January 20, 2022 • 34 mins
It is no wonder how the Spice Girls became a global phenomenon in 4 years. With the combination of saucy looks, infectious tunes, and sassy lyrics, the girl-group charmed their way to international stardom. They redefined the girl-group genre by spreading the idea of girl power through their larger than light personalities. Following the success of their hit single “Wannabe,” their fame went from exhilaration to exhaustion. Tabloid chaos, declining health, and creative differences among each other were all anguishes they faced. After Gerri “Ginger Spice” Halliwell left the group in 1998, the Spice Girls created one last album before each girl went on to pursue their own solo careers. To coincide with the 25th anniversary of the “Spice World” movie, the group has reunited several times to show the world their iconic performances and pave the way for new generations of female artists.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
They were Britain's fastest selling exports since the Beatles. In
the Spice Girls built an instantaneous empire with infectious tunes
and outrageous antics. With their larger than life personalities, the
irreverent girl power gang charmed their way into international stardom
(00:25):
and from day one they sparked tabloid chaos. Despite being
one of the hottest groups in the world, they would
pay the price in personal anguish and public humiliation. Now
take a look at the hidden history of these iconic
pop stars. It's time for a gaudy jaunt with five
brassy Brits. The Spice Girls the story behind the music.
(01:01):
In just two years after the release of their first single,
the Spice Girls were the hottest act in the music business.
They'd come from nowhere to sell over twenty million albums
and were idolized by five continents of fans. No and
it's seen anything like it before really since pretty much
that the Beatles, really and especially there were a girl
(01:22):
band at this kind of level. Everything was obsessed with
Spice Girls that they were really the highest they could be.
People were hysterical for these girls. There was total adoration
and you know, frenzy The Spice Girls were built on
saucy looks and sassy lyrics, and together they projected a
feisty image of fiercely independent feminism. I really felt like
(01:45):
we were on a mission and this is what girls
to join in and it was honest and I'm proud
of being a past of that. What was new about
the Spice Girls is they were the first girl group
that wasn't boy crazy, and that was something completely new.
But the amazing popularity of their message of empowerment soon
had the Spice Girls being victimized by a hungry media
(02:07):
mab At the height of the mania, their private lives
were turned into very public circus acts. There were so
many rumors going around when the Spice Girls were at
the height of their fame, whether Posh was really harsh,
whether Jerry had a boob job that day. Wouldn't go
piles without them being in any newspaper, They're on TV
all the time. They literally just had to blow their
(02:28):
noses and they would end up on the front pages.
Beset by a ravenous press and rampaging egos, was only
a matter of time before the Spice Girls folded. In
just four short years, they emerged from oblivion, became a
phenomenon and abruptly imploded. You put five girls together who
(02:51):
have come from nowhere to the biggest girl band in
the world, and you're gonna get problems. Life as a
glow Will superstar once seemed like an impossible dream for
Jerry Halliwell born in August of seventy two. She was
raised in a dingy neighborhood in the town of Watford, England.
(03:11):
My family were very, very poor, so I used to
tell awful lies to my friends to try and make
myself feel more interesting. I had to say I was
born on a plane. I'd say I had sheep in
my back garden, but really the reality was the wallpaper
was falling down and we had no money. The daughter
of a Spanish mother and an English father, Jerry thirsted
(03:33):
for the spotlight even as a young child, but it
would be some time before she was out on her own.
My father took me to a talent agency when I
was about six years old, and he didn't ask my
mother's permission, and I got home all really excited and
my mother just I don't want you to be the
next to the gallant and end up killing yourself. You're
not allowed to do anything to your sixteen. By the
(03:55):
time I was sixteen years old, I was gagging to
get out the door. As it turned out, all of
the Spice girls were bitten by the show Bisberg early
in life. The future Sporty Spice Melanie Chisholm, grew up
in a broken home in Liverpool, England, and for her
music was a welcome escape. From the very beginning. I
was always a lover of music. I started listening to
(04:16):
a very young Gage Too on my mom's records, Lots
of Motown Stevie one day and I did just have
dreams about being up there and being in front of
a band. By the summer of ninety three, Melanie and
Jerry had made their way to London, where they subsisted
on the occasional our job as they tried to find
their way to fame. I was auditioning for different things.
(04:37):
Must have been about a year, you know, and nothing
had happened. From counted, I'd moved every six months or
sixteen different addresses of something like that. It's ridiculous amount.
I've lived in bedsits and squats. I've been homeless. I've
slept in backs of cars, and I was too proud
to go to my family as they all got on
(05:00):
really suffering. Here in March, the Girls saw an ad
four street wise and ambitious young females in a cut
rate show biz paper called The Stage. It was a
long shot, but when Melanie needed to take I needed
to get a job. You know, things are really really tough,
and I said to my mate, that's it, That's what
(05:20):
I'm going to do, and I did. Melanie auditioned immediately
for the new Girl Group, which was the brainchild of
first time music manager Chris Herbert, his father Bob, and
Chick Murphy, a wealthy London businessman. I did a very
poor rendition if I'm so excited by the point of sisters.
(05:44):
So it's a good song though, and I was excited.
Melsa undoubtedly was the best singer. She was very girl
next door, bit tomboyish, but I can and I saw
her as the vocal talent at that time. Next up
was Jerry halliware. Jerry had already sought fame as a
(06:07):
Turkish talk show host, a nude model and an exotic dancer.
To her, the Girl Group was perhaps a final shot
at stardom and she was determined to make an impression.
I'll never forget the day I met Jerry. I just
thought she was crazy. She came in and she had
a big, punky boobs and she had a hair up
in little She's come in and she was telling she
(06:30):
was a dog and going. So I was like, what
is she? I'm a little bit dizzy, little trying come
into two groups, and I knew I was putting the
reject group. I could tell. And we had to put
a dark routeam together and we were just a shambles.
Undeterred by the group performance, Jerry quickly returned for a
(06:52):
solo audition and I think I blacked it a little
bit and just a bit loud and um just tend
this thing where I carry and she literally walked in
the room and just completely filled the room, you know,
boulders brass. And then we were like, wow, it doesn't
matter if she can't sing. In addition to the fame
(07:13):
Hungry Halliwell and Melanie Chisholm, the group was rounded out
by two teenagers named Melanie Brown and Victoria Adams In
sixteen year old Emma Bunt so nervous and I thought,
if they don't like me, but luckily we've got on
really well, and they liked me and then checked at
me on using the working name Touch. The girls began
(07:36):
rehearsing together immediately, but from the auditions onward it was
clear that the group was less about skill and more
about attitude. If those were the best and you look
at the audition tape, she kind of really wondered what
the others must have been like. The Spice Girls got
the gig, but there was nothing really extraordinary about them.
None of them were great singers, none of them were
(07:58):
real lookers, and none of them could really particularly dance.
