0:05

They were Britain's fastest selling exports

0:07

since the Beatles. In the

0:11

Spice Girls built an instantaneous

0:13

empire with infectious tunes and

0:15

outrageous antics. With

0:18

their larger than life personalities, the

0:20

irreverent girl power gang charmed

0:22

their way into international stardom

0:25

and from day one they sparked

0:27

tabloid chaos. Despite

0:30

being one of the hottest groups in the world, they

0:32

would pay the price in personal anguish

0:35

and public humiliation. Now

0:38

take a look at the hidden history of these

0:40

iconic pop stars. It's

0:42

time for a gaudy jaunt with five

0:45

brassy Brits. The Spice

0:47

Girls the story behind

0:49

the music. In

1:02

just two years after the release of their first

1:04

single, the Spice Girls were the hottest act

1:06

in the music business. They'd

1:09

come from nowhere to sell over twenty million

1:11

albums and were idolized by five

1:13

continents of fans. No

1:16

and it's seen anything like it before really

1:18

since pretty much that the Beatles,

1:20

really and especially there were a girl band

1:22

at this kind of level. Everything

1:24

was obsessed with Spice Girls that they were

1:27

really the highest they could be. People

1:29

were hysterical for these girls. There was total

1:32

adoration and you know, frenzy

1:36

The Spice Girls were built on saucy looks

1:38

and sassy lyrics, and together

1:41

they projected a feisty image of fiercely

1:43

independent feminism. I really felt

1:45

like we were on a mission and this is what

1:47

girls to join in and it was honest

1:50

and I'm proud of being a past of that. What

1:53

was new about the Spice Girls is they

1:55

were the first girl group that wasn't boy

1:57

crazy, and that was something completely new. But

2:01

the amazing popularity of their message

2:03

of empowerment soon had the Spice Girls

2:05

being victimized by a hungry media

2:07

mab At the

2:09

height of the mania, their private lives were

2:11

turned into very public circus acts.

2:14

There were so many rumors going around when

2:17

the Spice Girls were at the height of their fame,

2:19

whether Posh was really harsh, whether Jerry

2:21

had a boob job that day. Wouldn't go piles without

2:23

them being in any newspaper, They're on TV

2:26

all the time. They literally just had

2:28

to blow their noses and they would end up on

2:30

the front pages. Beset

2:35

by a ravenous press and rampaging

2:38

egos, was only a matter of time

2:40

before the Spice Girls folded. In

2:42

just four short years, they emerged from oblivion,

2:45

became a phenomenon and abruptly

2:47

imploded. You

2:49

put five girls together who have come from

2:52

nowhere to the biggest girl band in

2:54

the world, and you're gonna get problems. Life

2:59

as a glow Will superstar once seemed

3:01

like an impossible dream for Jerry Halliwell

3:04

born in August of seventy two. She

3:07

was raised in a dingy neighborhood in the

3:09

town of Watford, England. My

3:11

family were very, very poor, so I used

3:14

to tell awful lies to

3:16

my friends to try and make myself

3:18

feel more interesting. I had to say I

3:20

was born on a plane. I'd say I had

3:22

sheep in my back garden, but really

3:24

the reality was the wallpaper was falling

3:27

down and we had no money. The

3:29

daughter of a Spanish mother and an English

3:31

father, Jerry thirsted for the spotlight

3:34

even as a young child, but it

3:36

would be some time before she was out on her

3:38

own. My father took me

3:40

to a talent agency when I was about six years old,

3:42

and he didn't ask my mother's permission, and

3:45

I got home all really excited and

3:47

my mother just I don't want you to

3:49

be the next to the gallant and end up killing

3:52

yourself. You're not allowed to do anything to your

3:54

sixteen. By the time I was sixteen years

3:56

old, I was gagging to get out the door.

3:59

As it turned out, all of the Spice girls

4:01

were bitten by the show Bisberg early in life.

4:04

The future Sporty Spice Melanie Chisholm,

4:06

grew up in a broken home in Liverpool, England,

4:09

and for her music was a welcome escape.

