Melanie C

Melanie C Headshot

Singer • Songwriter • Actress • Dancer • Entrepreneur • Personality

Birth Date: January 12, 1974

Age: 50 years old

Birth Place: Whiston, Merseyside, England, UK

Melanie Chisholm-better known as Melanie C, and formerly as Sporty Spice-came to fame as one of the '90s UK pop sensation the Spice Girls. Raised in Merseyside and Cheshire, she grew up studying dance and musical theater. An ad in The Stage magazine for a "girl group" brought her to a London audition; she was chosen for the new group along with Mel B., Geri Halliwell and Victoria Beckham (Emma Bunton was added later). Though not initially successful, the Spice Girls spent a year polishing their act and courting labels, ultimately getting signed to Virgin Records which released their first single "Wannabe" in 1996. The group's message of "girl power" was upbeat and inclusive, with each member evincing a distinctive personality. Sporty was the scrappy athletic one with track suit and tattoos. The quintet largely defined pop culture in the U.K. during the second half of the '90s and their record sales hit Beatles-level heights, with all but one of their ten singles went to Number One (the exception, "Stop," stalled at Number Two). America also surrendered to their charms with "Wannabe" and the followups "Say You'll be There" and "2 Become 1" going Top 10. Chisholm had her first non-group hit during the Spice Girls' reign, singing with Bryan Adams on the hit "When You're Gone". Making her solo debut with 1999's Northern Star, she broke away from the Sporty image and expanded on the group's bubbly dance-pop, adding more electronica and some light metal (on a track called "Ga Ga," which may have inspired another pop star a few years later). Though her album sales trailed off after Northern Star she continued to branch out musically, getting deeper into rock and becoming an indie artist in 2004, when she formed her own Red Girl label to release her third solo album Beautiful Intentions. After a Spice Girls reunion tour in 2007-for which all five members received ten million pounds-she returned to the theater and made her debut in London's West End, starring in the musical Blood Brothers from 2009-10. Two years later she made an album of Broadway and movie songs, Stages. She ventured into international TV as well, becoming a judge on international talent competitions. During 2013 she returned to the UK Top 20 twice-first with "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother," an all-star charity single by the Justice Collective, which included her and ex-boyfriend Robbie Williams; then with "Loving You," a duet with Matt Cardle. The Spice Girls reunited a few times in the 2010s, first in 2012 to play the Summer Olympics and to promote the Spice-themed musical Viva Forever!. After teasing and cancelling a full reunion in 2016, they announced in late 2018 that the Girls-now a foursome with Beckham sitting out-would launch a new Spice World tour in 2019.

Credits

The Royal Variety Performance 2023

Self
Show
2023

Royal Carols: Together at Christmas 2022

Music Performer
Show
2022

Queens for the Night

Judge
Show
2022

Raise The Roof! Concert for Prostate Cancer UK

Music Performer
Show
2022

RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs the WorldStream

Judge
Reality
2022

The John Bishop Show

Guest
Show
2022

George Michael: Older at 25

Narrator
Show
2022

The Joe Wicks Podcast

Actor
Show
2021

6 Music Goes Back To..

Guest
Show
2021

Culture Interrupted

Host
Show
2020

The Royal Variety Performance 2020

Music Performer
Show
2020

GMA3: What You Need to Know

Guest
Show
2020

Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer

Guest
Show
2020

Bridge & Allen Together Again

Self
Show
2020

Tamron Hall

Guest
Talk
2019

Celebrity Gogglebox

Guest
Show
2019

Celebrity Gogglebox

Self
Show
2019

Bridge & Allen Together Again

Music Performer
Show
2019

Alex Christensen & The Berlin Orchestra Feat. Melanie C: Don't Talk Just Kiss

Music Performer
Show
2018

Mel C's 30 UK Christmas No 1s

Host
Show
2018

Alex Christensen & The Berlin Orchestra feat. Melanie C: Around the World

Music Performer
Show
2018

Hits, Hype and Hustle: An Insider's Guide to the Music Business

Guest
Show
2018

Play Hits - Novelas Super Hits 2

Music Performer
Show
2018

The Nathan Carter Christmas Special

Music Performer
Show
2017

It's Christmas Live from the Royal Albert Hall

Music Performer
Show
2017

Melanie C: Room for Love (Offizielles Musikvideo)

Music Performer
Show
2017

Scrap Kings

Self
Show
2017

The Voice Kids

Judge
Show
2017

Conversa com Bial

Guest
Show
2017

Melanie C: First Day of My Life

Music Performer
Show
2016

Girl Power! Live In Istanbul

Composer
Show
2016

Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance

Music Performer
Show
2015

The Late Late Show With James CordenStream

Guest
Talk
2015

The Late Late Show With James CordenStream

Music Performer
Talk
2015

Good Morning Britain

Guest
Show
2014

Duck Quacks Don't Echo

Contestant
Show
2014

Jools' Annual Hootenanny 2013

Music Performer
Show
2013

The Spice Girls Story: Viva Forever!

Self
Show
2012

Jesus Christ Superstar

Actor
Mary Magdalene
Show
2012

Superstar

Guest Star
Show
2012

Superstar

Judge
Show
2012

The Voice UK

Guest
Show
2012

The Sarah Millican Television Programme

Guest
Show
2012

Sunday Brunch

Actor
Show
2011

Sunday Brunch

Guest
Show
2011

The Jonathan Ross ShowStream

Guest
Talk
2011

Lorraine

Guest
Show
2010

Saturday Kitchen Live

Guest
Show
2010

The Project

Guest
Show
2009

Alan Carr: Chatty Man

Guest
Show
2009

Bookaboo

Guest Star
Show
2009

The Graham Norton ShowStream

Guest Star
Talk
2007

The Graham Norton ShowStream

Music Performer
Talk
2007

Melanie C: Live Hits

Music Performer
Show
2006

Saturday Live

Guest
Show
2006

The One Show

Guest
Show
2006

8 Out of 10 Cats

Guest
Show
2005

8 Out of 10 Cats

Self
Show
2005

Dancing With the StarsStream

Contestant
Reality
2005

Cbeebies Bedtime Stories

Self
Show
2004

The Ellen DeGeneres Show

Guest
Talk
2003

Loose Women

Guest
Show
2002

Never Mind the Buzzcocks

Guest
Show
2002

Norm

Guest Star
Series
1999
67%

The Daily Show With Jon StewartStream

Guest
Talk
1999

The View

Guest
Talk
1997

E! True Hollywood StoryStream

Self
Series
1997

Spice World

Original Music
Movie
1997
35%

Access Hollywood

Guest
News
1996

Room 101

Guest
Show
1994

Later ... with Jools Holland

Guest
Show
1992

Later ... with Jools Holland

Music Performer
Show
1992

This Morning

Guest
Show
1988

Entertainment Tonight

Guest
News
1981

Entertainment Tonight

Host
News
1981

Good Morning America

Guest
News
1975

News aboutMelanie C