News Headlines Geri Halliwell faces a humiliating legal row about the origins of her new single. She says she wrote her second solo release "Mi Chico Latino" as a return to her Spanish roots. The track, which also appears on Geri's "Schizophonic" album, sounds like a near carbon copy of an equally catch number sung by a little-known Israeli singer. The singer, named Alabina, age 29, scored a number one hit throughout the Middle East when she released Alabina (De La Noche A La Manana) last year. Geri, who performed Mi Chico Latino in front of 100,000 fans at last week's Party In The Park gig, says: "The song is inspired by my Spanish roots." She maintains that the flamenco guitars and uplifting melody reflected her mother's background. Yesterday a spokesman for Alabina's French record label Atal confirmed that they were "anxiously contacting" Geri's record label about the obvious similarities. He said: "We have already consulted lawyers on this matter." A spokeswoman for Geri brushed off the amazing similarity. She said: "The track WAS written by her." Hit records from such Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez have helped spawn a crossover boom for Latino music in America, as Lopez currently has a number one single with "If You Had My Love," while Martin has sold almost 2.5 million copies of his self-titled album in six weeks. Now former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell plans to get into the fray with a her own song, "Mi Chico Latino," the follow-up to her first solo single, "Look at Me." Some might think that the release of Geri's new single is just an attempt to jump on board the Latin music bandwagon, but Halliwell says that her decision to push "Mi Chico Latino" actually came long before Lopez and Martin's records began their chart domination. "My second single, and I've decided on it, is 'Mi Chico Latino,'" Geri said. "And that's tapping into my Latin roots, 'cause my mother, she's Spanish, and 'cause I always just write songs that I feel. I know everyone says that there's this big Latin wave going on, but I wrote this single way before [any of that]. As soon as I wrote this song, I thought, you know, this is my summer single, regardless of what's in fashion and what's not." For the follow up to her "Look At Me" single, Geri Halliwell is returning to her Spanish roots, her mother is Spanish, by releasing "Mi Chico Latino." The second single from her debut solo album "Schizophonic" features flamenco uitars, Spanish beats and an uplifting melody. Geri, who co wrote the track with the Absolute boys, said: "The song is inspired by my Spanish roots and has a Spanish rhythm. It's a very passionate song about chasing the sweet life. Have you ever felt complete happiness or been in love? Well, those are the kinds of feelings and emotions this song is about." It looks like Geri has returned to her Spanish roots in more than one way. At last Sunday's (July 3) Party In The Park she was sporting her new 'gypsy girl' frizzled hair look as she belted out "Look At Me" and a string of other tracks, on the same day the marriage of Victoria Adams and David Beckham was taking place in Ireland. It appears that Geri had better things to do than attend the wedding of her former bandmate. Geri's debut single "Look At Me" reached number two in the charts after being held from the top spot by Boyzone. Geri will obviously be hoping for a number one with "Mi Chico Latino." Whatever happens it will probably do better than Melanie Gulzar's latest single, "Word Up," which failed to make the top ten and is currently languishing at 14 in the charts. One person who will not be at the £500,000 wedding of Victoria Adams and David Beckham this weekend is Geri Halliwell. It is not clear whether she was invited, she said not, later Victoria said she was, but Ginger Spice claims she is too busy playing Party In The Park in London to attend the Dublin wedding. Victoria, the peacemaker of the group, is the only one who met Geri after she walked out on the band last spring. "I wanted it to be a very honest album, a blueprint of me. The manifesto, the brief I gave to the other writers I work with was that if I was to die at the end of this album, I wanted to know I'd taken each song to the max. There were no half-measures, it was a real reflection of my personality. It's an emotional rollercoaster, a hormonal mood-swing. I poured everything into it, it was almost like therapy for me." Geri Halliwell is making up for the lack of men in her life by acquiring dogs. She has bought a companion for the mutt she already owns, her beloved Harry the shih-tzu. Geri, who admits pets are more reliable than men, picked the pooch, a five-year-old Collie called Hamish, from Battersea Dogs' Home. A man at the kennels says, "Geri is quite a regular here. She often comes in to see the dogs. She's obviously a real animal lover." Geri Halliwell was all smiles as she arrived at a New York City record store, despite still being managerless. She was in the Big Apple to promote her debut solo album Schizophonic and has been without a manager since parting company with Lisa Anderson at the end of last month. The singer is now in discussion with a number of prospective managers, including some Stateside impresarios. Geri looked happy enough with life as she was mobbed by fans outside the Coconuts Music Store in the Big Apple. Schizophonic may not have gone down a storm in Britain but the rest of the world seems to be lapping up the new album, but even Geri was surprised by her American welcome. "The irony is I was unsure if anyone was going to turn up. The response was better than I could have imagined." I knew that everybody