4:12

From the very beginning. I was always a

4:14

lover of music. I started listening

4:16

to a very young Gage Too on my mom's records,

4:18

Lots of Motown Stevie one day and

4:21

I did just have dreams about being up there and being

4:23

in front of a band. By

4:26

the summer of ninety three, Melanie and Jerry

4:28

had made their way to London, where

4:30

they subsisted on the occasional our job

4:33

as they tried to find their way to fame. I

4:35

was auditioning for different things. Must

4:37

have been about a year, you know,

4:40

and nothing had happened. From

4:43

counted, I'd moved every six months or

4:45

sixteen different addresses of something like that.

4:47

It's ridiculous amount. I've lived

4:50

in bedsits and squats.

4:53

I've been homeless. I've slept in backs of

4:55

cars, and I was too proud to

4:57

go to my family as they all got

4:59

on really suffering. Here in

5:02

March, the Girls saw

5:04

an ad four street wise and ambitious

5:07

young females in a cut rate show

5:09

biz paper called The Stage. It

5:11

was a long shot, but when Melanie needed

5:14

to take I needed to get a job. You

5:16

know, things are really really tough, and I

5:18

said to my mate, that's it, That's

5:20

what I'm going to do, and I

5:22

did. Melanie

5:25

auditioned immediately for the new Girl Group, which

5:28

was the brainchild of first time music manager

5:30

Chris Herbert, his father Bob, and

5:33

Chick Murphy, a wealthy London businessman.

5:39

I did a very poor rendition if I'm so excited

5:42

by the point of sisters. So

5:45

it's a good song though, and I was excited. Melsa

5:51

undoubtedly was the best singer.

5:55

She was very girl next door,

5:57

bit tomboyish, but I can

6:00

and I saw her as the vocal talent at that

6:02

time. Next up

6:04

was Jerry halliware. Jerry

6:06

had already sought fame as a Turkish talk

6:08

show host, a nude model and

6:11

an exotic dancer. To her,

6:13

the Girl Group was perhaps a final shot

6:15

at stardom and she was determined to make

6:17

an impression. I'll never

6:19

forget the day I met Jerry. I just thought she was

6:21

crazy. She came in and

6:24

she had a big, punky boobs and

6:26

she had a hair up in little She's

6:29

come in and she was telling she was a dog and going. So

6:32

I was like, what is she? I'm

6:34

a little bit dizzy, little

6:37

trying come into two groups,

6:39

and I knew I was putting the reject group.

6:42

I could tell. And we had to put a

6:45

dark routeam together and we were

6:47

just a shambles. Undeterred

6:49

by the group performance, Jerry quickly returned

6:52

for a solo audition and I think

6:54

I blacked it a little bit and just a bit

6:56

loud and um

6:59

just tend this thing where I carry

7:03

and she literally walked in the room and just

7:05

completely filled the room, you know, boulders

7:08

brass. And then we were like, wow, it doesn't

7:10

matter if she can't sing. In

7:12

addition to the fame Hungry Halliwell and Melanie

7:14

Chisholm, the group was rounded out by

7:17

two teenagers named Melanie Brown and

7:19

Victoria Adams In sixteen

7:21

year old Emma Bunt so nervous

7:24

and I thought, if they don't like me, but

7:26

luckily we've got on really well, and they

7:29

liked me and then checked at me on using

7:33

the working name Touch. The girls

7:36

began rehearsing together immediately, but

7:38

from the auditions onward it was clear

7:40

that the group was less about skill and

7:43

more about attitude. If

7:46

those were the best and you look at the audition tape, she

7:49

kind of really wondered what the others must have been

7:51

like. The Spice Girls got the

7:53

gig, but there was nothing really extraordinary

7:55

about them. None of them were great singers, none

7:57

of them were real lookers, and none of them could really

8:00

particularly dance. The whole idea where

8:02

these girls were just like you, we want

8:04

looking for the best singers in the world, you know,

8:07

just checking whether absolute time death or

8:09

not. I'm really also seeing how they interacted

8:11

with each other, and it was little more than

8:13

that really. In the

8:15

spring of the girls

8:17

all moved into a house in the suburbs of London

8:20

to polish the ract. If

8:23

you would have believed that within three years

8:25

There's would be one of the most popular groups

8:27

in music history. Next,

8:32

the Spice Girls forsake their founder.

8:34

When behind the music continues in

8:45

the spring of five, ambitious

8:48

British girls moved in together into a ramshackle

8:50

house in the London suburbs, calling

8:53

themselves the Spice Girls. They wanted to achieve

8:55

global fame as a singing group. First

8:57

they had to build a sisterhood. Dante

8:59

was to get them all living together because

9:02

we thought it would really accelerate that whole

9:04

bonding process.

