Melanie Janine Brown (born May 29, 1975 in Leeds) (aka Mel B) is an English pop singer and songwriter turned actress and television personality best known as one of the members of the girl band the Spice Girls, one of the most successful female groups of all time. She was given the nickname "Scary Spice" by the British media because of her outrageous, "in-your-face" attitude, 'loud' Leeds accent, throaty laugh, manner of dress (which often consisted of leopard-print outfits) and her voluminously curly hair.
Brown started her music career in a band known as Touch. The group left the original management team and eventually teamed up with music manager Simon Fuller. Here, she and the other girls were launched on the world as the Spice Girls. After worldwide success in the group she embarked on a solo music career in 1998. Her first solo album, with Virgin Records, was a success, including a No.1 hit. In 2005 she released a second solo album which did not attract much attention.
Brown is of mixed race parentage, born to a white English mother Andrea and a black Nevisian father Martin. She has a younger sister named Danielle. She studied performing arts at the now famous Intake High School in her home city of Leeds, before entering the entertainment industry. For a time she worked as a dancer in Blackpool. Brown saw an advertisement for an audition in a newspaper and she showed up and was accepted in the all-girl group which became the Spice Girls.
At the height of the Spice Girls' success, Brown was invited to work with Missy Elliott on the single I Want You Back, a song for the soundtrack of the film Why Do Fools Fall in Love. It was recorded in just one afternoon, due to Brown's busy Spice Girls schedule. The video featured Brown's then husband Jimmy Gulzar, who appeared chained and submissive to his wife. Upon its British release in September 1998, I Want You Back sold 80,000 copies in its first week alone, giving Brown her first and only solo #1 in her home country. This was confirmed on the day that the Spice Girls played their last world tour concert at Wembley Stadium in front of 52,000 fans. Ultimately the single sold 218,000 copies and became the 82nd Bestselling British Single of 1998.
At the suggestion of her then-husband Jimmy Gulzar, Brown covered Cameo's 1986 hit Word Up as her next solo release. The track was notable for being produced by Timbaland. The track was already released on the soundtrack to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. This resulted in its flopping in the UK (peaking at #14), making it the lowest charting Spice Girls related single of the 90s. The European video was a surreal animation, directed by Jimmy. A further video was shot which featured the mini me character from Austin Powers. The track was not included on Brown's UK version of her debut solo album, and speaking at the time of her album release she stated that she "didn't really like 'Word Up'".
Following the disappointing performance of Word Up , Brown stopped releasing records for a while, but worked quietly on tracks for her debut solo album and the third Spice Girls album. Turning to television work, she hosted Pure Naughty, a weekly BBC2 magazine show focusing on black music. She also hosted the MOBO Awards on two occasions, in 1998 with Bill Bellamy and in 1999 with Wyclef Jean, and took part in a BBC funded short film entitled Fish.
During her time as a Spice Girl, Mel B should be noted for having at least one solo line in every Spice Girl's song. Other members such as Geri (Two Become One and subsquent songs after departure) and Victoria (Wannabe, Say you'll be there amongst others) do not perform solo lines in every song.[citation needed]
As a way of dealing with the problems of her marriage, Brown continued working on her debut solo album. She worked with producers such as Sisqo, Teddy Riley, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (Janet Jackson, Prince), with whom she was also working on the Spice Girls' third album, Forever.
September 2000 saw the first single release from the album, Tell Me. The track debuted at #4 in the UK charts with about 40,000 copies sold in its first week. It finally sold approximately 100,000 copies, making it the 158th "best seller" of 2000. The album, Hot, was released one month later on October 3, was not a success and garnered mediocre reviews. It sold a disappointing 7,419 copies in its first week and charted at a weak #28, before quickly falling out of the charts.
Following the release of Feels So Good, rumours began that if her next single flopped she would be dropped by her record company, Virgin Records. In May, Brown performed a small set at the London G-A-Y Astoria club, her only solo gig until 2004. A third single was released in June 2001, Lullaby, a pop number dedicated to her daughter. It was accompanied by a very simple video shot in Morocco and featured Brown with Phoenix Chi. The media criticised Brown for using her child in the music video and single artwork, labelling her Desperate Spice and insinuating that she was exploiting her child as a marketing tool. The single entered and peaked at a disappointing #13, and Virgin duly dumped Brown from their label.
From 2001 to 2004 Melanie B concentrated on a variety of non-singing projects. She hosted a number of TV shows such as This Is My Moment (a talent show) for ITV1 and shot a documentary called Voodoo Princess for Channel 4 which got many good reviews. She took part in smaller projects as a presenter such as Top of the Pops, Party in the park for the Prince's Trust and The All Star Animal Awards. She has appeared as herself in an advert for the Yorkshire tourist board in a series which included contributions from other Yorkshire-born celebrities and in the film Happy Birthday Oscar Wilde .
In 2002, Brown released her hit autobiography, Catch A Fire, which reached #7 in the official books chart and saw her touring the UK to promote it with a run of book signings.
In her autobiography Catch A Fire Melanie talked about how she loses interest in her passions with time. She lost interest in dancing once she found music (with the Spice Girls), and after her album failed to meet expectations she found herself not interested in making another. With that she turned to acting. Outside of SpiceWorld and 'Fish' Melanie's first real role came in the form of a British drama, Burn It. She appeared in a horror flick entitled, Lethal Dose, which was released directly to DVD in 2004. She acted in a long run of shows as part of the cast for the Vagina Monologues which was a big success in the UK. She was in the movie The Seat Filler, co-produced by Will Smith and starring Destiny's Child star Kelly Rowland. Melanie also appeared as Mimi in the broadway production of Rent (musical).
