whatever you think of the solo output of the individual Spice Girls members and whether it came close to their work as a group, you cannot deny that Mel B was a huge reason for the Spice Girls’ success. In July 2024, Mel B was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Leeds Beckett University for her career and work for the charity Women's Aid. She is someone who I really respect. Because she turns fifty soon, I am going to end with a compilation featuring Spice Girls classics and deep cuts. A few solo songs from Mel B. Before then, here is some biotrophy from IMDB:
“Born on May 29, 1975 in Leeds, England, Melanie Brown became a member of Spice Girls in 1994.
As a recording artist, Mel B's achievements with the Spice Girls are legendary: 55 million records sold worldwide, nine number one singles in the UK, 11 gold records as well as a total of 24 platinum and multi-platinum records. The Spice Girls reunion World Tour was a critical and popular triumph and the group was recently named Best Band by the U.K. Glamour Awards. Mel B has continued the same successful ways as a solo artist. Her 1998 single "I Want You" with Missy Elliott sold 80,000 copies in its first week, and gave Mel B her first solo #1. "Hot" was her first solo album, released on 9th October 2000. It entered the UK charts at #28. Despite producing 2 Top 5 singles (3, if you include the hit "I Want You Back"), the album only ever re-entered the chart once after dropping out of the Top 100 - peaking at #95 when "Feels So Good" was being promoted in February 2001. She followed up with the release "LA State of Mind" in 2005.
Mel B has also shone brightly as both an actress and television personality. She starred as "Mimi" in the smash hit Broadway musical "Rent", performed in the Vagina Monologues in London, had key roles in the feature films "LD 50 Lethal Dose", the Will Smith co-production "The Seat Filler", and appeared as a comedic performer in the British show "Burn It". Mel B has made a significant impact in the world of television, hosting "This Is My Moment", "The MOBO Awards", "Pure Naughty", "Voodoo Princess", "Top of the Pops", "Party in the Park for the Prince's Trust", and "The All Star Animal Awards" in addition to her role as a correspondent on the highly-rated "Access Hollywood." Mel B's most recent triumph was taking America by storm by on ABC's smash hit "Dancing with the Stars". Mel B and her partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy were the highest-scoring couple during the 2007 season and made it to the finals, earning a perfect score on their final dance.
Mel B is also a best-selling author; her hit autobiography was released in 2002. The book features her compelling personal insights and experiences, both as a Spice Girl and in her own life. "Catch a Fire" reached #7 in book-sales charts”.
That biography is a little out of date, though it does give you an indication of her legacy and brilliance. I would advise people to buy her 2024 book, Brutally Honest. As Melanie Brown, she wrote it with Lucy Gannon:
“As a Spice Girl, TV talent show judge and Broadway star, Mel B a.k.a Scary Spice, has been a global icon since her twenties. But behind the glittering façade of fame, the struggles and pain of this working-class, mixed-race girl from Leeds are laid bare in her critically acclaimed best-selling memoir, Brutally Honest.
With deep personal insight, remarkable frankness and trademark Yorkshire humour, the book tells how she went from Girl Power to girl powerless during her ten-year emotionally abusive marriage. Tracing a path through the key moments in her life, she reflects on her childhood, rise to fame and her chilling downward spiral before she finally broke free.
In this expanded edition, written with Louise Gannon, Mel brings her story up to date. With her trademark honesty, she tells the unfiltered story of piecing herself back together, dealing with trauma and new heartbreak whilst becoming a champion for survivors of abuse, performing once more with the Spice Girls and receiving her MBE from Prince William.
MEDIA REVIEWS
You cannot underestimate the awareness this book is raising about coercive control – it is helping us to save lives.
This book is so powerful so real, so strong and so emotional – this is exactly Melanie.
An unflinching account of how an icon of girl power became utterly powerless in her own life, this brave and important book deserves to be read by fans and non-fans alike. Utterly absorbing and deeply affecting. - The Guardian
This is the most gut wrenching, punch-in-the-stomach honest celebrity autobiography I’ve ever read. Mel B […] takes us to the darkest places behind her Scary Spice persona, educating about the true horror of domestic abuse in the process. - The Sun
If [Melanie] Brown awakens even one reader to the reality of their situation, her legacy will endure long beyond the second Spice Girls reunion. - The Observer
By opening up about the realities of abuse and addiction, Mel B has launched a new, but equally important, version of Girl Power. Brutally Honest will grip you from the start - Grazia
Much like a rolling Netflix series, you find yourself hungrily digesting chapter after chapter of Melanie’s life in one sitting. Some parts are hilarious and relatable; others are just painfully difficult to read. - Gal-Dem
Brutally Honest is a captivating memoir that candidly discusses the chain of abuse that still exists for women in society and what it will take to break it. - OK! Magazine
Brutally Honest is just what it says. Melanie Brown’s account of an abusive relationship – of the once fearless Scary Spice being made to feel so worthless that she believes suicide is the only way out – is gripping, shocking and harrowing. - The Guardian”.
We will soon mark the fiftieth birthday of an artist and songwriter who has accomplished so much. Doing wonderful work as an Ambassador for Women’s Aid, she is someone who has written about her experiences of domestic abuse and discussed it. Mel B gives strength and support to so many people. In terms of the future, maybe a Spice Girls reunion will wait. Wannabe turns thirty next year, so the members might do something for that. Regardless, I wanted to salute the wonderful Mel B (or Melanie B/Melanie Brown). Below is a mixtape of Spice Girls and solo songs where we get to see her talent shine. In the world of music, there is nobody like her. An icon and inspiration for millions through the decades, she is so loved and admired. Whether new music, a book or acting, I hope that we get something new from Mel B…
VERY soon.