Emma “Baby Spice” Bunton

Emma

Singer • Songwriter • Personality

Birth Date: January 21, 1976

Age: 48 years old

Birth Place: Finchley, London, England, UK

Immortalized forever as "Baby Spice," Emma Bunton was one of the founding members of the Spice Girls, the world's most successful girl group of all time. Championing "Girl Power" and British pride, the Spice Girls scored a No. 1 hit with "Wannabe" on both sides of the pond, as well as the U.K. No. 1 hits "Say You'll Be There," "2 Become 1," and "Spice Up Your Life," among others. One of the most iconic pop cultural phenomenons of the 1990s, the Spice Girls conquered the world with an unprecedented avalanche of endorsements, albums like 1996's Spice and 1997's Spiceworld, and even scored a hit movie, "Spice World" (1997). After parting ways, the group members attempted solo careers, with the endlessly charismatic Bunton scoring the U.K. No. 1 hit "What Took You So Long?" from 2001's A Girl Like Me. Adopting a 1960s-inspired sound and style, Bunton charmed critics and audiences with 2004's Free Me, which crossed over to the U.S. with such hits as the title track, "Maybe" and "I'll Be There." After a less successful third album, 2006's Life in Mono and her cover of "Downtown," Bunton reunited with her fellow Spice Girls for a blockbuster reunion world tour, which reaffirmed the band's pop cultural immortality. As a sweet, charming Spice Girl and talented solo star, Emma Bunton became a role model and idol to countless fans around the world.

Born January 21, 1976 in Finchley, London, England, Emma Lee Bunton was the daughter of a milkman father and karate instructor mother. She grew up studying martial arts, acting, singing and dancing, and enjoyed a modicum of success as a child model and teen actor, with bit parts on such series as "EastEnders" (BBC, 1985- ) and "The Bill" (ITV, 1984-2010). Unlike her fellow future bandmates, Bunton did not respond to the famous ad in The Stage that read "WANTED: R.U. 18023 with the ability to sing/dance? R.U. streetwise, outgoing, ambitious and dedicated? Heart Management Ltd. are a widely successful music industry management consortium currently forming a choreographed, singing/dancing, all-female pop act for a recording deal. Open audition. Please bring sheet music or backing cassette." After 400 eager young women auditioned, Victoria Adams, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm, Geri Halliwell and Michelle Stephenson became the founding members of the new group, Touch.

Moving into a house together and subsisting off of the most basic of living expenses, the five women began an arduous training schedule that included multiple daily singing and dancing lessons as well as media training. Although the intensity of their regimen helped bring the women closer, it soon became obvious that Stephenson was a weak link, and she was dismissed from the band and replaced by Bunton, who proved a natural fit. Although originally formed with mercenary motives, the band proved to have a one-of-a-kind chemistry and drive that would help them become music industry icons as well as assuring them an amount of control unthinkable to many other similarly-created pop entities. Changing their name to "Spice," the women began performing in showcases and writing songs, but soon butted heads with their managers over the direction of the band. Led largely by Brown and Halliwell, the group's strongest and most aggressive personalities, Spice left their management and sought out new representation on their own, eventually impressing power manager Simon Fuller with their talent, verve and charm.

