Melanie Jayne Chisholm's first album was the soundtrack to the musical Fame. She listened to it over and over and dreamt of being one of the kids in the film. Fame, I want to live forever, I want to learn how to fly - high. Some afternoons, she would dig through her mother's closet and dress up in her clothes, pretending she was a rock star. "My mum's a singer and I thought, 'when you grow up, that's what you do.' I wanted to be a superstar"
There is a line down the block in front of Irving Plaza in downtown Manhattan. Teens, tweens, and a few scattered adults carry flowers, snapshots, and handmade posters. A die-hard Spice Girl fan with a British flag painted across her face has been here since dawn. Steven Weinheimer, an eleventh grader who cut school today, is doing cartwheels halfway down the block. Scrawled across his shirtless chest: "I WANT YOU MEL C!"
Inside, 25-year-old Melanie Chisholm, a.k.a. "Sporty Spice," is examining her wardrobe choice for her first American solo gig. Madonna is on the guest list. So are Lenny Kravitz, and the budding pop star Vitamin C.
"What do you think?" she asks, holding up an, "I Love NY" t-shirt with the sleeves cut off. "I want to win them over."
Trays of fruit and cases of water pack her dressing room. A handsome bouquet of white and pale pink roses from William Orbit (Madonna's Roy Of Light producer) blossoms on a nearby table. The master of ambient sound recently co-wrote and produced "Go," the opening track of Mel's new Northern Star. A pair of Helmut Lang paintspattered jeans, her favorite new clothing item, lay strewn across a beat-up couch. Her once long brown hair, pulled forever back into a high cheerleader ponytail, is now cut off into a punkish boy's-'do, tips bleached and gelled at attention.
Lifting her shirt and lowering her waistline, Melanie exposes her two most recent tattoos (she has six total. A multi-colored phoenix rises between her shoulder blades. A scripted black V and lotus flower peer up from her lower back, "Tibetan for grounded," she explains, in a thick Liverpool accent. "The lotus symbolizes the earth." The eastern design was a "collaborative effort" with new pal Anthony Kiedis, front man for The Red Hot Chili Peppers.
In Spiceworld image is everything, and Mel's new look has people talking. "In interviews, people have asked me, 'What are you going to do when you have to get the ponytail back for the Spice Girls?' What a ridiculous question," Melanie says. Widening her sparkling hazel eyes, she asserts, "It's been five years now. Of course I am going to change a little bit."
There are schools of thought that believe we create our own destiny, that single-mindedness and positive affirmations pave the road of success. Mel C's life seems a perfect parable.
This is the story of Down-to-Earth Spice. The one who hates to wear makeup, dresses, and platforms, the one who came up with the band's name with Geri "Ginger" Hailiwell. This is the story of the Spice Girl who can sing.
Chisholm was born January 12, 1974, in Widness, England, just outside Liverpool. Her father, Alan, was a travel agent. Her mother, Joan, was a singer in a local rock band. (She and Melanie's stepfather, Den O'Neill, a guitar player and cab driver, currently play with a Tina Turner tribute band in Liverpool.) They separated when Melanie was 3. She had one half-brother, two stepbrothers, and one half-sister. She always felt like she was in the way and retreated into ballet, gymnastics, and images of Madonna.
At 16, Melanie went to the Doreen Bird dramatic arts college. She studied ballet and music theory, and graduated with teaching credentials. While attempting to land a role in a West End musical, Melanie worked at a chip shop (that's French fries, baby!), taught dance, and occasionally auditioned for cruise ship entertainment, which she secretly hoped she would never land. Money was tight and sometimes she and her friends would steal food from the grocery store. But she never gave up hope. I always knew that it was going to be okay. I knew I was going to be famous." I'm gonno make it to heaven. I'm gonna light up the sky. Fame. I see it coming together. People will see me and cry.
When Melanie was 19, the universe delivered. While at a cruise line audition, Melanie noticed a flyer: "R.U. 18-23 with the ability to sing/dance? R.U. street-wise, outgoing, ambitious, and dedicated? All Female Act for Record Deal." Turning to a friend she enthused, "This is it! This is the one!" And she was right.
Hundreds of girls answered the ad, and Melanie beat them all, with the exception of four other equally ambitious girls: Melanie "Scary" Brown, Victoria "Posh" Adams, Geri "Ginger" Halliwell, and Michelle Stevenson (who would later be replaced by Emma "Baby" Bunton). This is the birth of the Spice Girls - and of Melanie's realized dream.
In 1998 the Spice Girls were on their first world tour - their album, Spice, had already sold 5.3 million; and their follow-up, Spice World, had debuted at number one in the U.K., and number eight in the U.S.
They had a feature film in the theaters, their own plane, and sponsorship deals with Chupa Chups lollipops, Mercedes Benz, and Pepsi. Then, almost out of nowhere, the artist formerly known as Ginger Spice announced she was leaving the band. There were rumors that Scary had bullied the sexy Ginger into leaving. That was never officially addressed. Instead, both parties issued vague and equally pleasant statements thanking the fans for their support and wishing continued success all around. In a move for independence, Geri Halliwell auctioned her platform boots for charity. In a move of Girl Power, the remaining "Spicies" soldiered on, selling out Madison Square Garden in 13 minutes.