The whole idea where these girls were just like you,
we want looking for the best singers in the world,
you know, just checking whether absolute time death or not.
I'm really also seeing how they interacted with each other,
and it was little more than that really. In the
spring of the girls all moved into a house in
(08:19):
the suburbs of London to polish the ract. If you
would have believed that within three years There's would be
one of the most popular groups in music history. Next,
the Spice Girls forsake their founder. When behind the music
continues in the spring of five, ambitious British girls moved
(08:49):
in together into a ramshackle house in the London suburbs,
calling themselves the Spice Girls. They wanted to achieve global
fame as a singing group. First they had to build
a sisterhood. Dante was to get them all living together
because we thought it would really accelerate that whole bonding process.
Some of the girls were barely old enough to be
on their own and the house they shared was in
(09:11):
shambles within days. Open the fridge and the cannabate things
in there and that's about it. It was just like
a complete free for all. The worst thing about living
in the house of bad Pill is I always have
to clean the tiglet A tired don't know how to
clean toilet because their moms do all that for them
and lega of For almost a year, the girls lived
(09:32):
and rehearsed together with little money if you were guarantees,
and no contracts whatsoever. The project's financial backer, Chick Murphy,
insisted that the singers were individually expendable. Chick was of
the opinion, like, you know, we won't give him a contract.
I want the girls to feel like any one of
them is replaceable At any time we Paul, you know,
(09:52):
we didn't have anything. We needed some security, so we
were pushing for this contract. And the contract wasn't the
only thing causing tension because Jerry Halliwell was dead set
and becoming the Spice Girls primary flavor. Jerry is a
bit of a bossy face sometimes and I get a
bit annoyed to death. I'm quite motivated in person, it's
(10:15):
quite hungry face. But as months went by without a
contract and without a record deal, the girls spent as
much time squabbling as they did singing. We do have
really bad arguments, sometimes really bad arguments where these things
flying and this swear they didn't can get really really
nasty sortimes. Jerry and Melanie were the strongest personalities within
(10:37):
the band, and together they were an awesome force. And
if they weren't getting on them, that was carnage. Why
in November the Spice Girls finally got a break when
Chris Herbert organized a showcase for a group of Indo
(11:00):
street professionals. The girls knew it might be their only
chance at success. Terrifying, absolutely terrifying, and our starling was abysmal.
I think we were started by Jerry House. Gary is that.
So they performed We're Gonna Make It, and I remember thinking, God,
they're amazing. They're just so larger than life. You know.
(11:21):
There wasn't particularly the best singing, the tightest performance. It's
just an energy, a buzz, and that came every right
from the beginning. The showcase confirmed Jerry Halliwell's feelings that
the Spanish Girls had monster potential if only they had
the proper management. I thought the management weren't that good.
They were nice, but they didn't have experience, like you know,
they were just like, you're next. When they were decided
(11:42):
to be a manager, I think that at that point
that balance of power kind of tipped and they then
started to believe that, you know, what they were capable
of achieving. In January, the girls decided to strike out
on the rock under the cover of dark this and
without a word to the group's creator, Chris Herbert, and
(12:03):
packed up their demo tapes and left the house for good.
We did a midnight fleet. We were terrified and we
just went we were going out of there. I was
furious at the time, absolutely furious. You know, it was
my little baby, I've worked with the girls. I also
thought that we're all kind of friends as well. I
felt very let down, very angry, angry about how it
(12:25):
was dealt with surviving a little more than unemployment checks.
The Spice Girls traveled two hundred miles to Sheffield, England.
There they appealed for help from fame songwriter Elliott Kennedy.
They tried their hardest to impress me in a feminine way,
I might say, and it didn't say long as to
what going on. Said, well, look we're sacking our manager.
(12:47):
The girls soon moved in with Kennedy, but they were
still without a record contract and it seemed they had
little hope of getting one. In the early days, it
was tough for us because at the time in these
a big boom on boy band and then they weren't
really interested in any female artists, and you know, that
really got us. That infuriated us. So that's why we,
you know, we created the girl power movement, you know,
(13:11):
if you want to call it. But I think it
was probably one of Jade's ideas. Pretty good with ideas.
She really gave them their brash tone, the girl power
thing that was largely her concept. So she was really
kind of the brash one that didn't necessarily had the talent,
but really kind of set the tone of where they
were going. For months, the girls pestored labels and hopes
(13:31):
of getting side. Then in March of ninety five, the
persistence paid off when they enlisted longtime music manager Simon Fuller.
Fuller would later achieve fame as the man behind American Idol,
and he immediately heated up the Spice Girl's chances for success.
Simon Fuller's influence in the band was just noticeable from
day one. He made sure that they rehearsed on time,
(13:52):
that everything was tightened up. It was more than just
the singing the dancing. He had a vision. Within months,
Fuller he convinced Virgin Records to sign the group, and
soon the Spice Girls were working on the catchy chorus
for their first single, When you were a gang of friends,
you just have silly little catchphrases, and we were just
(14:14):
you know, zig zigga. We just made a stupid thing
and we were like, yeah, that'd be really funny if
it was the chorus. And then it was. When the
Spice Girls released Wanna Be in June, it was an
instant total smash, the first single ever by an all
girl group to debut at number one on the British charts,
(14:34):
and they went from obscurity to this. Literally it was
like an overnight thing that once it broke, it was
just incredible in the UK incredible and that was it.
That was when it all started. The autographs and banging
on the van and you know all that crazy Beatles stuff.
It was cool. The Spice Girls. Amazing start had launched
them to instant fame. Music was way better than anybody
(15:02):
would have expected. It was energetic, it was catchy, it
was infectious, it was brash. They're all having fun, black
fishing food in people's faces. Just made you want to
be part of it. Really. Spice quickly spun out two
more number one singles, including say You'll Be There. The
record would go on to sell an astonishing twenty two
(15:24):
million copies worldwide, many two young females who went wild
for the Spice Girl's sassy message while doing this for
you to make you be whatever you want to be,
to help you be you know, a Spice Girl. I
will ever asked to say your part something. Also, the
girl's chasing fame, wanting to be heard. There was put
(15:44):
my hand in my heart, I totally believe and go power.
The girls put on a brassy united front as a group,
egged on by manager Simon Fuller, they also took on
individual identities, with the buxom and brash Jerry Halliwell adopting
the name Jin Your Spice. Without doubt, the most outrageous
member of the Spice Girls was Jerry Halliwell. Her personality
(16:06):
was huge. It was infectious. Jerry just bursts on the
scene and kind of over the top outfit. This mad
dyed red hair, just breast popping out, a really low
cut just fell out of her top as well, not
that she seemed to care. In the group's videos. Ginger's
flair was offset by the more mild baby Spice Emma Bunting.
(16:28):
But Emma's sweet exterior belied a more saucy side. I'm
naught even nice underneath this. I've got my leather underwear.