liked me within the Spice Girls but I didn't know whether anyone was going to respond to me as a solo artist, but to see that turnout and to see that new people were still supporting me, it was just what I wanted." Geri was also delighted such a wide mix of people had come together to wish her well. "I want Spice Girls fans to like what I've done, and they were there, but women, older teenage girls and gay people were also there. You couldn't define one age group which is so fantastic and that's what my music should be about. It's given me such a boost," she added. SCHEDULED PERFORMERS FOR PARTY IN THE PARK: Another Level, Gary Barlow, Mary J Blige, Blondie, Boyzone, Brand New Heavies, The Corrs, Elvis Costello, Culture Club, Eurythmics, Fierce, Geri Halliwell, Honeyz, Madness, The cast of Mamma, Mia, Martine McCutcheon, Ricky Martin, Mike and the Mechanics, Mark Morrison, Pet Shop Boys, Conner Reeves, Roxette S Club 7, Shania Twain, Steps, Texas UB40, Westlife! Geri Halliwell has been added to the bill for next month's Party In The Park in London, a benefit concert to raise money for The Prince's Trust. She will be performing in front of 100,000 fans, including the HRH the Prince of Wales, in Hyde Park on July 4th. Other acts on the bill include Ricky Martin, Shania Twain, Culture Club and the Corrs. Date & Time: Sunday, July 04 5:30 AM PDT (9:30 AM EDT/12:30 GMT) Live Cybercast for Windows Media Player Thanks to the Internet, you'll be able to join in the fun without leaving your home. You'll be able to watch the concert on House of Blues online. For more concert coverage, including backstage footage, live chat and more, go to the official Party In The Park website at pitp.capitalfm.com. There are more than 30 artists taking part this year and the latest additions to the line-up include The Eurythmics, Geri Halliwell, Ricky Martin and Elvis Costello playing the 'Notting Hill' favourite 'She.' So get ready to party! Visit the official Party In The Park website for artist bios, discographies, and more. Also, Geri's ready for a change and didn't mind coming second. She claims she's not disappointed her debut album failed to live up to her Spice Girl successes by missing out on the number one spot. Schizophonic spent a week at number two in the UK before beginning to fall, but Geri told Radio 1's The Net it she didn't mind because changing and growing as a person was more important to her. Poor Geri. The picture being painted of life post-Spice is one of isolation and loneliness. She lives alone in a converted monastery (shades of the David Essex film Stardust), chats to magpies and, claims documentary-maker Molly Dineen, doesn't "really know who she is (now that) she no longer has the other Spice Girls around her". This kinder, gentler model who purports to be the "real" Geri is probably nicer than Ginger was, but she's only half the story. One doesn't live through the Spice Girls without a steely survival instinct - and Halliwell showed every sign of loving her role as brash head Girl. It was she who coined the slogan Girl Power, orchestrated the sacking of their manager and made drag-queen style viable for women, too. So while she may be devoting her life to good works these days, the inherent Gingerness is still pulsing away under those demure suits. If he'd really wanted to abandon her previous identity, she would have made a folk record. Instead, her first solo single, true to its title, demands attention in the manner of a precocious child. The use of a big band, redolent of old Hollywood films, is another attention-getting device. It's as if Halliwell is creating her own movie, in which the spotlight no longer must be shared with four others. She describes her forthcoming album, Schizophonic, as "Julie Andrews meets Johnny Rotten". Look At Me, though, errs on the side of Ms Andrews. A hint of rotten may be detectable in the vaguely rebellious lyrics, but don't expect Pretty Vacant - this is rebellion of the teenage kind. The verses are essentially a self-portrait: "Good-looking, bad-tasting, full-bodied but wasted/ Loose-living, tight-fitting, what you see ain't what you are getting..."Punctuated by lewd trombone blasts, the song builds up to the chorus: "Look at me/ You can take it all because this face is free/ I'm the drama queen if that's your thing/ I can even do reality". The wit and self-awareness are commendable, even if the self-absorption isn't. There's also a sense of putting the past behind her, in the manner of Robbie Williams's first solo single, Freedom. Geri's no great shakes as a singer, but neither is she as hopeless as has been made out. Her limitations are most evident in the chorus, which requires more Shirley Bassey than she possesses, but the deliriously huge arrangement disguises many of the flaws. Of course, the main attraction isn't the voice, but the novelty value. It should sell a few. The fly-on-the-wall portrait of ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell scooped one of the year's biggest audiences for Channel 4. Molly Dineen's documentary won 4.6 million viewers on Wednesday, beaten only by ITV drama Trust with 7.2 million and Clive James On TV's 4.5 million, figures leaked to The Mirror reveal. "The show has done very well - even more than we expected," said a C4spokesman. Molly Dineen is already a respected film-maker, but the lass can add agony aunt to her list of talents after making this documentary about GeriHalliwell. While most people would have called their best friend, Halliwell started shooting her own video diary as her Spice Girls career started to crumble in May 1998, and then called for Dineen. What follows is a candid, if overlong portrait