"I remember vividly the night before she left," recalls Melanie, who still considers Halliwell a friend, even though the two haven't spoken since Geri left the band. "We were on the plane coming back from Europe and we were having a laugh. We stepped off the plane and she says to me, 'I'll say goodbye now while I've got the chance.' I thought, 'That's a weird thing to say' The next morning I got a phone call saying she had left the band."
Melanie is reaching for a pair of fruity blue Air Max sneakers. "Nike is bankrupting me," she confesses. "I need every single color. It's an obsession. I've got like 17 pairs." She is in no real fear of bankruptcy. Despite a sneaker collection that would put Imelda Marcos to shame (over 400 pairs), her wealth was estimated recently at 31 million dollars.
So what's a Sporty Spice Girl to do with all her money? First off, homes for mom and dad. Second, a sports car for her brother Paul. Third, a place to settle down. Unlike her band mates, who all reside in mansions, Melanie opted for two flats, one in Liverpool, near her family, the other in London, near her work. "It's quite plain," Melanie says of the London address, where she spends most of her time. "It's just big enough for me. It's quite minimalist. I don't like clutter."
Bounding about the room in her five-foot-six pure pixie body, lithe without an ounce of fat - the result of daily workouts alternating kick boxing, running, rollerblading, yoga, and recently, surfing - Melanie proves that she is very, very sporty.
Talking to Chisholm there are times where you can't help but feel as if you are being fed the Spice Girl party line. It's as if she has gone on auto-pilot spewing: My life is so exciting, we are all very close, I'm so flattered by our success. Conversely, there are times when she speaks so honestly she might unthinkingly offend. As well, there are times when she appears to be in a little over her head, like on the topics of feminism or women's rights. Admittedly, she has never read any feminist literature. "I just don't even read books at all. Sometimes I wish I could read more, but I'm such an active person. I sit down and it's like, 'No, I gotta go and do something."
She explains her band's enthusiasm for "Girl Power" (a slogan that has recently been added to Roget's Thesourus as a synonym for "feminism") as a response to the British music press, who refused to give the Girls coverage in the early days. "There weren't that many girl bands, especially in Britain. [Sorry, Elastica.] And, they kept telling us, 'Girls don't sell magazines.' Which we thought was disgusting. We wanted to prove them wrong."
She says it was only later, while touring, that the Girls became completely aware of the gross inequality women face globally. "We just wanted to bring it to people's attention."
But who says pop stars need to be brainiacs? Who says everyone has to have a sense of irony? Must everything have a deeper meaning? Maybe some of us should learn to take things at face value and have fun. What's the matter with preaching belief in one's self and equality among the sexes? Apparently very little. The Spice Girls are currently at Abbey Road, working away on their third album.
Last year, while two of her bandmates were off getting married and having babies, Melanie, possibly inspired by Halliwell's departure, packed her bags for Hollywood in hopes of recording her first solo album. Tinseltown embraced her. She supped with Madonna, chatted with Courtney Love, jammed with Steve Jones at the Viper Room, and befriended the Chili Peppers. Thanks to her yoga instructor, she even developed an interest in Buddhism. When Melanie heard the Dalai Lama would be in L.A. at the same time as her upcoming show there, she joked about inviting him to the gig. "Could you imagine that? His robes?" Eventually a slew of music business heavyweights, including Orbit, producer Rick Rubin, songwriter Rick Knowles (Madonna, 'N Sync, Sinead O'Connor), and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez, were lending a hand in the studio, and her Northern Star took shape.
Los Angeles served another purpose - it was a welcomed retreat from the constant pursuit of the British tabloid press. "Recently there have been lots of reports questioning my sexuality. Because, now that I've got my hair cut and got tattoos and muscles, and I've not had a boyfriend for a long time, they automatically assume I'm gay. Which is very narrow minded and quite offensive. I've never felt that way about a woman," Melanie offers, regarding her sexual appetites. 'A lot of my friends have had experiences or whatever, but I never have."
Silly questions and invasions of privacy are all in a day's work for an icon, but all this talk of a girl's sex life, or lack thereof, can give a Spice Girl a complex. "It makes me start thinking, 'Oh my God, is there something wrong with me?!' I would love to have a boyfriend, but I haven't. I've had one serious relationship in my adulthood, but even then I was 19."
Being the girl with the most cake simply means you need a very special guy with some cake of his own. "I've had dates along the way but I get bored so easily because my life is so exciting, you know? I love my job!" Leaning her head back on the armrest, she lays out the criteria. "I want someone that is really ambitious. I want someone that, even though he is not successful yet, he knows he is going to be. That's what I'm looking for in a guy. That's what I want." In other words, Melanie wants a Spice Boy. In the scheme of things, it doesn't seem too much to ask.