She was sweet, innocent, but saying off the microphone, and
she was naughty, naughty as you could possibly want, you know.
Melanie Brown, known for her quick temper, became Scary Spice,
while trained gymnast Melanie Chisholm took the name Sporty Victoria Adams,
(16:52):
the only group member with an upscale upbringing, called herself
posh Reddish slang for rich. Victoria's always looked like she
was serving community service by being in a Spice Girls video,
So she was the one who was also above the
whole thing, kind of your girlfriend who liked to go
out with everybody and you know, but when somebody says something,
she looks the other way. The girls in your face
(17:14):
message an individual style was a powerful hook to fans
who could love the group and have a favorite Spice
You liked the Beatles as a whole, but were the
Spice Girls you could identify with five different girls who
might suit the way you look physically. I think every
little girl in Britain wanted to be poshal ginger or
baby or scary or sporty. It had never happened before.
(17:36):
Within months of their debut, the Spice Girls were blanketing
Britain and fans were buying everything from CDs two Clark's
to coffee mugs. I don't think we've ever seen, certainly
within the UK, girls of three, four or five and
six asking their parents to buy them music. And there
was a lot of money spent by consumers on what
(17:56):
seemed to be pages and pages of merchandise in the
Spice Girls cattle. They did watches, They did instant cameras,
all the kids had those. There was Spice gat chocolate bars,
There was the Spice Coast. Does I mean we did
so many things? With spice Mania gripping the world, Britain's
tabloid press went wild for gossip about the group. There
(18:17):
were spurious rumors that some of the girls were lesbian lovers,
and that Emma Bunton and manager Simon Fuller were having
a tour at Affair. The tabloids nitpicked every public and
private aspect of the Spice Girls you could possibly imagine.
If they weren't sleeping with men, it was news. If
they were sleeping with men, it was news. They were
like the Beatles there, every single move was document of
(18:38):
The paparazzi were everywhere. You said this thing, if you
pay our closure on a Saturday night, you dread that
phone call because you know there's a big story in
on the Sunday. So those were difficult times for a time.
The girls fueled the fire without landish clothes and even
more outrageous antics, and no one grabbed more headlines than
(18:58):
Jerry halliwell, everywhere she went she caused, you know, complete controversy.
When she met Prince Charles, she kissed him on the cheek,
she pinched his bottom. I mean, all the rural aids
must have been tearing their hair out, thinking what is
this woman doing. She wouldn't curtsy for the Queen because
she had on that low cut dress and her beabs
are in danger of spilling out all over the place.
(19:20):
Within months, the Girls had conquered Written, and by early
seven they were aiming to do the same to the
United States. Spice Girls not only conquered in the US,
they got themselves in the cover of Rolling Stone. We
always hoped that we'd get hurt and our message would
get listened to up but we didn't. I don't think
we actually knew it would be as big or as
(19:41):
amazing as it as it is today. M By the
summer of ninety seven, the Spice Girls were at work
on their eagerly anticipated follow up album, but within days
of the records released, the group dropped the bombshell when
they fired Simon Fuller, the man who had masterminded their
Titanic bab You The stunning move immediately sparked new rumors
(20:03):
that things that turned sour between Simon in Baby Spice.
There are so many different star using the arts and things,
but it was a collective decision to leave Samon. None
of us were happy. Nearly four years after forming, The
Spice Girls wanted total control of their own destiny, and
they resented the uproar that greeted their decision. People thought
(20:25):
it was the end of the Spice Girls because we
were leaving our manager, when we knew that we were
the ones with millions of fans all over the world
our manager. One of the most important messages that the
Spice Girls were trying to promote was that of girl power.
So when they fired Simon Fuller, that was the ultimate
girl power move. They wanted to show the world that
(20:45):
they didn't need a man to be in control of them.
They didn't need a man telling them what to do.
The Spice Girls had only released one album and already
they fired two managers, but the real drama was yet
to come. Next, the Spice Girls split up. When Behind
the Music Continues less than four years after forming on
(21:21):
a ramshackle London stage, the Spice Girls were among the
most celebrated pop stars in the world. By the fall
of their global legion of fans ranged from armies of
American five year olds to the President of South Africa,
Nelson Mandela. It was like living twenty years in five years.
(21:41):
We did things that some people don't do in a lifetime.
When were you meeting the President Mandela? The next minute
you were doing a big press conference in cans two
thousand people. Within a few days of firing manager Simon Fuller,
in November of the Girls released their second album, Spice World.
They did consigned a fan frenzy, selling an amazing seven
(22:02):
million copies in just two weeks. Spice World all the
way through, Man, that thing is chock full of hits,
and it's peppy, it's energetic, it's fun. There's a little
hip hop, there's a little Jamaican dance hall stuff. It's
a very good record. Within weeks, the girls released a
movie of the same name. It could have been embarrassing overkill. Instead,
(22:25):
it became the number one film in England and seemed
to confirm that the girls could do no wrong. We're
just having fun and we enjoyed every minute of it.
And we're in a girl gang and you can't be
being in a girl gang. It was fabulous. It should
have been the biggest flop that England had ever seen,
and it turned out to be sensational. That was a
(22:45):
really crazy time. It was like everything we touched tends
to girls, and I think that people around us maybe
thought that, you know, this isn't the last forever. Let's
milk this cow. The appetite for Spice seemed insatiable in
the UK and in the US, fans swarm to the
Vivacious Five, gobbling up their albums and adopting their garish
garb and brash sense of style. You could actually identify
(23:09):
with ones and you could be athletic and be like sporting,
you know, or be sort of adorable and be like
baby and kids really reacted to it because they could
see themselves in these girls. America was just mental. In England,
the kids used to dress up, you know, there'd be
a baby Spice or a posh Spice or a sporty
or whatever. But in America the parents used to dress
(23:29):
like us, and that used to freak us out quite
a lot. The Spice Girls seemed on top of the world,
but in the spring of ninety eight, a sudden scandal
struck the group when Playboy magazine published nude photos of
Jerry Halliwell. The racy shots have been taken before Jerry
joined the Spice Girls at a time when she was
(23:51):
desperate for cash. I met a girl who told me
about how you could earn two hundred pounds an hour
if you took your top like you did on the beach. Anyway,
and to that, it's certainly come back to home in
a massive way. The newly surfaced photos caused a furor,
(24:11):
and Jerry Halliwell found herself at the center of a
bitter backlash. Jerry was the first to kind of be
portrayed as slutty Spice all of a sudden, not only
did she talk dirty, but now she was dirty. There
was a real fuss made, and people pretty much outraged,
I think because the bands were being targeted for quite
a young age group and it's pretty shocking for thirteen
(24:32):
year old girls and younger to see their aisles just
wearing nothing. But basically people were shot by it. The
uproar over jerry saucy photo spread added yet another layer
of madness to the constant hysteria surrounding the group. Two
years into the spice sensation. The girls were both exhilarated
and exhausted. I think things we ever changing, To be
(24:56):
honest with you, we used to go through waves of
times when it would be times when we just felt
like we couldn't carry on anymore, you know. So much
of it was to do with the exhaustion. We were
just so tired. To Melanie Chisholm, the stress of superstardom
was darting and she was paying a constant price with
her health in exchange for success. We all dealt with
(25:19):
things in our own way, and mine was an obsession
with exercise and and eating, It's fair to say throughout
most of the space as I was anorexic, and that
was the way I survived, you know, I run on
the treadmill. I'd run away from everything. Melanie wasn't the
only one who was reeling. Living in a fish ball
(25:41):
was taking its toll on the rest of the group too.
