30th January 1998
Irish bookmakers reportedly are offering 50-to-one odds that
all five Spice Girls will march down the aisle before the
millennium. The bookies are giving 1,000-to-one odds on the
Girls' marrying soccer players from England's Manchester
United team and 5,000-to-one for Posh Spice to wed Bill
Clinton.
29th January 1998
The 21 year old son of Bryan Morrison, Jamie, is Geri Halliwell's new boyfriend. Bryan is a famous music publisher who was behind Pink Floyd, the Bee Gees and Wham and opened his own Polo Club with Prince Charles as a member.Bryan introduced the couple at a party two years ago but the romance between them began at Christmas and last weekend they were pictured entwined in St Moritz. Geri was perched on Jamie's knee next to his Canadian ex-model mother.
Last night Mrs Morrison said of Geri: "She's adorable, really fabulous, lots of fun. Jamie has known her probably only for a couple of months. They're just kids, they really don't know each other very well yet."
Further confirmation came from the Spice Girls spokesperson who said: "Yes, it's true, Geri and Jamie are an item."
The groups chief spokesman Alan Edwards added: "Geri called me and said, 'You're never going to believe this but I love polo.' She's very happy. They enjoy chatting about music and have simular tastes, including Frank Sinatra."
26th January 1998
David Beckham bought his millionaire girlfriend a solitaire diamond engagement ring and the couple were today relaxing at the exclusive Rookery Hall Hotel, near Chester.
Alan Edwards, Victoria's PR man, said: "They're so happy together, they've had bottles of champagne sent up to their suite and are just thrilled to be spending some time together. "Their parents are absolutely delighted at the news."
The couple, staying at the exclusive five star hotel, were catching a few hours together before Victoria, 23, jets off for rehearsals in Dublin and David, 22, goes back to training for Manchester United.
The couple have no plans to move in together for the next six months because Victoria will be touring with the Spice Girls and David is set to play for England in the World Cup in France in the summer.
It has not been disclosed where the wedding will take place but it is set for some time in the summer of next year.
12th January 1998
The Spice Girls hit Melbourne, Australia for a weekend down under. While there Victoria gets the Victoria pin from the Premier of Victoria Jeff Kennett. See Pic below. They were in Melbourne and Sydney as part of the whirlwind world openings of Spice World. Everywhere the girls went so did the fans in full force.
19th December 1997
The Spice Girls are at odds with the press again, according to Reuters, but this time the girls have responded to the protests -- or at least Geri "Ginger" Haliwell did -- by returning their boos with the taunt, ""Callate, maricon," or "Shut up, queer!"
The girls were in Spain, the scene of a previous altercation that saw the band booed off the stage by journalists angry at being banned from taking photos of the fivesome at an awards gala.
The event this time was the premiere of their movie, Spice World. Again, the photographers were not allowed to shoot unless they signed an agreement that gave the band the rights to any photos and video footage taken at the press conference.
A similar protest had been launched by newspapers in Sweden which at the time may have resulted in the Spice Girls canceling their appearance at a charity event in that country. "We came here to see our fans, we always have a fantastic reception from fans in Spain and that's what matters to us," Victoria "Posh" Adams told the conference in Madrid, Thursday.
Halliwell jumped up and kissed the cheeks of the nearest journalists, saying the world needed love. "That's how wars are started when people don't love each other," she said.
18th December 1997
They're probably not too worried, but the Spice Girls may be facing a dubious copyright infringement lawsuit launched by a wannabee Spice Girl who calls herself "Spyce."
Barbara McFadden, aka Spyce, released a self-distributed CD called "Music For Seduction" in 1995 and says because she was the first to release and distribute product using the name, she has the usage rights. But she's willing to let bygones be bygones if the Spice Girls simply incorporate her into the band.
McFadden, who lives in California, says in a press release she's been advised by several attorneys that because Spyce/Spice sounds the same and she and the Spice Girls are in the same business, it's enough to create confusion in the marketplace even though the word "Girls" is tagged onto the other name. She says the attorneys told her she could send the Spice Girls a Cease and Desist letter because she has first usage rights. McFadden thinks a better compromise would be for her to join the other band.
McFadden says the Spice Girls' attorneys sent a letter in response that has led her to believe that they are not interested in resolving their differences. "Please be advised that our clients consider any public performance or distribution of that demo tape is to be an act of copyright infringement," she says they wrote. McFadden says she's currently looking for a lawyer interested in working on a contingency basis.