9:06

Some of the girls were barely old enough to be on

9:08

their own and the house they shared

9:10

was in shambles within days. Open

9:13

the fridge and the cannabate things in there

9:15

and that's about it. It was just like a complete

9:17

free for all. The

9:20

worst thing about living in the house of bad Pill

9:22

is I always have to clean the tiglet A

9:25

tired don't know how to clean toilet because

9:28

their moms do all that for them and lega of

9:30

For almost a year, the girls lived and rehearsed

9:33

together with little money if you were guarantees,

9:36

and no contracts whatsoever. The

9:39

project's financial backer, Chick Murphy, insisted

9:41

that the singers were individually expendable.

9:44

Chick was of the opinion, like, you know, we

9:46

won't give him a contract. I want the girls to feel

9:48

like any one of them is replaceable At

9:50

any time we Paul, you know, we didn't

9:53

have anything. We needed some security,

9:55

so we were pushing for this contract. And

9:58

the contract wasn't the only thing causing

10:00

tension because Jerry Halliwell was

10:02

dead set and becoming the Spice

10:04

Girls primary flavor. Jerry

10:07

is a bit of a bossy face sometimes

10:09

and I get a bit annoyed to death. I'm

10:12

quite motivated in person,

10:15

it's quite hungry face. But

10:17

as months went by without a contract

10:19

and without a record deal, the girls spent

10:22

as much time squabbling as they did

10:24

singing. We do have really bad

10:26

arguments, sometimes really bad arguments

10:28

where these things flying and this swear

10:31

they didn't can get really really nasty sortimes.

10:35

Jerry and Melanie were the strongest personalities

10:37

within the band, and together

10:40

they were an awesome force. And

10:45

if they weren't getting on them, that was

10:48

carnage. Why

10:53

in November the Spice

10:55

Girls finally got a break when Chris Herbert

10:58

organized a showcase for a group of Indo street

11:00

professionals. The girls knew it

11:02

might be their only chance at success.

11:05

Terrifying, absolutely terrifying, and

11:07

our starling was abysmal. I think

11:10

we were started by Jerry House. Gary is

11:12

that. So they performed

11:14

We're Gonna Make It, and I remember thinking,

11:16

God, they're amazing. They're just so larger

11:19

than life. You know. There wasn't

11:21

particularly the best singing, the tightest performance.

11:24

It's just an energy, a buzz, and that

11:26

came every right from the beginning. The

11:28

showcase confirmed Jerry Halliwell's feelings

11:31

that the Spanish Girls had monster potential

11:34

if only they had the proper management.

11:36

I thought the management weren't that good. They were nice,

11:38

but they didn't have experience, like you know,

11:40

they were just like, you're next. When they were decided to be

11:42

a manager, I think that at

11:44

that point that balance of power kind

11:47

of tipped and they then started

11:49

to believe that, you know, what they were capable

11:52

of achieving. In January,

11:56

the girls decided to strike out on the rock

11:58

under the cover of dark this and without a word

12:01

to the group's creator, Chris Herbert, and

12:03

packed up their demo tapes and left the house

12:05

for good. We did a midnight fleet.

12:09

We were terrified and we just went we

12:11

were going out of there. I was furious

12:13

at the time, absolutely furious. You know,

12:15

it was my little baby, I've worked with the

12:18

girls. I also thought that we're all kind of friends

12:20

as well. I felt very

12:22

let down, very angry, angry

12:24

about how it was dealt with surviving

12:28

a little more than unemployment checks. The Spice

12:30

Girls traveled two hundred miles to Sheffield,

12:32

England. There they appealed for

12:34

help from fame songwriter Elliott Kennedy.

12:38

They tried their hardest to impress me in a

12:40

feminine way, I might say, and it didn't

12:42

say long as to what going

12:44

on. Said, well, look we're sacking our

12:47

manager. The girls soon moved in with

12:49

Kennedy, but they were still without a record

12:51

contract and it seemed they had little

12:53

hope of getting one. In the early days, it

12:55

was tough for us because at the time in

12:57

these a big boom on boy band and

13:00

then they weren't really interested in any female

13:03

artists, and you know, that really got us.