They were managing themselves, but they didn't really know what
they're doing. So I think in narratably, that cause a
lot of strange Who was going to be the boss,
Who was going to be in charge? You know what
it's like you have a group of women together, there's
always going to be tension and bitterness and fighting and
sid when Fuller was able to sort of dissolve any
(26:02):
of those disputes. Never any fights in this group. An
argument us about them. No, you want to hear the
downside things, There is no downside positive energy. The girls
put on a brave front, but as they toured Europe
(26:22):
in the spring of rumors of trouble within the group
continued to grow, especially after Jerry missed two concert performances
in several public photo ops. On one occasion, they were
due to appear on National Lottery, but only four girls
emerged on stage and everyone's like, where's Jerry, Where's she gone?
And I think that was the beginning of the end.
(26:44):
Things obviously started getting downhill. There were obviously squabbles amongst themselves.
The Spice Girls were still one of the most popular
groups in the world, but as they prepared to tour
the US, Jerry Halliwell was ready to call it wits.
You should never be the last to lead the party.
I said to the other girls that you want to go.
(27:05):
Then at the end of the American tour, you can't
get better than that, you know, You've done it. You know,
We've brought it to the max. She'd been saying that
she was unhappy for quite a few months. She was
always wanted to be the big star, and I think
she just saw the other girls as a platform to
get to there. Ultimately, Jerry didn't even wait for the
American tour to begin. Only days before the Spice Girls
(27:28):
were to leave for the States, on Mate, Jerry announced
that she was quitting the group and would return as
a solo artist. Ironically, Melsey felt that the relations between
the girls had just taken a turn for the better.
I remember getting up and getting a phone call from
the Spice's Life saying that Jerry's not coming to it today.
(27:49):
She said she's left the band, and it was like, what,
you know. I couldn't believe it, because you know, things
are hard sometimes, but at the moment is a really
good It's still baffles me. I thought, you know, this
isn't for me anymore. It's not when you leave a marriage.
You can't say how we got divorced because of just
(28:11):
one particular reason. She wasn't happy and wasn't doing what
she wanted and wasn't allowed to do what she wanted.
The rest of the group was stunned by the news
at a critical moment in their careers, five Spice Girls
had become four, shocking news to the band, to devastated people,
because the Spice Girls were all about being five. It
(28:33):
was kind of like one of the members of the
TV cast of Friends deciding not to come back. All
of a sudden, it just wasn't quite the Spice Girls anymore.
They were like five sisters. So Jerry's departure quit the
girls in a very difficult and challenging position. Sporty, scary
Baby and Posh decided to press on without Ginger. But
suddenly the Spice Girls weren't such a hot item anymore.
(28:57):
Fans were devastated. You buy your ticket, you show up,
and now there's not five, there's four. So there seemed
to be a mixed message here that we're going to
be together forever, Girl's rule, girl Power stayed together girls,
and oh but Ginger is not on this tour. Suddenly
that dream was fattered. Suddenly that great we are so trendy,
We've got the Spice Girls, we promoted girl power all
(29:17):
over the world was gone. Amazingly, just two years after
releasing their first single, the Spice Girls were on the
verge of complete collapse. We just, you know, Jerry, let's
just finish what we started, you know, let's just completely
American like at the tour. But she didn't want to
carry on, and we were really really angry with that.
It was never the same again. I mean, the four scary,
(29:40):
posh Baby and Sporty. They tried to carry on, they
did the American tour, but it was never the same.
You know, I lived and breathed every moment of being
in the Spice Girls, I really did. And so then suddenly,
you know, I was out my own and I had
to rebuild my life. In June of Jerry released her
(30:01):
first album, Schizophrenic. Although it's sold more than a million
copies worldwide, audiences were unsure what to make of a
solo Spice Girl. She releases a single upsets a lot
of kids with the videos because the one scene as
a hearse goes past with a coffin with Ginger in
(30:22):
flowers arrangement all along it. So of course all the
kids were really upset, you know, death of Ginger. Jerry halliwell,
solo career is just it's just like watching a car crash.
I mean, the songs that she chooses to put out
A just ludicrous Schizophrenic was widely seen as a disappointment
that Jerry setback didn't deter the remaining Spice Girls from
(30:44):
dabbling on separate solo projects. In the fall of ninety nine,
Melanie Chisholm abandoned Spicemania for a chance to work on
her own. I was still on any way from my demons,
so I ran away to l A and I just
reckonside record and you know, that's when I emitted my
(31:04):
eating disorder to myself. And that was the beginning of
a very long road. But out of all that pain
and heartache came an album I'm very proud of, you know,
Northern Star, and to south three million copies. In November
of two thousand, more than three years after their last album,
the final four Spice Girls regrouped and released the defiantly
(31:25):
entitled Forever. But the group was no longer a hot property,
and the record total the fraction of its predecessors. Take
Spice Girls Forever tagged. And this was just a last gasp.
I mean, the last song on it is called Goodbye.
It wasn't the real Spice Cast anymore, you know, I
mean the Spice Cast was a five of us. In
(31:48):
the aftermath of Forever, the group quietly disbanded to concentrate
full time on solo careers. Victoria also found success as
it was acted fashion designer, launching her own eponymous clothing label,
having married England's most flamboyant soccer star David Beckham in
(32:10):
the two are the ultimate golden couple in the UK.
Wherever they go. The photograft that been in countless magazines.
The public seems to be obsessed with them. I think
we are says with them as well. In two thousand seven,
the Spice Girls reunited for their first reunion tour, The
Return of the Spice Girls. Tickets sold out in seconds.