16th December 1997
Before taking in the world premiere of their feature film debut, the Spice Girls greeted a couple of high-profile fans: Prince William and Prince Harry. According to the Associated Press, the royal teens (William is 15 and Harry is 13) and their father, Prince Charles, met with the Girls before the premiere of their film "Spiceworld" Monday night in London.
The Girls used the opportunity to joke about their recent management troubles as Geri, Ginger Spice, told reporters, "Charles is our new manager." "I am very expensive," the prince quipped. The $26 million film, which has been described as a cross between "This Is Spinal Tap" and the Beatles' "Hard Day's Night," will hit U.S. screens on January 23.
15th December 1997
The Spice Girls' "Spiceworld" made its debut tonight at the Empire movie theater at London's Leicester Square. The $25 million plus flick was shot around London last summer under a veil of secrecy at venues including The Ministry of Sound nightclub, an amphitheater shopping mall (doubling as Milan, Italy), and Royal Albert Hall.
The mostly British cast is anchored by Richard E. Grant, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Jonathan Ross, Jennifer Saunders, Michael Barrymore, Richard Briers, Richard O'Brien and Roger Moore along with brief appearances from Elton John, Elvis Costello, Bob Geldof, Bob Hoskins and Meatloaf, among others.
Richard Grant kept a journal during the filmmaking, which was published in the London Telegraph. He reported that Elton John, who plays himself in the flick, accepted the invitation to appear because he liked The Spice Girls: "They are what they are,' he said. 'No side. No pretence. Just wild, unstoppable energy."
Indeed, Grant's journal does give the impression of unstoppable energy, along with humor and genuine camaraderie among the girls. The reports portray them as somewhat overwhelmed at all the attention, but totally unphased by the likes of media blow-by-blow reports and nude photos courtesy of past boyfriends.
The film, of course, portrays nothing but good, wholesome fun. In a nutshell, Spice World is a glamorized and sanitized version of the group's whirlwind life at the top of the pop charts, shades of the Beatles' "A Hard Days Night."
Like it's predecessor, the basic plot evolves around the girls just wanting to have fun while those in charge attempt to spoil the party by making them work. Their manager spends most of the movie tearing his hair out trying to get the girls on track.
Spiceworld follows the girls through Top Of The Pops and other performances as well as yacht cruises, mansions, photo shoots and the like pursued by screaming fans, TV crews and a particularly villainous tabloid newspaper photographer. There's also an array of 'typical' music industry types. Roger Moore puts in a cameo as a record executive who always appears on the phone, each time seen petting different animals including cats, rabbits and piglets. And then there's the (perhaps) unexpected -- fantasy sequences apparently featuring extra-terrestrial spacecraft.
According to the PA News, there's at least one telling moment in the film that may well have echoed real life a little too closely. "You don't have a life, you have a schedule!" Grant yells, and starts a fight that threatens to break up the band. Months after that scene was shot, the Spice Girls fired manager Simon Fuller while rumors of in-fighting among the girls circulated through the press. Oddly enough, the movie was written by Fuller's brother Kim.
3rd December 1997
The Spice Girls continue to go wild with their newest venture, a pay-per-view concert special, "Spice Girls In Concert - Wild!" The show, filmed live in Istanbul, Turkey, takes place on "a fantasy stage set" and will be a spicy milestone for Scary, Baby, Posh, Ginger, and Sporty. It is the first ever live concert recorded by The Spice Girls. With the release of the group's feature film, "Spiceworld," also due next year, 1998 looks like it may be as chock full of spice as 1997. "The Spice Girls In Concert - Wild!" airs January 17 at 9 p.m. (E.T.) on Showtime.
2nd December 1997
Yes, it's only Tuesday, but the Spice Girls has already seen more ups than downs this week than most folks see in a lifetime. As further evidence that every silver lining has a cloud, we present the following:
•On the upside, the Spice Girls had the honor of meeting the Queen after their turn at the annual Royal Variety Performance.
•On the flipside, the British Press Association reports that Ginger Spice Geri Halliwell could barely manage a curtsy when meeting the Queen for fear of popping out of her low-cut gown (which reportedly presented problems during the group's performance).
•On the upside, PA also reports that the Girls were named "Best British Group" by the readers of "Smash Hits" magazine for the second year in a row.
•On the flipside, the Girls also reportedly picked up the honors for "Worst Single" for their song "Spice Up Your Life" and Geri was voted "Worst Dressed Person" and "Least Fanciable Female" by "Smash Hits" readers as well.
•On the upside, the group saw U.S sales of its latest album, "Spiceworld," jump for the third week in a row from just over 100,000 copies to more than 103,000 copies.
