The one about...Sporty Spice

The thirst for Spice Girls has never been stronger. This week I’m starting a mini-series for the next five newsletters about the band!

Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!

Sooooooo, sure you all saw the Spice Girls reuniting for Victoria’s 50^th this week.

Joyous scenes. They were such a huge part of all our lives and how cool is it that the girls are now cross generational with just as much (if not more) interest in them reforming for another tour.

To celebrate them, for the next five newsletters I’m going to do a bit of a spotlight on each Spice Girl. Our time together, how I got to know them and generally giving you some intel into my time with them individually throughout my journalistic career.

Starting with my Numero Uno, Melanie Chisholm aka Sporty.

Here we go…

WHEN I LEFT JOURNALISM, I didn’t really know what I was going to do. I knew I was going to be OK and something would work out. It always does with me.

I stumbled into PR pretty much thanks to friends in the industry saying they’d like my services. I knew everyone. I knew what a story was. Crucially, I knew how to make a lot of noise and how to control the story. Mainly because I knew the way newspapers and magazines run from the inside out.

Knowing how a story develops in the newsroom and how it develops is a skill that I still use daily now. It enables me to make sure clients I work with are protected, looked after and that I can navigate the often-tricky process of garnering press for people I work with.

One of my first big projects in PR where I was genuinely proud of the work I’d done was when my friend Melanie C took me on as a support PR when she was working on the release of her album Version of Me. She wanted some fresh ideas, some ‘out of the box’ thoughts and overall an approach from somebody she could trust.

I’d been a fan of Melanie’s for a long time. I’d sort of missed the time in print when the Spice Girls kicked off - I was just a smidge too young to be working on Fleet Street.

Even before I was a journalist, I supported Melanie’s solo career from the get-go - she was the one I’d support. Numerous nights at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire (her spiritual home) and often pitching up at many of her events to support. She’s the real deal, after all.

Years later, I’d even had her perform at a party I threw at Cuckoo Club in London’s West End where she performed a string of hits. Backstage minutes before she went out I checked the setlist and noticed there wasn’t any rendition of When You’re Gone. I fear I’d had a drink or two (those were the days of debauchery) – and in the balliest of fashions I said: “Erm, young lady we are definitely duetting to When You’re Gone.” She said she needed a reminder on the words. Lolz. We ran through a tiny rehearsal downstairs with her guitarist and that became the night I got to duet with Melanie infront of some of my nearest and dearest.

I remember the video of us going online to YouTube (no, I’m not putting it on here you cheeky little devils). Some shady Spice fan said I sounded terrible. TRUE DAT. But I didn’t care. I had the best time grabbing the mic with her. The night was also a charity fundraiser for Macmillan Cancer and we raised a load of money for the work they do.

Anyway, back to working with her on the album…

Truth be told, the project wasn’t the easiest job to work on. I was supporting on the PR alongside her longtime publicists. They weren’t happy to have me on board the Sporty bus, to say the least. In fact they were livid. They didn’t like to share clients or have anyone external involved and that was made very clear from the start. But I was aware I was there as a disruption to how things were being done and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. I was essentially there to put pressure on the regular PR folk – and that I did! Fortunately, I didn’t take it personally – it was just a tightrope walk to work with them and make them think they were in charge ;-)

What did I want to do firstly? Well, I wanted to reinvent Sporty. At that time, Melanie probably wasn’t as comfortable as she is today about the Sporty name tag.

It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate all she’d achieved in the band. She was so proud of it. But it endlessly pissed her off being asked about touring. No huge surprise - journalists were like broken records with their questions.

She also had people in her ear saying she needed to move away from it as it wasn’t helping her as a solo artist which to me felt counterproductive. Lean in, baby. You were Sporty Spice! Legendary. Worth noting, at the same time she was in the midst of leaving her longtime management and was starting a fresh vibe. It was all a lot of change…

I started by giving Katie Grand a call at LOVE Magazine, and we discussed a piece with her to reinvent Sporty. She got it - exactly as I’d hoped. We couldn’t make the print run as it wasn’t regular enough and had gone to print. But we could do a full feature online, have a great studio day and Melanie and I agreed to write an essay about fame and celebrity to go with it. That way it wasn’t just the standard interview littered with tonnes of Spice Girl questions – we could control it all with her own words. Perfect, I thought.

As you can see, the pictures were exceptional. Katie chose to work with then newcomer photographer Thurstan Redding and it remains one of my favourite shoot days ever. Relaxed, calm and the team were beyond. Also, Melanie was so comfortable revisiting Sporty and reinventing Sporty. It felt in some ways the LOVE shoot was a catalyst for her realising all she’d achieved with the band and as Sporty.

Within the piece we wrote, Melanie spoke about not wanting to reunite with the girls.

On the Spice Girls: “Look, I will be a Spice Girl until I die. But the continuous speculation on whether we will reform to celebrate 20 years of Wannabe has been particularly exhausting. Don’t get me wrong – I totally get it. But is it a new rule that bands have to reform? Why can’t we just be remembered for our incredible achievements in the nineties? When we embarked on the reunion tour it was amazing, scary and surreal all at the same time. The five of us back together again. Like we’d stepped back in time for a global celebration of the band.”

On the Spice Girls reuniting: “Truth be told, earlier this year after several face-to-face meetings with the girls I made the difficult decision not to be part of a proposed reunion with Emma, Geri, and Melanie. Victoria had already bowed out understandably with the demands of her fashion label and her rather large family. The hardest part for me was letting people down, the girls, the fans, civilisation?! Unfortunately, something didn’t feel quite right, and I had to follow my gut. For me the absolute pinnacle of my Spice existence was being watched by a billion people around the globe belting out ‘Spice up Your Life’ on top of a black cab at the 2012 London Olympics. Anything less than the full line-up just didn’t feel like we’d be doing justice to the band or the fans.”

Her Spice Girls head wasn’t there at that time. She had a solo record to release. The music was great and I was thrilled it charted better for her than she’d managed to get for years as a solo artist. Boom. Interestingly, this all took place in 2016 - three years before the girls would reunite for their infamous Wembley Stadium and UK tour dates (minus Posh).

There had obviously been a major change of heart during the time after this album release. Sporty had clearly been born again :-)

The thing I respect so much about Melanie is her drive for the music. She was the driving force behind the music and arrangements on the tours. The girl who wanted to ensure it was done right. If she was going to return, it was going to be on her terms musically and she’s a work horse when it comes to the brand. Also, that voice. The Spice Girls without Melanie C would have been so much flatter. Those Sporty adlibs were always a sensation – she knows her voice and her capabilities.

I only worked with Melanie on the one project PR wise. I did my job and after that as she released the next album she went with a ‘music’ PR who could lead her to the next level as a solo artist. I totally understood. I was just glad to be part of the Sporty train for a minute. Hopefully what we managed to achieve kick started a new era for her and I was thrilled she was returning to the band for the big gigs. I was there to elevate things - and think we achieved it all.

What’s our relationship like now? We’ll have a bi-annual catch up together, usually at one of the restaurants I look after, and we’ll gossip an afternoon away. There was a day and age where we’d hit the town – but those days and monster hangovers aren’t agreeable for either of us these days. But the real gossip is saved for the table, so stop right now thank you very much…

Sporty for life!

Until Sunday, Kids.