(32:32):
Later in the girls performed their hits at the closing
ceremony of the Summer Olympics in London. They reunited again
for the Spice World Tour, though Victoria Beckham was unable
to perform. In July, for the twenty fifth anniversary of Wannabe,
the group released never before heard studio demos as well
(32:56):
as Spice, a reissue of their debut album, The Spice
Girls was Amazing and I'm very proud that was a
pot of Bito. Marks the anniversary of the beloved Spiceworld movie,
which has become a true cult classic. Fans can go
see the iconic tour bus from the film on permanent
(33:18):
display on the Isle of Wight in England. With their
iconic pop hits, fashion and girl power attitude, the Spice
Girls paved the way for new generations of female artists
to take the music world by storm. Listen and subscribe
(33:41):
to Behind the Music on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Be
sure to rate and review Behind the Music on Apple
Podcasts and Spotify What more episodes You can watch a
remastered best of the Vault and new episodes of Behind
the Music only on Paramount Bus the th
They were Britain's fastest selling exports since the Beatles. In
the Spice Girls built an instantaneous empire with infectious tunes
and outrageous antics. With their larger than life personalities, the
irreverent girl power gang charmed their way into international stardom
(00:25):
and from day one they sparked tabloid chaos. Despite being
one of the hottest groups in the world, they would
pay the price in personal anguish and public humiliation. Now
take a look at the hidden history of these iconic
pop stars. It's time for a gaudy jaunt with five
brassy Brits. The Spice Girls the story behind the music.
(01:01):
In just two years after the release of their first single,
the Spice Girls were the hottest act in the music business.
They'd come from nowhere to sell over twenty million albums
and were idolized by five continents of fans. No and
it's seen anything like it before really since pretty much
that the Beatles, really and especially there were a girl
(01:22):
band at this kind of level. Everything was obsessed with
Spice Girls that they were really the highest they could be.
People were hysterical for these girls. There was total adoration
and you know, frenzy The Spice Girls were built on
saucy looks and sassy lyrics, and together they projected a
feisty image of fiercely independent feminism. I really felt like
(01:45):
we were on a mission and this is what girls
to join in and it was honest and I'm proud
of being a past of that. What was new about
the Spice Girls is they were the first girl group
that wasn't boy crazy, and that was something completely new.
But the amazing popularity of their message of empowerment soon
had the Spice Girls being victimized by a hungry media
(02:07):
mab At the height of the mania, their private lives
were turned into very public circus acts. There were so
many rumors going around when the Spice Girls were at
the height of their fame, whether Posh was really harsh,
whether Jerry had a boob job that day. Wouldn't go
piles without them being in any newspaper, They're on TV
all the time. They literally just had to blow their
(02:28):
noses and they would end up on the front pages.
Beset by a ravenous press and rampaging egos, was only
a matter of time before the Spice Girls folded. In
just four short years, they emerged from oblivion, became a
phenomenon and abruptly imploded. You put five girls together who
(02:51):
have come from nowhere to the biggest girl band in
the world, and you're gonna get problems. Life as a
glow Will superstar once seemed like an impossible dream for
Jerry Halliwell born in August of seventy two. She was
raised in a dingy neighborhood in the town of Watford, England.
(03:11):
My family were very, very poor, so I used to
tell awful lies to my friends to try and make
myself feel more interesting. I had to say I was
born on a plane. I'd say I had sheep in
my back garden, but really the reality was the wallpaper
was falling down and we had no money. The daughter
of a Spanish mother and an English father, Jerry thirsted
(03:33):
for the spotlight even as a young child, but it
would be some time before she was out on her own.
My father took me to a talent agency when I
was about six years old, and he didn't ask my
mother's permission, and I got home all really excited and
my mother just I don't want you to be the
next to the gallant and end up killing yourself. You're
not allowed to do anything to your sixteen. By the
(03:55):
time I was sixteen years old, I was gagging to
get out the door. As it turned out, all of
the Spice girls were bitten by the show Bisberg early
in life. The future Sporty Spice Melanie Chisholm, grew up
in a broken home in Liverpool, England, and for her
music was a welcome escape. From the very beginning. I
was always a lover of music. I started listening to
(04:16):
a very young Gage Too on my mom's records, Lots
of Motown Stevie one day and I did just have
dreams about being up there and being in front of
a band. By the summer of ninety three, Melanie and
Jerry had made their way to London, where they subsisted
on the occasional our job as they tried to find
their way to fame. I was auditioning for different things.
(04:37):
Must have been about a year, you know, and nothing
had happened. From counted, I'd moved every six months or
sixteen different addresses of something like that. It's ridiculous amount.
I've lived in bedsits and squats. I've been homeless. I've
slept in backs of cars, and I was too proud
to go to my family as they all got on
(05:00):
really suffering. Here in March, the Girls saw an ad
four street wise and ambitious young females in a cut
rate show biz paper called The Stage. It was a
long shot, but when Melanie needed to take I needed
to get a job. You know, things are really really tough,
and I said to my mate, that's it, That's what
(05:20):
I'm going to do, and I did. Melanie auditioned immediately
for the new Girl Group, which was the brainchild of
first time music manager Chris Herbert, his father Bob, and
Chick Murphy, a wealthy London businessman. I did a very
poor rendition if I'm so excited by the point of sisters.
(05:44):
So it's a good song though, and I was excited.
Melsa undoubtedly was the best singer. She was very girl
next door, bit tomboyish, but I can and I saw
her as the vocal talent at that time. Next up
was Jerry halliware. Jerry had already sought fame as a
(06:07):
Turkish talk show host, a nude model and an exotic dancer.
To her, the Girl Group was perhaps a final shot
at stardom and she was determined to make an impression.
I'll never forget the day I met Jerry. I just
thought she was crazy. She came in and she had
a big, punky boobs and she had a hair up
in little She's come in and she was telling she
(06:30):
was a dog and going. So I was like, what
is she? I'm a little bit dizzy, little trying come
into two groups, and I knew I was putting the
reject group. I could tell. And we had to put
a dark routeam together and we were just a shambles.
Undeterred by the group performance, Jerry quickly returned for a
(06:52):
solo audition and I think I blacked it a little
bit and just a bit loud and um just tend
this thing where I carry and she literally walked in
the room and just completely filled the room, you know,
boulders brass. And then we were like, wow, it doesn't
matter if she can't sing. In addition to the fame
(07:13):
Hungry Halliwell and Melanie Chisholm, the group was rounded out
by two teenagers named Melanie Brown and Victoria Adams In
sixteen year old Emma Bunt so nervous and I thought,
if they don't like me, but luckily we've got on
really well, and they liked me and then checked at
me on using the working name Touch. The girls began
(07:36):
rehearsing together immediately, but from the auditions onward it was
clear that the group was less about skill and more
about attitude. If those were the best and you look
at the audition tape, she kind of really wondered what
the others must have been like. The Spice Girls got
the gig, but there was nothing really extraordinary about them.
None of them were great singers, none of them were
(07:58):
real lookers, and none of them could really particularly dance.
The whole idea where these girls were just like you,
we want looking for the best singers in the world,
you know, just checking whether absolute time death or not.
I'm really also seeing how they interacted with each other,
and it was little more than that really. In the
spring of the girls all moved into a house in
(08:19):
the suburbs of London to polish the ract. If you
would have believed that within three years There's would be
one of the most popular groups in music history. Next,
the Spice Girls forsake their founder. When behind the music
continues in the spring of five, ambitious British girls moved
(08:49):
in together into a ramshackle house in the London suburbs,
calling themselves the Spice Girls. They wanted to achieve global
fame as a singing group. First they had to build
a sisterhood. Dante was to get them all living together
because we thought it would really accelerate that whole bonding process.