13:05

That infuriated us. So that's why we,

13:07

you know, we created the girl power

13:09

movement, you know, if you want to call it.

13:12

But I think it was probably one of Jade's ideas.

13:14

Pretty good with ideas. She really

13:16

gave them their brash tone, the girl power

13:19

thing that was largely her concept.

13:21

So she was really kind of the brash one

13:23

that didn't necessarily had the talent, but really

13:25

kind of set the tone of where they were going.

13:29

For months, the girls pestored labels and hopes

13:31

of getting side. Then in March of ninety

13:34

five, the persistence paid off when they enlisted

13:36

longtime music manager Simon Fuller.

13:38

Fuller would later achieve fame as the man behind

13:41

American Idol, and he immediately heated

13:43

up the Spice Girl's chances for success.

13:45

Simon Fuller's influence in the band was

13:48

just noticeable from day one. He made

13:50

sure that they rehearsed on time, that everything

13:52

was tightened up. It was more than just the singing

13:55

the dancing. He had a vision. Within

14:01

months, Fuller he convinced Virgin Records to

14:04

sign the group, and soon the Spice

14:06

Girls were working on the catchy chorus for their

14:08

first single, When

14:10

you were a gang of friends, you just have silly little catchphrases,

14:13

and we were just you know, zig

14:15

zigga. We just made a stupid thing and

14:18

we were like, yeah, that'd be really funny if it was

14:20

the chorus. And then it was. When

14:24

the Spice Girls released Wanna Be in June,

14:27

it was an instant total smash, the

14:29

first single ever by an all girl group

14:32

to debut at number one on the British charts,

14:34

and they went from obscurity to this.

14:37

Literally it was like an overnight thing that

14:40

once it broke, it was just incredible

14:42

in the UK incredible and

14:44

that was it. That was when it all started. The autographs

14:47

and banging on the van and you know all that crazy

14:49

Beatles stuff. It was

14:51

cool. The Spice Girls. Amazing

14:53

start had launched them to instant fame.

14:59

Music was way better

15:01

than anybody would have expected. It was energetic,

15:04

it was catchy, it was infectious, it was

15:06

brash. They're all having fun, black

15:08

fishing food in people's faces.

15:11

Just made you want to be part of it. Really. Spice

15:15

quickly spun out two more number one singles,

15:17

including say You'll Be There. The

15:21

record would go on to sell an astonishing

15:23

twenty two million copies worldwide,

15:26

many two young females who went wild for

15:28

the Spice Girl's sassy message while

15:31

doing this for you to make

15:33

you be whatever you want to be, to help

15:36

you be you know, a Spice Girl. I will

15:38

ever asked to say your part something. Also,

15:40

the girl's chasing fame, wanting

15:42

to be heard. There was put my hand in

15:44

my heart, I totally believe and go power.

15:48

The girls put on a brassy united front

15:50

as a group, egged on by manager

15:52

Simon Fuller, they also took on individual

15:55

identities, with the buxom and brash

15:57

Jerry Halliwell adopting the name

15:59

Jin Your Spice. Without

16:01

doubt, the most outrageous member

16:04

of the Spice Girls was Jerry Halliwell. Her

16:06

personality was huge. It was infectious.

16:09

Jerry just bursts on the scene and kind

16:11

of over the top outfit. This

16:13

mad dyed red hair, just breast

16:16

popping out, a really low cut just fell

16:19

out of her top as well, not that she seemed to

16:21

care. In the group's videos.

16:23

Ginger's flair was offset by the more mild

16:25

baby Spice Emma Bunting. But

16:28

Emma's sweet exterior belied a more

16:30

saucy side. I'm naught even

16:33

nice underneath this. I've got my leather

16:35

underwear. She was

16:37

sweet, innocent, but saying off the microphone,

16:39

and she was naughty, naughty as you could possibly

16:42

want, you know. Melanie

16:44

Brown, known for her quick temper, became

16:46

Scary Spice, while trained gymnast

16:49

Melanie Chisholm took the name Sporty

16:51

Victoria Adams, the only group member with

16:53

an upscale upbringing, called herself

16:56

posh Reddish slang for rich.