of a celebrity tormented by the fame she craves. She is seen arguing with Dineen about who has creative control of the film ("What's the point of making a film to destroy my public image?") and hinting at the hurt she feels about her exit from the group. While the group are playing the final date of their world tour, Geri is seen at sunset outside her rented farmhouse in Hertfordshire sneering at a press quote from Melanie G: "That just about says it all, 'We don't need her anymore.'" Without the girl power security of the Spice Girls machine, Geri is frequently seen lapsing back into being the nervous youngster lacking in confidence - the "symbolic poor kid" at school. She writes to the Prince of Wales for advice, and asks Dineen what phrases she should use in the letter. Dineen refuses to help. "But you're of the right calibre, I don't want him to think I'm a commoner," she says. There are highs. When her Union Jack dress sells for £36,000 she isecstatic. Her mother, brother and sister also star in the film; her mother cheerfully dispensing wise advice from the kitchen sink, her brother giving her lifts whenever she's near home. So does her late father, who she clearly still misses. She shows her "cosmic shopping list" hidden behind her picture of him. In it she wants to marry George Michael, and, as Dineen notices, be "admired and respected by the whole world". Her new career moves to New York, where the United Nations wants her to be its spokesperson on population matters - but without giving her any time to prepare for a press conference. She rehearses her answers to the camera. The film lingers backstage at the Prince of Wales' 50th birthday party. Before she sings happy birthday to the Prince, she tells Dineen she wants fame because "the more of a public figure you are, the more you can dowith it". She is upset when she sees Channel 4's The Big Breakfast the following morning, and watches host Johnny Vaughan gently poke fun at herperformance. Geri turns on Dineen for filming too much of her mother - even though she is happy to take part in the film, and later tells her: "This really gets on my nerves. Before I was just desperate for company, so I thought I'd make you my friend." Eventually, Dineen is replaced by a new friend - a small dog, picked while Halliwell is touring Battersea Dogs' Home with George Michael. The end of the film sees Halliwell move into a new mansion house - where she is shown alone with her dog. It may be long, but Dineen's insightful film will certainly bring the film-maker the attention and the finance to help her with her less populist projects. Whether there is a happy ending for Halliwell is unclear. Despite the Girl Power bravado of old, she still clearly feels she is the little girl from Watford. Her personal assistant tells Dineen: "She'd be happier living on a farm with a husband and two children. But it isn't going to happen, is it?" Geri Halliwell will be hoping the film marks another milestone in a rollercoaster career, rather than the swan-song of a faded pop icon. Geri Halliwell has taken a swipe at her old bandmates by saying she would name her first-born child "something rather sensible and straight". Her comments are a dig at Melanie Gulzar and Victoria Adams from the group she quit a year ago, whose children both share their names with places in America. "I'll call my kids Jane and John. It is funny that everyone goes for these unusual names, but everyone's individual," Halliwell told pop magazine Smash Hits."But what happens if you conceive your child in Bognor?" she mused. Victoria had her child with fiance David Beckham earlier this year and named him Brooklyn after the part of New York where they said they were staying when she found she was pregnant. So proud is Beckham of his little boy that he has had Brooklyn's name stitched on to his football boots and reportedly tattooed on his back. Although many thought that Melanie and her husband Jimmy Gulzar had named their child after Phoenix, Arizona, she later said the name Phoenix Chi meant "fire and water". In the interview, Halliwell also disclosed that the Spice Girls' 1998 Christmas No1 hit Goodbye was not inspired by her departure, but was originally about the Dunblane tragedy. The singer, who launches her solo career with debut single Look At Me on Monday, said she was still in the band when they wrote it - although it was modified after she quit. "I think they rewrote some of the stuff and it was very flattering," she said. The wait is over. Geri Halliwell finally releases her highly anticipated debut solo album "Schizophonic" on June 15th on Capitol Records. Camp, quirky, fun, heartfelt and shamelessly, gloriously, pop-tastic, the album features Geri at her very best in a collection of classic pop tracks that will move not only your feet but also your heart. Stand out tracks include her stunning debut solo single "Look At Me", "Mi Chico Latino", a Spanish-flavored dance anthem, "Walk Away", a timeless ballad featuring a sixty piece orchestra, the uplifting, inspirational "Lift Me Up," and "Bag It Up," a funky Seventies inspired disco stomper. "Schizophonic" was produced by Bristol duo Absolute, Paul Wilson, and Andy Watkins, "soulboys and soulmates" who had previously worked with the Spice Girls and had always been close to Geri creatively. Geri says, "I wanted to write a very honest album, a blueprint of me. My manifesto was that if I was to die at the end of this album, I wanted to know I'd taken each song to the max. There were no half measures, it was a real reflection of my personality. It's an emotional roller-coaster . . . I poured everything into it, it was almost like therapy for me."