Some of the girls were barely old enough to be
on their own and the house they shared was in
(09:11):
shambles within days. Open the fridge and the cannabate things
in there and that's about it. It was just like
a complete free for all. The worst thing about living
in the house of bad Pill is I always have
to clean the tiglet A tired don't know how to
clean toilet because their moms do all that for them
and lega of For almost a year, the girls lived
(09:32):
and rehearsed together with little money if you were guarantees,
and no contracts whatsoever. The project's financial backer, Chick Murphy,
insisted that the singers were individually expendable. Chick was of
the opinion, like, you know, we won't give him a contract.
I want the girls to feel like any one of
them is replaceable At any time we Paul, you know,
(09:52):
we didn't have anything. We needed some security, so we
were pushing for this contract. And the contract wasn't the
only thing causing tension because Jerry Halliwell was dead set
and becoming the Spice Girls primary flavor. Jerry is a
bit of a bossy face sometimes and I get a
bit annoyed to death. I'm quite motivated in person, it's
(10:15):
quite hungry face. But as months went by without a
contract and without a record deal, the girls spent as
much time squabbling as they did singing. We do have
really bad arguments, sometimes really bad arguments where these things
flying and this swear they didn't can get really really
nasty sortimes. Jerry and Melanie were the strongest personalities within
(10:37):
the band, and together they were an awesome force. And
if they weren't getting on them, that was carnage. Why
in November the Spice Girls finally got a break when
Chris Herbert organized a showcase for a group of Indo
(11:00):
street professionals. The girls knew it might be their only
chance at success. Terrifying, absolutely terrifying, and our starling was abysmal.
I think we were started by Jerry House. Gary is that.
So they performed We're Gonna Make It, and I remember thinking, God,
they're amazing. They're just so larger than life. You know.
(11:21):
There wasn't particularly the best singing, the tightest performance. It's
just an energy, a buzz, and that came every right
from the beginning. The showcase confirmed Jerry Halliwell's feelings that
the Spanish Girls had monster potential if only they had
the proper management. I thought the management weren't that good.
They were nice, but they didn't have experience, like you know,
they were just like, you're next. When they were decided
(11:42):
to be a manager, I think that at that point
that balance of power kind of tipped and they then
started to believe that, you know, what they were capable
of achieving. In January, the girls decided to strike out
on the rock under the cover of dark this and
without a word to the group's creator, Chris Herbert, and
(12:03):
packed up their demo tapes and left the house for good.
We did a midnight fleet. We were terrified and we
just went we were going out of there. I was
furious at the time, absolutely furious. You know, it was
my little baby, I've worked with the girls. I also
thought that we're all kind of friends as well. I
felt very let down, very angry, angry about how it
(12:25):
was dealt with surviving a little more than unemployment checks.
The Spice Girls traveled two hundred miles to Sheffield, England.
There they appealed for help from fame songwriter Elliott Kennedy.
They tried their hardest to impress me in a feminine way,
I might say, and it didn't say long as to
what going on. Said, well, look we're sacking our manager.
(12:47):
The girls soon moved in with Kennedy, but they were
still without a record contract and it seemed they had
little hope of getting one. In the early days, it
was tough for us because at the time in these
a big boom on boy band and then they weren't
really interested in any female artists, and you know, that
really got us. That infuriated us. So that's why we,
you know, we created the girl power movement, you know,
(13:11):
if you want to call it. But I think it
was probably one of Jade's ideas. Pretty good with ideas.
She really gave them their brash tone, the girl power
thing that was largely her concept. So she was really
kind of the brash one that didn't necessarily had the talent,
but really kind of set the tone of where they
were going. For months, the girls pestored labels and hopes
(13:31):
of getting side. Then in March of ninety five, the
persistence paid off when they enlisted longtime music manager Simon Fuller.
Fuller would later achieve fame as the man behind American Idol,
and he immediately heated up the Spice Girl's chances for success.
Simon Fuller's influence in the band was just noticeable from
day one. He made sure that they rehearsed on time,
(13:52):
that everything was tightened up. It was more than just
the singing the dancing. He had a vision. Within months,
Fuller he convinced Virgin Records to sign the group, and
soon the Spice Girls were working on the catchy chorus
for their first single, When you were a gang of friends,
you just have silly little catchphrases, and we were just
(14:14):
you know, zig zigga. We just made a stupid thing
and we were like, yeah, that'd be really funny if
it was the chorus. And then it was. When the
Spice Girls released Wanna Be in June, it was an
instant total smash, the first single ever by an all
girl group to debut at number one on the British charts,
(14:34):
and they went from obscurity to this. Literally it was
like an overnight thing that once it broke, it was
just incredible in the UK incredible and that was it.
That was when it all started. The autographs and banging
on the van and you know all that crazy Beatles stuff.
It was cool. The Spice Girls. Amazing start had launched
them to instant fame. Music was way better than anybody
(15:02):
would have expected. It was energetic, it was catchy, it
was infectious, it was brash. They're all having fun, black
fishing food in people's faces. Just made you want to
be part of it. Really. Spice quickly spun out two
more number one singles, including say You'll Be There. The
record would go on to sell an astonishing twenty two
(15:24):
million copies worldwide, many two young females who went wild
for the Spice Girl's sassy message while doing this for
you to make you be whatever you want to be,
to help you be you know, a Spice Girl. I
will ever asked to say your part something. Also, the
girl's chasing fame, wanting to be heard. There was put
(15:44):
my hand in my heart, I totally believe and go power.
The girls put on a brassy united front as a group,
egged on by manager Simon Fuller, they also took on
individual identities, with the buxom and brash Jerry Halliwell adopting
the name Jin Your Spice. Without doubt, the most outrageous
member of the Spice Girls was Jerry Halliwell. Her personality
(16:06):
was huge. It was infectious. Jerry just bursts on the
scene and kind of over the top outfit. This mad
dyed red hair, just breast popping out, a really low
cut just fell out of her top as well, not
that she seemed to care. In the group's videos. Ginger's
flair was offset by the more mild baby Spice Emma Bunting.
(16:28):
But Emma's sweet exterior belied a more saucy side. I'm
naught even nice underneath this. I've got my leather underwear.
She was sweet, innocent, but saying off the microphone, and
she was naughty, naughty as you could possibly want, you know.