•On the flipside, strong debuts from Metallica, Celine Dion, Erykah Badu, and Hanson meant that despite the sales surge, the Spice Girls actually dropped from number eight to number 11 on the "Billboard" albums chart.
21st November 1997
Rumors about the Spice Girls' future continue to fly around Great Britain, prompting the Girls to take to BBC Radio One to set the record straight. According to a report from Britain's Press Association, the Girls turned up on Radio One's "Breakfast Show" recently to dispel a number of rumors, including one that had Ginger Spice Geri Halliwell replacing the recently dispatched Simon Fuller as the group's manager. The group reportedly said there was "no way" that Geri would take over for Fuller, who himself was dismissed earlier this month, sparking an avalanche of speculation and rumors. The popsters also reportedly dismissed reports that the group's days are numbered. "We are stronger than ever," the Girls reportedly told the radio show. After a particularly rough stretch last week, things seem to be looking up for the Girls. While their latest effort, "Spiceworld," sold only 83,000 copies in its first week in stores, the Girls got a bit of a bump in the album¹s second week, selling more than 100,000 copies.
20th November 1997
It looks like the Spice Girls aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Contrary to rumors that it was splitsville in Spice world last week, The Gals categorically denied rumors in Paris earlier this week when the Spice Five were swarmed by reporters with inquiring minds, wondering if they were breaking up, going their five separate ways, or calling it quits. "No way!" said Mel. B/Scary Spice and Mel C./Sporty Spice. So the Mel's have it. They're sticking together like Spice on rice. "Spiceworld," the album, did better in its second week. Though it still remains at #8 on the Top 20 "Billboard" album charts, sales increased by 21%, topping 100,000 units, from 83,266 that sold last week. No doubt the Spice Girls are feeling cheered by this mini-coup. But who is that Funny Girl fab fingernails taking the #1 spot -- bumping Mase's "Harlem World" to #5? It's Barbra "Please Don't Call Me Babs" Streisand with the perhaps aptly named, "Higher Ground." Debuting at #3 is Mystikal with "Unpredictable" on Master P's No Limit label, but Master P's own "Ghetto D" is now out of the Top 20. Also new at #4 is LSG with "Levert Sweat Gill," which leaves both last week's #3 and #4, Jay-Z, with "In My Lifetime, Vol. 1" and Rakim's "The 18th Letter" at #18 and #14 this week, respectively. Also new the charts this week: "The Ozzman Cometh" enters at #13, perhaps Mr. Osbourne's lucky number. Some may be feeling a little less lucky this week, though, like those who fell out of the Top 20 to make room for the newcomers, such as Janet Jackson's "The Velvet Rope," the Dave Matthews Band's "Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95," and NAS Escobar, Foxy Brown, A-Z, and Nature, with "The Firm -- The Album."\
17th November 1997
The Spice Girls gave an impromptu concert from their hotel balcony in Rome this weekend, perhaps in an attempt to show that, despite published reports, all is indeed well in Spiceworld. England's Press Association reports that the band's new publicist is winging his way to Rome to meet with the girls and will soon address reports of infighting, including the latest story that Baby Spice Emma Bunton went AWOL from the hotel in the wee-small-hours, supposedly to meet with the band's now-former manager, Simon Fuller. The Brit tabs had been reporting that Bunton had been having an affair with Fuller which in part lead to the manager's demise, and that the band is close to splitting up after yet another row. England's "Q" Magazine reports that Richard Stannard and Matt Rowe, who are listed as "co-writers" of the band's material along with the Spice Girls, are signed to Fuller's company and their services will no longer be available to the girls. Indeed, most of the Spice staff were employed by Fuller and have elected to stay with the manager. But despite the Girl's recent spate of bad press, hundreds of fans gathered on the street Sunday shouting and begging for a glimpse of the fivesome, and their efforts were eventually well rewarded. After about an hour, all five appeared, threw flowers to the crowd and sang two songs, "Spice Up Your Life" and "Too Much."
13th November
The Spice Girls are out to make it a "Spiceworld," but global domination may take longer than originally planned. The Girls' sophomore effort was expected to enter into the top five this week, but came in at a surprisingly tepid (yet respectable) number eight. The pre-fab Gals' first LP, "Spice," which has been on the charts for forty weeks, dropped two spots to number eighteen. The world may not be as spicy as it first seemed, but it looks like a "Harlem World" at the top. Mase held fast at number one for the second week in a row with his debut album "Harlem World." Shania Twain's "Come On Over" debuted at number two, bumping LeAnn Rimes' "You Light Up My Life" to number five. Jay-Z's second LP, "In My Lifetime, Vol. 1," entered the charts at number three sending the Dave Matthews Bands' "Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95" crashing down to number 20. "The 18th Letter", rapper Rakim's comeback after a five year hiatus, entered at number 4, leaving Mariah Carey's "Butterfly" hovering in the seven spot.