16:58

Victoria's always looked like she was

17:00

serving community service by being

17:03

in a Spice Girls video, So she was the one who was

17:05

also above the whole thing, kind of your girlfriend

17:07

who liked to go out with everybody and you know,

17:09

but when somebody says something, she looks

17:11

the other way. The girls

17:13

in your face message an individual style

17:16

was a powerful hook to fans who could

17:18

love the group and have a favorite Spice

17:21

You liked the Beatles as a whole, but were the

17:23

Spice Girls you could identify with five different

17:25

girls who might suit the way you look physically.

17:28

I think every little girl in Britain wanted

17:30

to be poshal ginger or baby

17:32

or scary or sporty. It had never happened

17:34

before. Within months

17:37

of their debut, the Spice Girls were blanketing

17:39

Britain and fans were buying everything

17:41

from CDs two Clark's to coffee

17:44

mugs. I don't think we've

17:46

ever seen, certainly within the UK,

17:48

girls of three, four or five and six asking

17:51

their parents to buy them music. And

17:53

there was a lot of money spent by consumers

17:55

on what seemed to be pages and pages

17:58

of merchandise in the Spice Girls cattle. They

18:00

did watches, They did instant

18:03

cameras, all the kids had those. There

18:05

was Spice gat chocolate bars, There

18:07

was the Spice Coast. Does I mean we

18:09

did so many things? With spice

18:12

Mania gripping the world, Britain's tabloid

18:14

press went wild for gossip about the group.

18:17

There were spurious rumors that some of the girls

18:19

were lesbian lovers, and that Emma Bunton

18:21

and manager Simon Fuller were having a

18:23

tour at Affair. The tabloids

18:25

nitpicked every public and private

18:28

aspect of the Spice Girls you could possibly

18:30

imagine. If they weren't

18:32

sleeping with men, it was news. If they were

18:34

sleeping with men, it was news. They were like the Beatles

18:36

there, every single move was document of The

18:38

paparazzi were everywhere. You said this thing,

18:40

if you pay our closure on a Saturday night, you

18:43

dread that phone call because you know there's a big story

18:45

in on the Sunday.

18:49

So those were difficult times for

18:51

a time. The girls fueled the fire without

18:53

landish clothes and even more outrageous

18:55

antics, and no one grabbed more

18:57

headlines than Jerry halliwell, everywhere

19:00

she went she caused, you know, complete

19:02

controversy. When she met Prince Charles,

19:05

she kissed him on the cheek, she pinched his

19:07

bottom. I mean, all the rural aids must

19:09

have been tearing their hair out, thinking what is this woman

19:11

doing. She wouldn't curtsy

19:13

for the Queen because she had on that low cut dress

19:16

and her beabs are in danger of spilling

19:18

out all over the place. Within

19:20

months, the Girls had conquered Written, and by

19:22

early seven they were aiming to

19:24

do the same to the United States. Spice

19:27

Girls not only conquered in the US, they got

19:29

themselves in the cover of Rolling Stone. We

19:32

always hoped that we'd get hurt

19:35

and our message would get listened to up but we didn't.

19:37

I don't think we actually knew it would

19:39

be as big or as

19:41

amazing as it as it is today.

19:45

M By the summer of ninety

19:47

seven, the Spice Girls were at work on their eagerly

19:49

anticipated follow up album,

19:52

but within days of the records released, the group

19:54

dropped the bombshell when they fired

19:56

Simon Fuller, the man who had masterminded

19:59

their Titanic bab You The

20:01

stunning move immediately sparked new rumors

20:03

that things that turned sour between Simon

20:06

in Baby Spice. There

20:08

are so many different star using the arts

20:11

and things, but it was a collective decision

20:14

to leave Samon. None of us were happy. Nearly

20:17

four years after forming, The Spice Girls

20:19

wanted total control of their own destiny,

20:21

and they resented the uproar that greeted their

20:23

decision. People thought it was the end

20:26

of the Spice Girls because we were leaving our manager,

20:28

when we knew that we were the ones with millions

20:31

of fans all over the world our manager.

20:33

One of the most important messages that the Spice

20:36

Girls were trying to promote was that of girl

20:38

power. So when they fired Simon

20:41

Fuller, that was the ultimate girl

20:43

power move. They wanted to show the world

20:45

that they didn't need a man to be in control

20:48

of them. They didn't need a man telling them what to

20:50

do. The Spice

20:52

Girls had only released one album

20:54

and already they fired two managers,

20:57

but the real drama was yet to come.