Melanie Brown, known for her quick temper, became Scary Spice,
while trained gymnast Melanie Chisholm took the name Sporty Victoria Adams,
(16:52):
the only group member with an upscale upbringing, called herself
posh Reddish slang for rich. Victoria's always looked like she
was serving community service by being in a Spice Girls video,
So she was the one who was also above the
whole thing, kind of your girlfriend who liked to go
out with everybody and you know, but when somebody says something,
she looks the other way. The girls in your face
(17:14):
message an individual style was a powerful hook to fans
who could love the group and have a favorite Spice
You liked the Beatles as a whole, but were the
Spice Girls you could identify with five different girls who
might suit the way you look physically. I think every
little girl in Britain wanted to be poshal ginger or
baby or scary or sporty. It had never happened before.
(17:36):
Within months of their debut, the Spice Girls were blanketing
Britain and fans were buying everything from CDs two Clark's
to coffee mugs. I don't think we've ever seen, certainly
within the UK, girls of three, four or five and
six asking their parents to buy them music. And there
was a lot of money spent by consumers on what
(17:56):
seemed to be pages and pages of merchandise in the
Spice Girls cattle. They did watches, They did instant cameras,
all the kids had those. There was Spice gat chocolate bars,
There was the Spice Coast. Does I mean we did
so many things? With spice Mania gripping the world, Britain's
tabloid press went wild for gossip about the group. There
(18:17):
were spurious rumors that some of the girls were lesbian lovers,
and that Emma Bunton and manager Simon Fuller were having
a tour at Affair. The tabloids nitpicked every public and
private aspect of the Spice Girls you could possibly imagine.
If they weren't sleeping with men, it was news. If
they were sleeping with men, it was news. They were
like the Beatles there, every single move was document of
(18:38):
The paparazzi were everywhere. You said this thing, if you
pay our closure on a Saturday night, you dread that
phone call because you know there's a big story in
on the Sunday. So those were difficult times for a time.
The girls fueled the fire without landish clothes and even
more outrageous antics, and no one grabbed more headlines than
(18:58):
Jerry halliwell, everywhere she went she caused, you know, complete controversy.
When she met Prince Charles, she kissed him on the cheek,
she pinched his bottom. I mean, all the rural aids
must have been tearing their hair out, thinking what is
this woman doing. She wouldn't curtsy for the Queen because
she had on that low cut dress and her beabs
are in danger of spilling out all over the place.
(19:20):
Within months, the Girls had conquered Written, and by early
seven they were aiming to do the same to the
United States. Spice Girls not only conquered in the US,
they got themselves in the cover of Rolling Stone. We
always hoped that we'd get hurt and our message would
get listened to up but we didn't. I don't think
we actually knew it would be as big or as
(19:41):
amazing as it as it is today. M By the
summer of ninety seven, the Spice Girls were at work
on their eagerly anticipated follow up album, but within days
of the records released, the group dropped the bombshell when
they fired Simon Fuller, the man who had masterminded their
Titanic bab You The stunning move immediately sparked new rumors
(20:03):
that things that turned sour between Simon in Baby Spice.
There are so many different star using the arts and things,
but it was a collective decision to leave Samon. None
of us were happy. Nearly four years after forming, The
Spice Girls wanted total control of their own destiny, and
they resented the uproar that greeted their decision. People thought
(20:25):
it was the end of the Spice Girls because we
were leaving our manager, when we knew that we were
the ones with millions of fans all over the world
our manager. One of the most important messages that the
Spice Girls were trying to promote was that of girl power.
So when they fired Simon Fuller, that was the ultimate
girl power move. They wanted to show the world that
(20:45):
they didn't need a man to be in control of them.
They didn't need a man telling them what to do.
The Spice Girls had only released one album and already
they fired two managers, but the real drama was yet
to come. Next, the Spice Girls split up. When Behind
the Music Continues less than four years after forming on
(21:21):
a ramshackle London stage, the Spice Girls were among the
most celebrated pop stars in the world. By the fall
of their global legion of fans ranged from armies of
American five year olds to the President of South Africa,
Nelson Mandela. It was like living twenty years in five years.
(21:41):
We did things that some people don't do in a lifetime.
When were you meeting the President Mandela? The next minute
you were doing a big press conference in cans two
thousand people. Within a few days of firing manager Simon Fuller,
in November of the Girls released their second album, Spice World.
They did consigned a fan frenzy, selling an amazing seven
(22:02):
million copies in just two weeks. Spice World all the
way through, Man, that thing is chock full of hits,
and it's peppy, it's energetic, it's fun. There's a little
hip hop, there's a little Jamaican dance hall stuff. It's
a very good record. Within weeks, the girls released a
movie of the same name. It could have been embarrassing overkill. Instead,
(22:25):
it became the number one film in England and seemed
to confirm that the girls could do no wrong. We're
just having fun and we enjoyed every minute of it.
And we're in a girl gang and you can't be
being in a girl gang. It was fabulous. It should
have been the biggest flop that England had ever seen,
and it turned out to be sensational. That was a
(22:45):
really crazy time. It was like everything we touched tends
to girls, and I think that people around us maybe
thought that, you know, this isn't the last forever. Let's
milk this cow. The appetite for Spice seemed insatiable in
the UK and in the US, fans swarm to the
Vivacious Five, gobbling up their albums and adopting their garish
garb and brash sense of style. You could actually identify
(23:09):
with ones and you could be athletic and be like sporting,
you know, or be sort of adorable and be like
baby and kids really reacted to it because they could
see themselves in these girls. America was just mental. In England,
the kids used to dress up, you know, there'd be
a baby Spice or a posh Spice or a sporty
or whatever. But in America the parents used to dress
(23:29):
like us, and that used to freak us out quite
a lot. The Spice Girls seemed on top of the world,
but in the spring of ninety eight, a sudden scandal
struck the group when Playboy magazine published nude photos of
Jerry Halliwell. The racy shots have been taken before Jerry
joined the Spice Girls at a time when she was
(23:51):
desperate for cash. I met a girl who told me
about how you could earn two hundred pounds an hour
if you took your top like you did on the beach. Anyway,
and to that, it's certainly come back to home in
a massive way. The newly surfaced photos caused a furor,
(24:11):
and Jerry Halliwell found herself at the center of a
bitter backlash. Jerry was the first to kind of be
portrayed as slutty Spice all of a sudden, not only
did she talk dirty, but now she was dirty. There
was a real fuss made, and people pretty much outraged,
I think because the bands were being targeted for quite
a young age group and it's pretty shocking for thirteen
(24:32):
year old girls and younger to see their aisles just
wearing nothing. But basically people were shot by it. The
uproar over jerry saucy photo spread added yet another layer
of madness to the constant hysteria surrounding the group. Two
years into the spice sensation. The girls were both exhilarated
and exhausted. I think things we ever changing, To be
(24:56):
honest with you, we used to go through waves of
times when it would be times when we just felt
like we couldn't carry on anymore, you know. So much
of it was to do with the exhaustion. We were
just so tired. To Melanie Chisholm, the stress of superstardom
was darting and she was paying a constant price with
her health in exchange for success. We all dealt with
(25:19):
things in our own way, and mine was an obsession
with exercise and and eating, It's fair to say throughout
most of the space as I was anorexic, and that
was the way I survived, you know, I run on
the treadmill. I'd run away from everything. Melanie wasn't the
only one who was reeling. Living in a fish ball
(25:41):
was taking its toll on the rest of the group too.
