Lineone-June 2000
It's A Madonna Makeover As Mel C Matures
BY NEIL MICHAEL DEPUTY SHOWBUSINESS EDITOR
NEW IMAGE: Mel C goes blonde in video for her latest single I Turn to You
She grew up on a council estate worshipping Madonna. Now pop star Mel C's efforts to spice up her image have left her bearing an uncanny resemblance to her childhood heroine. Our picture strip shows the Spice Girl as she appears in the video for her latest single, Turn to You. It was shot in Ibiza where Mel C donned the golden locks, covering up the short and spiky look which she unveiled last October. Like her last image change, it suits her so well. The pictures are bound to earn her even more male fans. When she first burst into the nation's consciousness she had long black hair and darted about in her trademark trainers and tracksuit bottoms as the self-styled Sporty Spice. Still only 25, she has effectively re-invented herself, changing from tomboy to pop goddess in a few seemingly effortless steps. Her penchant for musical and stylistic re-invention has helped earn her an army of adoring fans independent of the Spice Girls mania to which she owes her fame. It no doubt rings bells with her idol. Madonna has survived decades in a notoriously fickle industry. If the current success of Mel C's solo career is anything to go by, surely it's just a matter of time before the artiste formerly known as Sporty will be putting even Madonna in the shade. A friend of the Spice Girl said last night: "The pictures were done as a bit of fun. I've no idea if she is going to keep her hair like that. It was just for the video. She liked the look, so she thought she'd give it a try. "How ever much she may resemble Madonna, I don't seriously think she deliberately set out to look like her." The song I Turn to You is Mel C's fourth single from her LP Northern Star, which has had sales of 300,000. She has so far had two top-five hits from the album - Going Down and Northern Star - as well as a No 1 with Never Be The Same Again. Mel C's single is expected to be her last before the release of the long-awaited third Spice Girls' LP. The content of this is as closely-guarded a secret as was its recording, which has taken 18 months. It is set to be the biggest test the band will have to face, given the phenomenal success of their first two albums which sold multi-millions. The LP will be released around the same autumn date that Melanie B - Scary Spice - is set to release her own solo LP. - New female group Girl Thing, thought to be capable of making an assault on the Spice Girls' status, have failed to make the No 1 slot with their debut single Last One Standing.