Signed by Fuller to his 19 Management, the women underwent another professional metamorphosis when, upon realizing that "Spice" was already in use by a U.S. rapper, they dubbed themselves the "Spice Girls" and signed with Virgin Records. Quickly charming the press with the overwhelming force of their personalities, charisma and effervescent good cheer, the Spice Girls gained valuable touring experience during the all-important process of writing and recording their debut album. Although many industry experts augured success for the group, no one could have predicted just how massive the Spice quake that would rock the world would be. The band burst into the public's consciousness in 1996 with their debut single, "Wannabe," a sing-a-long tribute to female friendship that topped charts all over the world. Serving as the ultimate introduction to the Spice Girls, "Wannabe" was also powered by a charming video that featured the band at their mischievous best. Helping to fuel the SpiceMania was a feature in Top of the Pops magazine, which gave each of the band members nicknames: Posh (Adams), Sporty (Chisholm), Ginger (Halliwell), Scary (Brown) and Baby (Bunton), the latter earning the sobriquet for her innocent blonde pig-tailed vibe. The group's Melanies, Brown and Chisholm, were also well known by their nicknames of "Mel B" and "Mel C" as well. After the glorious reign of "Wannabe," which hit No. 1 in 31 countries including the United States, the Spices scored another massive U.K. No. 1 with their follow-up, "Say You'll Be There," which in turn helped pave the way for their global blockbuster debut album, Spice, which was the biggest album of 1996 in the U.K. and of 1997 in the U.S., eventually selling more than 23 million copies worldwide. Earning an unprecedented amount of endorsements, the Spice Girls quickly achieved not just pop cultural ubiquity, but also an amazing degree of power pushing their updated brand of feminism, embodied in their frequently declared motto of "Girl Power!" In fact, for many cultural critics, despite the enormous musical milestones set by the Spice Girls, the greatest legacy of the band was their ability to steadfastly broadcast an aggressively pro-female message to all corners of the globe and to help start serious conversations about the face and future of modern feminism, despite their cartoonish and over-the-top antics. The group went on to score U.K. No. 1 hits with "2 Become 1" and "Who Do You Think You Are"/"Mama" and made headlines around the world for their performance at the 1997 Brit Awards, which featured Halliwell in a Union Jack dress that would later become the most expensive pop star memorabilia item ever auctioned off. Conquering the U.S. charts, the Spice Girls helped usher in a new era of pop music, reclaiming radio from grunge and harder rock, and their universal popularity helped their debut film "Spice World" (1997) become a global blockbuster, despite negative reviews and a Worst Actress Razzie shared by all five members. Although they set the media world afire with the news that they were dropping Simon Fuller and managing themselves from that point on, the Spice Girls saw their chart success continue. The accompanying album, 1997's Spiceworld, became another worldwide sensation, hitting No. 1 in the U.K. and launching the chart-topping singles "Spice Up Your Life," "Too Much" and "Viva Forever," as well as the No. 2 hit "Stop." The media firestorm that Fuller's departure had caused, however, was nothing compared to what happened when rumblings began that Halliwell was potentially leaving the band; when it was announced that she was, in fact, leaving, shares in the record label itself dropped. With Halliwell out of the picture, Brown became the band's leader, although news that she and Adams had both become pregnant cast some doubt on the viability of the Spice Girls continuing. Nevertheless, they completed their successful world tour, with Adams marrying soccer superstar David Beckham and Brown marrying dancer Jimmy Gulzar, briefly going by "Mel G." The year 1998 ended on a high note for the Spices; their aptly named tribute to Halliwell, "Goodbye," went to No. 1, giving them their third consecutive U.K. Christmas single. Bunton also tasted solo success when she placed her first solo single, "(Hey You) Free Up Your Mind" on the multiplatinum soundtrack for the kid-friendly hit "Pokémon: The First Movie" (1999). Earning Lifetime Achievement honors from the Brit Awards, the Spice Girls scored another No. 1 with "Holler"/"Let Love Lead the Way," which, like "Goodbye," was off their post-Halliwell album, 2000's Forever. The album, however, sold less than its predecessors, and the Spice Girls made the mutual decision to put their band on hold and to follow in Halliwell's footsteps by launching solo careers. The sweetly effervescent Bunton, the only blonde Spice, had long been a fan favorite, and her solo debut album, 2001's A Girl Like Me became a modest success on the strength of her U.K. No. 1 hit, "What Took You So Long?" as well as her Top Five hits "What I Am" and "Take My Breath Away" and the Top Twenty "We're Not Going to Sleep Tonight." Despite launching a string of hits, A Girl Like Me was not the blockbuster her record company hoped for, causing Bunton to jump labels and undergo a sonic and style transformation for her follow-up, 2004's Free Me. Steeped in the sounds, fashions and vibe of the 1960s, Free Me dazzled critics and fans who applauded Bunton's artistic evolution and maturity, and she scored some of the most well-received solo Spice hits with "Free Me," "Maybe," "I'll Be There," and "Crickets Sing for Anamaria."