They were managing themselves, but they didn't really know what
they're doing. So I think in narratably, that cause a
lot of strange Who was going to be the boss,
Who was going to be in charge? You know what
it's like you have a group of women together, there's
always going to be tension and bitterness and fighting and
sid when Fuller was able to sort of dissolve any
(26:02):
of those disputes. Never any fights in this group. An
argument us about them. No, you want to hear the
downside things, There is no downside positive energy. The girls
put on a brave front, but as they toured Europe
(26:22):
in the spring of rumors of trouble within the group
continued to grow, especially after Jerry missed two concert performances
in several public photo ops. On one occasion, they were
due to appear on National Lottery, but only four girls
emerged on stage and everyone's like, where's Jerry, Where's she gone?
And I think that was the beginning of the end.
(26:44):
Things obviously started getting downhill. There were obviously squabbles amongst themselves.
The Spice Girls were still one of the most popular
groups in the world, but as they prepared to tour
the US, Jerry Halliwell was ready to call it wits.
You should never be the last to lead the party.
I said to the other girls that you want to go.
(27:05):
Then at the end of the American tour, you can't
get better than that, you know, You've done it. You know,
We've brought it to the max. She'd been saying that
she was unhappy for quite a few months. She was
always wanted to be the big star, and I think
she just saw the other girls as a platform to
get to there. Ultimately, Jerry didn't even wait for the
American tour to begin. Only days before the Spice Girls
(27:28):
were to leave for the States, on Mate, Jerry announced
that she was quitting the group and would return as
a solo artist. Ironically, Melsey felt that the relations between
the girls had just taken a turn for the better.
I remember getting up and getting a phone call from
the Spice's Life saying that Jerry's not coming to it today.
(27:49):
She said she's left the band, and it was like, what,
you know. I couldn't believe it, because you know, things
are hard sometimes, but at the moment is a really
good It's still baffles me. I thought, you know, this
isn't for me anymore. It's not when you leave a marriage.
You can't say how we got divorced because of just
(28:11):
one particular reason. She wasn't happy and wasn't doing what
she wanted and wasn't allowed to do what she wanted.
The rest of the group was stunned by the news
at a critical moment in their careers, five Spice Girls
had become four, shocking news to the band, to devastated people,
because the Spice Girls were all about being five. It
(28:33):
was kind of like one of the members of the
TV cast of Friends deciding not to come back. All
of a sudden, it just wasn't quite the Spice Girls anymore.
They were like five sisters. So Jerry's departure quit the
girls in a very difficult and challenging position. Sporty, scary
Baby and Posh decided to press on without Ginger. But
suddenly the Spice Girls weren't such a hot item anymore.
(28:57):
Fans were devastated. You buy your ticket, you show up,
and now there's not five, there's four. So there seemed
to be a mixed message here that we're going to
be together forever, Girl's rule, girl Power stayed together girls,
and oh but Ginger is not on this tour. Suddenly
that dream was fattered. Suddenly that great we are so trendy,
We've got the Spice Girls, we promoted girl power all
(29:17):
over the world was gone. Amazingly, just two years after
releasing their first single, the Spice Girls were on the
verge of complete collapse. We just, you know, Jerry, let's
just finish what we started, you know, let's just completely
American like at the tour. But she didn't want to
carry on, and we were really really angry with that.
It was never the same again. I mean, the four scary,
(29:40):
posh Baby and Sporty. They tried to carry on, they
did the American tour, but it was never the same.
You know, I lived and breathed every moment of being
in the Spice Girls, I really did. And so then suddenly,
you know, I was out my own and I had
to rebuild my life. In June of Jerry released her
(30:01):
first album, Schizophrenic. Although it's sold more than a million
copies worldwide, audiences were unsure what to make of a
solo Spice Girl. She releases a single upsets a lot
of kids with the videos because the one scene as
a hearse goes past with a coffin with Ginger in
(30:22):
flowers arrangement all along it. So of course all the
kids were really upset, you know, death of Ginger. Jerry halliwell,
solo career is just it's just like watching a car crash.
I mean, the songs that she chooses to put out
A just ludicrous Schizophrenic was widely seen as a disappointment
that Jerry setback didn't deter the remaining Spice Girls from
(30:44):
dabbling on separate solo projects. In the fall of ninety nine,
Melanie Chisholm abandoned Spicemania for a chance to work on
her own. I was still on any way from my demons,
so I ran away to l A and I just
reckonside record and you know, that's when I emitted my
(31:04):
eating disorder to myself. And that was the beginning of
a very long road. But out of all that pain
and heartache came an album I'm very proud of, you know,
Northern Star, and to south three million copies. In November
of two thousand, more than three years after their last album,
the final four Spice Girls regrouped and released the defiantly
(31:25):
entitled Forever. But the group was no longer a hot property,
and the record total the fraction of its predecessors. Take
Spice Girls Forever tagged. And this was just a last gasp.
I mean, the last song on it is called Goodbye.
It wasn't the real Spice Cast anymore, you know, I
mean the Spice Cast was a five of us. In
(31:48):
the aftermath of Forever, the group quietly disbanded to concentrate
full time on solo careers. Victoria also found success as
it was acted fashion designer, launching her own eponymous clothing label,
having married England's most flamboyant soccer star David Beckham in
(32:10):
the two are the ultimate golden couple in the UK.
Wherever they go. The photograft that been in countless magazines.
The public seems to be obsessed with them. I think
we are says with them as well. In two thousand seven,
the Spice Girls reunited for their first reunion tour, The
Return of the Spice Girls. Tickets sold out in seconds.
(32:32):
Later in the girls performed their hits at the closing
ceremony of the Summer Olympics in London. They reunited again
for the Spice World Tour, though Victoria Beckham was unable
to perform. In July, for the twenty fifth anniversary of Wannabe,
the group released never before heard studio demos as well
(32:56):
as Spice, a reissue of their debut album, The Spice
Girls was Amazing and I'm very proud that was a
pot of Bito. Marks the anniversary of the beloved Spiceworld movie,
which has become a true cult classic. Fans can go
see the iconic tour bus from the film on permanent
(33:18):
display on the Isle of Wight in England. With their
iconic pop hits, fashion and girl power attitude, the Spice
Girls paved the way for new generations of female artists
to take the music world by storm. Listen and subscribe
(33:41):
to Behind the Music on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Be
sure to rate and review Behind the Music on Apple
Podcasts and Spotify What more episodes You can watch a
remastered best of the Vault and new episodes of Behind
the Music only on Paramount Bus the th
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.