21:00

Next, the Spice Girls split up.

21:03

When Behind the Music Continues less

21:19

than four years after forming on a ramshackle

21:21

London stage, the Spice Girls

21:23

were among the most celebrated pop stars in

21:26

the world. By the fall of their

21:29

global legion of fans ranged from armies

21:31

of American five year olds to

21:33

the President of South Africa, Nelson

21:35

Mandela. It was

21:37

like living twenty years in

21:40

five years. We did things

21:43

that some people don't do in a lifetime.

21:45

When were you meeting the President Mandela? The

21:47

next minute you were doing a big press conference

21:49

in cans two thousand people. Within

21:52

a few days of firing manager Simon Fuller,

21:55

in November of the Girls

21:57

released their second album, Spice World.

21:59

They did consigned a fan frenzy, selling

22:01

an amazing seven million copies in

22:04

just two weeks. Spice

22:06

World all the way through, Man, that thing is

22:08

chock full of hits, and it's peppy, it's energetic,

22:11

it's fun. There's a little hip hop,

22:13

there's a little Jamaican dance hall stuff.

22:16

It's a very good record. Within

22:18

weeks, the girls released a movie of the same

22:20

name. It could have been embarrassing

22:23

overkill. Instead, it became

22:25

the number one film in England and seemed

22:27

to confirm that the girls could do no wrong.

22:30

We're just having fun and we enjoyed every minute

22:33

of it. And we're in a girl gang and you can't

22:35

be being in a girl gang. It was fabulous.

22:38

It should have been the biggest flop that England

22:40

had ever seen, and it turned out to be sensational.

22:45

That was a really crazy time. It was like everything

22:47

we touched tends to girls, and I think that

22:49

people around us maybe thought that,

22:51

you know, this isn't the last forever. Let's milk

22:53

this cow. The appetite

22:55

for Spice seemed insatiable in

22:57

the UK and in the US, fans

23:00

swarm to the Vivacious Five, gobbling

23:02

up their albums and adopting their garish

23:04

garb and brash sense of style.

23:07

You could actually identify with ones and you

23:09

could be athletic and be like sporting, you

23:11

know, or be sort of adorable and be like baby

23:14

and kids really reacted to it because they

23:16

could see themselves in these girls. America

23:19

was just mental. In England, the

23:22

kids used to dress up, you know, there'd be a baby

23:24

Spice or a posh Spice or a sporty or

23:26

whatever. But in America the

23:28

parents used to dress like us, and

23:31

that used to freak us out quite a lot. The

23:35

Spice Girls seemed on top of the world,

23:38

but in the spring of ninety eight, a sudden scandal

23:40

struck the group when Playboy magazine

23:43

published nude photos of Jerry Halliwell.

23:46

The racy shots have been taken before Jerry

23:48

joined the Spice Girls at a time

23:50

when she was desperate for cash.

23:53

I met a girl who told me

23:55

about how you could earn two hundred pounds

23:57

an hour if you took your

23:59

top like you did on the beach. Anyway,

24:02

and to that, it's certainly

24:04

come back to home in a massive way.

24:08

The newly surfaced photos caused a furor,

24:11

and Jerry Halliwell found herself at the center

24:13

of a bitter backlash. Jerry

24:15

was the first to kind of be portrayed as slutty

24:18

Spice all of a sudden, not only did she talk

24:20

dirty, but now she was dirty.

24:23

There was a real fuss made, and people pretty

24:25

much outraged, I think because the bands

24:27

were being targeted for quite a young

24:29

age group and it's pretty shocking for thirteen

24:32

year old girls and younger to see their

24:34

aisles just wearing nothing. But basically

24:37

people were shot by it. The

24:39

uproar over jerry saucy photo spread

24:42

added yet another layer of madness to the

24:44

constant hysteria surrounding the group.

24:46

Two years into the spice sensation. The girls

24:49

were both exhilarated and exhausted.

24:53

I think things we ever changing, To

24:56

be honest with you, we used to go through waves

24:58

of times when it would be times

25:00

when we just felt like we couldn't carry on anymore,

25:03

you know. So much of it was to do with the exhaustion.