12th November
R&B chanteuse Brandy will be interviewing intergallactic stars the Spice Girls to promote the Girls' new UPN network one hour special, "Too Much Is Never Enough." The special will be the broadcast television premiere of the group's new video "Too Much," and will also go behind-the-scenes of their recording sessions and performances. The show will provide a sneak peek of Spicy quintet¹s new movie, "Spice World," which is set for a January release. Following in Barbara Walters footsteps, Brandy Norwood (also UPN¹s "Moesha") will interview each of the five Spice Girls (Emma "Baby" Bunton, Geri "Sexy" Halliwell, Melanie "Sporty" Chisholm, Melanie "Scary" Brown, Victoria "Posh" Adams) separately in spots featured throughout UPN¹s prime time programming. "Too Much" airs Tuesday, December 2 at 9pm EDT.
10th November 1997
Less than a week after releasing its second album, "Spiceworld," the Spice Girls showed their muscle by firing Simon Fuller, the man who has managed them for the past two years. British tabloids are having a field day reporting that Fuller had a close personal relationship, and a nasty break-up, with Emma Bunton, better known to Spice fans as Baby Spice. The tabs are also reporting that Ginger Spice Geri Halliwell was particularly annoyed by Fuller's affection for her blonde group mate. The Stateside Spice Girls camp had no comment on the rumors. The timing of the Girls' management shuffle could be better, considering that the group's feature film debut makes way to theaters January 23. Fuller was not the group's original manager, and apparently not even one of the original supporters who put the band together. As reported by the British press and "Rolling Stone," those people were sent packing long ago. A "London Daily Mirror" expose' published early this year blew holes in a number of myths, including an initial bio that said the Girls met when they were renting rooms in the same house, they were initially self-managed and that Baby Spice, the youngest, was 18. As the world soon found out, they were brought together by an ad; they weren't managed, they were manufactured; and Emma was the youngest, but she was 21. The "Mirror" told the story through an interview with one Ian Lee, who purports to have been present for the band's birth. And according to Lee, it wasn't natural. He relates how a young fellow named Chris Herbert, with backing from his father, Bob, passed around a flyer looking for "streetwise, ambitious, dedicated" young girls with the idea of forming the female equivalent to Take That, the teen idols of the day. They auditioned 400 girls and settled on the very talented Mel Chisolm, the marginally talented Mel Brown, Victoria Adams and the reportedly untalented but hard working Geri Halliwell. Also onboard was Michelle Stephenson, who later left and was replaced by Emma Bunton. With Lee at the piano and the band working out of his charity-funded studio, the younger Herbert rehearsed the girls relentlessly, and finally--after much much effort--the band gelled. "They'd become really good," Lee told the "Mirror." "Chris was a great artistic director. The way they look, dance and sing together today is exactly the way he got them to, even down to the way they stand. He wanted them to be sassy and sexy." Lee says that the band was in the process of negotiating a contract with the Herberts when "suddenly there was this massive row." Said Lee: "The whole building could hear them screaming and shouting at each other and then they all burst out of the room and stormed off. They never came back. The next thing was that we read in the music press was that they were signed up by Annie Lennox's manager, Simon Fuller, and had done a deal with Virgin." "They worked hard and they deserve it," Lee told the Mirror. "It just seems that in a few short months the business had made them hard enough to brush aside their past and make out none of us ever existed. Considering all we went through together, that is such a shame." The Herberts eventually were paid off by the new regime with a reported five-figured fee settlement that included a non-disclosure agreement. But Bob Herbert none-the-less commented to "Rolling Stone," "We created the Frankenstein that turned on us."
6th November 1997
Don't expect pioneering rock producer Phil Spector to work with the Spice Girls anytime soon. According to BBC Radio 1's website, Spector slagged the Girls when he picked up an award from the British magazine "Q" Tuesday night in London. Spector reportedly said that the Spice Girls' videos were like pornographic films, except that pornos have better music. "They're such an easy target," Spector told the site after the ceremony. "It was all done in jest. I think it's flattering them too much to call them the anti-Christ." Of course, Spector's not the first person to publicly mock the Spice Girls, and he undoubtedly won't be the last. However, the group has found at least a small bit of critical acclaim with their latest effort, "Spiceworld," which hit stores this week; the album received a B+ grade from "Entertainment Weekly."