The most iconic Spice Girls moments
Ahead of the Spice Girls 20th Aniversary, and a leaking of a new song for the occasion, we recap the most iconic moments from Scary, Sporty, Ginger, Posh and Baby. The girls will always have a place in our hearts - girl power 4 eva!
PA PhotosWannabe Makes The Girls Household Names
On 7 June 1996, the Spice Girls’ debut single, Wannabe, was unleashed on the world and Mel B, Mel C, Geri Halliwell, Victoria Adams and Emma Bunton (aka Scary, Sporty, Ginger, Posh and Baby respectively) became household names. Suddenly, it was ok for girls to be whoever they really were – as well as admitting a hitherto unspoken urge to “zigazig-ha”. Girl power had officially been born.
Rex FeaturesA Great Christmas Gift
With their third single, 2 Become 1, the Spice Girls landed their first – and most enduring – Christmas number 1. It sold 430,000 copies in its first week, making it the fastest selling single of the year, and also revealed a more soulful, grown-up side to the group that had previously been unseen. Set your spirit free; it’s the only way to be. Or so they say.
Rex FeaturesShow Me How Good You Are
In March 1997, playgrounds were suddenly swept with a new dance craze. Don’t pretend that you’ve never swung it, shook it, moved it or made it, because we simply won’t believe you. Who Do you Think You Are, a double A-side with the more down-tempo Mama, became the group's fourth consecutive number 1 single in the United Kingdom, blasting making them into UK chart history as the first group to have its first four singles reach number 1.
Rex FeaturesFlying The Flag
The Spices’ performance of Who Do You Think You Are at the BRITS in 1997 spawned one of the most iconic fashion moments of the decade thanks to Ginger, a pair of platform boots and an itsy-bitsy Union Jack flag dress. The following year, the dress – which has its own Wikipedia page – was sold for £41,320, earning it a place in the book of Guinness World Records as the most expensive item of pop star clothing dealt at auction.
Rex FeaturesThe Spoof Girls
Such was the success of Who Do You Think You Are, it was co-opted as the song of Comic Relief 1997. A second music video, featuring Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Kathy Burke, Llewella Gideon and Lulu as ‘The Sugar Lumps’, in a spoof of the original, was released. Comedy gold.
Rex FeaturesA Right Royal Fan Club
Even the monarchy weren’t immune to the charms of the Spices. Prince Harry was widely reported to have a poster of the girls on his bedroom wall and, when the group met Prince Charles at a Prince's Trust concert in 1997, Mel B and Geri breached royal protocol to kiss his cheeks. Geri also went in for a royal bottom pinch. Saucy!
Rex FeaturesWe Could Be Heroes
Nelson Mandela was another unlikely high profile candidate to fall for Spicemania. The political legend famously declared: “These are my heroes. This is one of the greatest moments in my life", when he was introduced to the girls in November 1997. Brilliantly, the meet was brokered by none other than fellow Spice lover Prince Charles. Talk about friends in high places.
Rex FeaturesMovie Madness
What’s a record-breaking five-piece girl group to do when they’re dominating the charts? Hit the big screen, of course. Spiceworld: The Movie, which featured all five girls alongside a sterling cast that included Roger Moore, Stephen Fry, Elton John, Jennifer Saunders, and Richard E. Grant, was released in December 1997.
World Domination
In the days before internet domination and the rise of social media, the Spice brand broke new ground when it came to marketing – a significant factor in raising the girls from pop prodigies to cult icons. Polaroid, Impulse, Pepsi, Cadbury’s, Chupa Chups, Tesco, PlayStation… You name it, in the late 90s, it had Scary, Sporty, Ginger, Posh and Baby plastered all over it.
Rex FeaturesFuller Ousted
At the end of 1997, the Spices decided to overthrow their manager, Simon Fuller, and take charge of things themselves. An act of true girl power? Since Fuller was largely seen as the mastermind behind their success, many believed that this seismic shift in their working arrangements would bode badly for the group. Indeed, so tight was the Fuller-Spice tie that its unravelling made front page news around the globe.