25:05

We were just so tired. To

25:07

Melanie Chisholm, the stress of superstardom

25:10

was darting and she was paying a constant

25:12

price with her health in exchange for

25:14

success. We

25:18

all dealt with things in our own

25:20

way, and mine was an obsession

25:23

with exercise and and

25:25

eating, It's

25:28

fair to say throughout most of the space as

25:30

I was anorexic, and that was the way I survived,

25:33

you know, I run on the treadmill. I'd run away from

25:35

everything. Melanie

25:38

wasn't the only one who was reeling. Living in

25:40

a fish ball was taking its toll on the rest

25:43

of the group too. They were managing

25:45

themselves, but they didn't really know what they're doing. So

25:48

I think in narratably, that cause a lot of strange

25:51

Who was going to be the boss, Who was going to be in

25:53

charge? You know what it's like you have a group

25:55

of women together, there's always going to be tension

25:57

and bitterness and fighting and sid

26:00

when Fuller was able to sort of dissolve

26:02

any of those disputes. Never

26:04

any fights in this group. An

26:07

argument us about them. No,

26:11

you want to hear the downside things, There

26:13

is no downside positive

26:17

energy. The girls

26:20

put on a brave front, but as they toured

26:22

Europe in the spring of rumors

26:25

of trouble within the group continued to grow,

26:28

especially after Jerry missed two concert performances

26:31

in several public photo ops.

26:33

On one occasion, they were due to appear on National

26:36

Lottery, but only four girls

26:38

emerged on stage and everyone's like, where's Jerry,

26:40

Where's she gone? And I think that was the beginning of

26:42

the end. Things

26:45

obviously started getting downhill. There

26:47

were obviously squabbles amongst themselves.

26:51

The Spice Girls were still one of the most popular

26:53

groups in the world, but as they prepared

26:56

to tour the US, Jerry

26:58

Halliwell was ready to call it wits.

27:01

You should never be the last to lead the party.

27:03

I said to the other girls that you want to go. Then

27:05

at the end of the American tour, you can't get better than

27:07

that, you know, You've done it. You

27:09

know, We've brought it to the max. She'd

27:11

been saying that she was unhappy for quite a few months.

27:14

She was always wanted to be

27:16

the big star, and I think she just saw

27:18

the other girls as a platform to get to there. Ultimately,

27:22

Jerry didn't even wait for the American tour

27:24

to begin. Only

27:26

days before the Spice Girls were to leave for the

27:28

States, on Mate, Jerry

27:32

announced that she was quitting the group and

27:34

would return as a solo artist. Ironically,

27:37

Melsey felt that the relations between the girls

27:39

had just taken a turn for the better.

27:43

I remember getting up and getting a phone call

27:45

from the Spice's Life saying that Jerry's

27:47

not coming to it today. She said

27:49

she's left the band, and

27:51

it was like, what, you know.

27:54

I couldn't believe it, because you

27:57

know, things are hard sometimes, but at the moment

28:00

is a really good It's still baffles

28:02

me. I thought,

28:04

you know, this isn't for me anymore. It's not when

28:06

you leave a marriage. You can't say

28:09

how we got divorced because of just one

28:11

particular reason. She wasn't happy and wasn't

28:13

doing what she wanted and wasn't allowed

28:15

to do what she wanted. The

28:19

rest of the group was stunned by the news at

28:22

a critical moment in their careers, five

28:24

Spice Girls had become four, shocking

28:28

news to the band, to devastated people, because

28:31

the Spice Girls were all about being five.

28:33

It was kind of like one of the members of the TV cast

28:35

of Friends deciding not to come back. All

28:37

of a sudden, it just wasn't quite the Spice Girls

28:39

anymore. They were like five sisters. So

28:42

Jerry's departure quit the girls in a very

28:44

difficult and challenging position. Sporty,

28:48

scary Baby and Posh decided

28:50

to press on without Ginger. But

28:52

suddenly the Spice Girls weren't such a hot

28:54

item anymore. Fans

28:57

were devastated. You buy your ticket, you show

28:59

up, and now there's not five, there's four. So

29:02

there seemed to be a mixed message here

29:04

that we're going to be together forever, Girl's

29:06

rule, girl Power stayed together girls, and oh

29:08

but Ginger is not on this tour. Suddenly

29:11

that dream was fattered. Suddenly that great

29:13

we are so trendy, We've got the Spice Girls,

29:15

we promoted girl power all over the world

29:17

was gone. Amazingly,

29:20

just two years after releasing their first

29:22

single, the Spice Girls were on the

29:24

verge of complete collapse. We

29:27

just, you know, Jerry, let's just finish what we

29:29

started, you know, let's just completely American

29:32

like at the tour. But she didn't want to carry

29:34

on, and we were really really angry with that. It

29:37

was never the same again. I mean, the four scary,

29:40

posh Baby and Sporty. They

29:42

tried to carry on, they did the American

29:44

tour, but it was never the same.