In recent years, Brown has also been seen playing herself in episodes of the comedy series Bo' Selecta and A Bear's Tail. In 2003, Brown made a cameo appearance in the music video Bo Selecta's Proper Crimbo.
In April 2004, Brown was approached to take part in the musical Rent. She played the role of Mimi, a drug-addicted young girl, and achieved positive reviews, but not from the show's fanbase. A few weeks after Brown finished her Rent stint, she played her second and last solo gig to date in a New York club, performing some songs from the musical and showcasing some new material she had written. As the songs received positive feedback, Brown decided to release them a year later through an independent label, Amber Café.
The only single from the album, Today, saw a UK release in June 2005. Brown had stated it was just a gift to her fans, and minus a few small appearances no promotion was made. Today entered the singles chart at #41, selling around 1,000 copies in its first week.
The album, LA State Of Mind, was released on the 27th June 2005 in two formats: as a regular CD and as a Limited Edition with a 30 minute DVD documentary detailing Brown's life in LA. The album fared even worse than its lead single, selling just 670 copies in its first week. LA State Of Mind charted at #453.
Rumours of a second single were fuelled by Beautiful Girl bouncing around on the UK Singles Release Schedule for a couple of months. Allegedly a video was made, but due to the poor sales of both the previous single and the album, this release never materialised. Brown was not dropped from Amber Café; both parties decided to amicably part ways.
During the promotion of the LA State Of Mind project, Brown hinted in an interview that a reunion of the Spice Girls could be forthcoming for a Greatest Hits album. Rumours started circulating that the band might reunite for the upcoming Live 8 concert on 2nd July 2005 in London's Hyde Park. The girls were all approached by Sir Bob Geldof who was seriously interested in reuniting the band, but Brown was the only one who refused due to "other commitments".
It was known afterwards that Brown's "commitment" she couldn't postpone was the current writing of a new sitcom, as yet unsold.
She starred as a detective in a the teen-thriller Telling Lies which was expected to be released in fall of 2006.
Tabloids began reporting in late 2005 that Brown is carefully considering a come-back in 2008 with new music, more movie roles and TV projects. Brown has confirmed she has several projects in the works and has told fans to "watch this space".
Brown has recently filmed a small role in a Short Film Love thy neighbour opposite Alex Dimitriades.
In May 2007, Brown gave her first interview in a number of years to Extra reporter Terri Seymour.
Brown will appear on the 5th installment of Dancing with the Stars as reported by realityblurred.com
Recently, Brown reunited with the Spice Girls and plan to tour in the future.
Following her rise to fame, Brown had a long relationship with Icelandic Fjolnir Thorgeirsson, and a short relationship with Australian singer Peter Andre. While on the Spiceworld Tour, Brown began a romantic relationship with Dutch dancer Jimmy Gulzar. They married on the 13th September 1998, following which Brown was professionally known as 'Melanie G'. Their only child together, daughter Phoenix Chi, was born on February 19, 1999. Marriage problems ensued, including allegations of abusive and inattentive behaviour by Gulzar, and the marriage collapsed by the end of 1999. In 2000 Brown filed for divorce, which was finalized later that year.[10] The custody battle for her daughter was highly publicised; Brown won custody, but had to pay a large alimony settlement of £1.25M to her ex-husband.[11] Brown's next serious relationship was with British actor Max Beesley, from whom she split in 2002. In 2003 she moved to Los Angeles, CA with her daughter Phoenix Chi, stating that she plans to reside there permanently.
In 2006, Brown became the subject of many tabloid stories, on the basis of her relationship with Hollywood actor Eddie Murphy. Unconfirmed stories quickly came that the pair had tattoos of each others' names, were planning a wedding, and had introduced each other to their respective families. On October 17, 2006 AOL claimed that Brown was in fact having a baby by Murphy.[12]
Brown was quoted as saying: "We're in love and get on really well. All the children have met and get on too - it's like a great big happy family. I can't wait to spend Christmas with him and I can't wait to have this baby."[13]
Brown gave birth to a baby girl, Angel Iris Murphy Brown, on April 3, 2007, which incidentally is also Murphy's birthday. Murphy was listed as the father on the birth certificate despite the ongoing paternity battle. On June 22,2007, People magazine reported the results of a court-ordered DNA test, confirming through Brown's publicist that Murphy was indeed the father of Brown's baby.
In April 2007, Brown's friend Christa Parker revealed in British magazine Closer that she and Brown had had a sexual relationship, and also that Brown had a two year relationship with a film executive named Christine. At the time Brown said, "people can call me lesbian, bisexual or heterosexual, but I know who's in my bed and that's it - I have huge libido and a great sex life." Parker said that Brown was still in love with Eddie Murphy and would welcome him back.[14] More recently, Brown has began dating movie producer Stephen Belafonte. [15] Brown indicated her feelings about Murphy, stating: "The less said about the Beverly Hills Cock the better." [16]
Title
Released
Chart Position
Hot
October 9 2000
UK #28
LA State Of Mind
June 27 2005
UK #453
TBA
TBA 2008
TBA
Title
Released
Chart Position
I Want You Back
September 14 1998
UK #1
Word Up
June 28 1999
UK #14
Tell Me
September 25 2000
UK #4 /ITA #50
Feels So Good
February 19 2001
UK #5
Lullaby
June 4 2001
UK #13
Today
June 13 2005
UK #41/ITA #76
TBA
TBA 2008
TBA