Rex FeaturesEnter Posh ‘N’ Becks
Victoria Adams was introduced to David Beckham at a charity football match in 1997 and the pair – then both relatively young stars at the zenith of their fame, or so we thought at the time – became engaged in 1998. The image of a bob-haired, black-clad Posh shyly showed off her ring to photographers as a grinning Becks stands proudly by still melts our hearts today. If only they knew what fate had in store for them…
Rex FeaturesThe Baby Spices Cometh
Our Spice world was rocked again in 1998 when real life intruded and Mel B announced that she had fallen pregnant to Dutch backing dancer Jimmy Gulzar during the Spice World Tour. They married in September of that year and their daughter, Phoenix Chi Gulzar, was born the following February – one month before fellow Spice mum Posh gave birth to Brooklyn Joseph.
Getty ImagesAmerica Calling
Like any British pop super-group worth their salt, the Spices made moves to crack the US market. Although it never quite came off in the way they hoped, they did land themselves a spot on the then-hottest on-air interview couch in town, at The Oprah Winfrey Show, in 1998. An E! True Hollywood Story charting their rise to top swiftly followed.
PA PhotosSplitsville!
In our heart of hearts, we probably always knew that it would be the fiery Ginger who’d be the first to walk. Geri broke hearts the nation over on 31 May 1998 when she announced her departure from the group via a statement that read: “Sadly I would like to confirm that I have left the Spice Girls. This is because of differences between us. I'm sure the group will continue to be successful and I wish them all the best." In-fighting between her and Mel B was widely reported to be the cause of the split.
PA PhotosViva Forever
The Spice Girls’ first single to be released post-Geri-gate was Viva Forever, which saw them break new ground yet again, appearing as animated fairies in the music video. Far from being the disaster many had predicted, the single won critical acclaim – perhaps given the mournful nuances of the song, and the fact that the video had been made before Geri’s departure. The end of an era had officially dawned.
Rex FeaturesSpice Women
Following months of excited whispers, in 2007, it finally happened: The Spice Girls announced that they were back, with a worldwide tour and a new single, Headlines (Friendship Never Ends) , confirmed. Their first performance in a decade was a suitably blow-out affair; the quintet donned military garb to take the stage (well, catwalk), at the 12th annual Victoria’s Secret catwalk show in Hollywood. Atten-tion!
Rex FeaturesA Touch Of GLAMOUR
The best way to mark the Spice revival? With a GLAMOUR Award, of course! Geri, Emma and Mel B were on hand to collect their Best Band 2008 gong – and we were 100% thrilled to celebrate it with them.
WennCruz Control
You’d think it would take a lot to upstage these seasoned performers – but a then-three-year-old Cruz Beckham did just when he did some impromptu body-popping during a Spice Girls set in New York in 2008. As the full brace of Spice babies joined their mums onstage for a rendition of Mama, a red-capped Cruz broke away from the crowd and put on a little show all of his own. Must be in the genes.
Getty ImagesStage Fright
With another few Spice-free years of water under the bridge, the girls once again came together for a rare, public reunion to launch the stage musical based on their collective career, Viva Forever, in London. They say a picture’s worth a thousand words, and this one suggested that Victoria – now the head of a multi-million-pound fashion empire – was resentful at having to rake over old ground. Would this be the real end of the Spice Girls as we know them?
Getty ImagesA Solid Gold Gig
...Of course not! It wasn’t long before the rumour mill was spinning with word that the girls would reform for a one-off performance to mark the end of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Let’s face it, with so many gold medals from our girls, it just wouldn’t have been the same without a show from the original arbiters of girl power to draw things to a platform-stomping, back-flipping close, would it? Girl Power lives!
PA PhotosViva Forever!
But the Olympics wasn't the only Spice moment of 2012. The fivesome joined forces in December for the opening of their long-awaited musical, aptly named Viva Forever.