29:47

You know, I lived and breathed every

29:50

moment of being in the Spice Girls, I really

29:52

did. And so then suddenly,

29:55

you know, I was out my own and I had

29:57

to rebuild my life. In

29:59

June of Jerry released her

30:01

first album, Schizophrenic. Although

30:06

it's sold more than a million copies worldwide,

30:09

audiences were unsure what to make

30:11

of a solo Spice Girl. She

30:14

releases a single upsets a lot

30:16

of kids with the videos because the one

30:18

scene as a hearse goes past with a

30:20

coffin with Ginger in flowers

30:23

arrangement all along it. So of course

30:25

all the kids were really upset, you know, death of Ginger.

30:28

Jerry halliwell, solo career is just

30:31

it's just like watching a car crash. I mean, the songs

30:33

that she chooses to put out A just

30:36

ludicrous Schizophrenic

30:38

was widely seen as a disappointment that

30:40

Jerry setback didn't deter the remaining Spice

30:43

Girls from dabbling on separate solo

30:45

projects. In the fall

30:47

of ninety nine, Melanie Chisholm abandoned

30:50

Spicemania for a chance to work

30:52

on her own. I was

30:54

still on any way from my demons, so I

30:56

ran away to l A and

30:59

I just reckonside record and

31:02

you know, that's when I emitted my eating

31:04

disorder to myself. And that

31:06

was the beginning of a very long road. But

31:09

out of all that pain and heartache came

31:12

an album I'm very proud of, you know,

31:14

Northern Star, and to south three million copies.

31:18

In November of two thousand, more than three

31:20

years after their last album, the final

31:22

four Spice Girls regrouped and released

31:24

the defiantly entitled Forever.

31:27

But the group was no longer a hot property,

31:30

and the record total the fraction of its predecessors.

31:33

Take Spice Girls Forever tagged.

31:36

And this was just a last

31:38

gasp. I mean, the last song on it is called Goodbye.

31:42

It wasn't the real Spice Cast anymore, you know, I

31:44

mean the Spice Cast was a five of us. In

31:48

the aftermath of Forever, the group quietly

31:50

disbanded to concentrate full time on solo

31:53

careers. Victoria

31:58

also found success as it was acted

32:00

fashion designer, launching her own

32:02

eponymous clothing label, having

32:04

married England's most flamboyant soccer

32:07

star David Beckham in the

32:10

two are the ultimate golden couple in

32:12

the UK. Wherever they go. The

32:14

photograft that been in countless

32:17

magazines. The public seems to be obsessed

32:19

with them. I think we are says with them as

32:21

well. In two thousand seven,

32:24

the Spice Girls reunited for their first

32:26

reunion tour, The Return of the

32:28

Spice Girls. Tickets sold

32:30

out in seconds. Later

32:32

in the girls performed

32:35

their hits at the closing ceremony of the Summer

32:37

Olympics in London. They

32:39

reunited again for the Spice World

32:42

Tour, though Victoria Beckham

32:44

was unable to perform.

32:47

In July, for

32:49

the twenty fifth anniversary of Wannabe, the

32:52

group released never before heard studio

32:54

demos as well as Spice,

32:57

a reissue of their debut album,

33:00

The Spice Girls was Amazing

33:03

and I'm very proud that was a pot of Bito.

33:07

Marks the anniversary of the

33:09

beloved Spiceworld movie, which

33:11

has become a true cult classic. Fans

33:14

can go see the iconic tour bus from the

33:16

film on permanent display on

33:19

the Isle of Wight in England. With

33:22

their iconic pop hits, fashion

33:24

and girl power attitude, the

33:27

Spice Girls paved the way for new

33:29

generations of female artists to take

33:31

the music world by storm.

33:40

Listen and subscribe to Behind the Music on

33:42

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33:44

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