Although she built on her retro-cool vibe to excellent effect with her next album, 2006's Life in Mono, the set proved a commercial disappointment and only spun off one major hit, a cover of Petula Clark's classic "Downtown." In 2007, each member of the Spice Girls, including Halliwell, had a career-reviving burst of energy when they reunited as a band under the management of Simon Fuller and launched a massively successful greatest hits set and reunion tour that took them around the world and helped cement their status as enduring pop cultural icons, culminating in their own documentary, "Spice Girls: Giving You Everything" (2007). Buoyed by her rekindled success, Bunton dueted with bandmate Chisholm on a cover of "I Know Him So Well" for the latter's Stages album and continued to make inroads into the worlds of hosting and reality television, earning raves for her recurring role as a comically-heightened version of herself on "Absolutely Fabulous" (BBC, 1992-2012). In the summer of 2012, the Spice Girls reunited once more to perform onstage during the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics, held in London. Although Bunton and company did not appear in it, West End audiences also had the opportunity to see the Jennifer Saunders-penned Spice Girls jukebox musical, "Viva Forever!" although reviews were less than kind.

By Jonathan Riggs

Credits

100% Emma Bunton

Music Performer
Show
2023

Emma Bunton

Host
Show
2022

Heart's Feel Good Weekend Bank Holiday Weekend with Emma Bunton

Host
Show
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Heart's Feel Good Easter Weekend with Emma Bunton

Host
Show
2022

Concert for Ukraine

Host
Show
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Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade

Host
Show
2019

The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration

Host
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2019

The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration

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2019

RuPaul's Drag Race UKStream

Judge
Reality
2019

Shopping with Keith Lemon

Guest
Show
2019

Emma Bunton: Baby Please Don't Stop

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2019

Emma Bunton Feat. Jade Jones: You're All I Need to Get By

Music Performer
Show
2019

The Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition

Host
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2018

Zoe Ball on...

Guest
Show
2018

Small Foot

Actor
Mama Bear
Movie
2018

Tim Vine Travels Through Time: Christmas Special

Actor
Emma/Anne Boleyn
Show
2017

Scrap Kings

Self
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2017

Boy Band

Judge
Reality
2017

Live with Kelly and Ryan

Guest
Talk
2017

Michael McIntyre's Big Show

Guest
Show
2016

Girl Power! Live In Istanbul

Composer
Show
2016

Too Much TV

Host
Show
2016

Absolutely Fabulous: The MovieStream

Self
Movie
2016
58%

Rocky Horror Show Live

Narrator
Show
2015

Murder in Successville

Guest
Show
2015

Drunk History

Actor
Show
2015

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice

Guest
Show
2014

Duck Quacks Don't Echo

Contestant
Show
2014

Portrait Artist of the Year

Guest
Show
2013

Through the Keyhole

Self
Show
2013

Your Face Sounds Familiar

Judge
Show
2013

The Spice Girls Story: Viva Forever!

Self
Show
2012

Sunday Brunch

Guest
Show
2011

The Jonathan Ross ShowStream

Actor
Talk
2011

The Jonathan Ross ShowStream

Guest
Talk
2011

Emma Bunton: Take My Breath Away

Music Performer
Show
2011

The Talk

Guest
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2010

Access Hollywood Live

Guest
Show
2010

Lorraine

Guest
Show
2010

Saturday Kitchen Live

Guest
Show
2010

Cha'Mone: Mo'Fo'Selecta! A Tribute to Michael Jackson

Actor
Show
2010

Don't Stop Believing

Host
Show
2010

Emma Bunton

Host
Show
2009

Celebrity Juice

Guest
Show
2008

Would I Lie to You?Stream

Contestant
Game Show
2007

Would I Lie to You?Stream

Guest
Game Show
2007

Rachael Ray ShowStream

Guest
Talk
2006

The One Show

Guest
Show
2006

Dancing on Ice

Judge
Reality
2006

Dancing With the StarsStream

Guest
Reality
2005

Chocolate

Actor
Tabetha Gagoh
Movie
2005

Bo' Selecta!

Guest Star
Show
2002

The Daily Show With Jon StewartStream

Guest
Talk
1999

E! True Hollywood StoryStream

Self
Series
1997

Spice World

Original Music
Movie
1997
35%

Absolutely FabulousStream

Actor
Series
1994

Absolutely FabulousStream

Guest Star
Series
1994

This Morning

Guest
Show
1988

EastEndersStream

Actor
Second Girl
Soap
1985

Good Morning America

Guest
News
1975

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