Melanie Chisholm

Melanie Jayne Chisholm (born January 12 1974) is a British pop singer who was a member of the Spice Girls, where she was known as Sporty Spice or Mel C. She has also enjoyed relative success within the U.K. and Europe as a solo artist.

Born in Liverpool, she answered an advertisement in "The Stage" magazine for an all-girl vocal group, and with fellow applicants Geri Halliwell, Victoria Adams and Melanie Brown formed the nucleus of what later (with the addition of fifth member Emma Bunton) became the Spice Girls. The biggest pop phenomenon of the mid-1990s, the Spice Girls enjoyed a series of chart-topping singles like "Wannabe", "Say You'll Be There", "2 Become 1", "Spice Up Your Life", and "Too Much"; as the tracksuit-clad Sporty Spice, Mel C was widely considered the "most musically talented" Spice Girl.

After testing the solo waters in 1998 with a duet with Canadian Rocker Bryan Adams, Chisholm embarked on the beginning of her solo career proper in the autumn of 1999 with her first solo album Northern Star. Featuring the number-one hits "Never Be the Same Again" (a duet with the TLC singer, Lisa Lopes) and "I Turn to You", the album mixed a lot of influences, especially grunge, and turned out to be a commercial success in Europe. It was certified triple platinum in the U.K. and sold three million copies worldwide. It sold 83,000 copies in the U.S., entering at number 208. The album enabled her to embark on a worldwide tour.

After a long break, Chisholm returned to the music scene in February 2003 with the album Reason which, despite initially entering the charts at number five, failed to make a lasting impact on the charts, selling only 80,000 copies in the U.K., and around 350,000 worldwide. Critics didn't like the album either, slating it as "watered-down guitary pap" and "MOR". A knee injury sustained during a Judo practice session for the UK television show The Games ensured that Chisholm did not have sufficient time to prove the record's merits. Following the disappointment of this record, Chisholm parted from her record company Virgin Records a few months later.

Her third album, Beautiful Intentions, was released on 11 April 2005 on her own label "Red Girl Records". Preceding the album a new single, "Next Best Superstar", a criticism of such musical talent shows as Pop Idol, was released in the U.K. and other European and Australiasian markets on 4 April 2005, and entered the British charts at number ten. The showcasing of material from Beautiful Intentions was received well, with many regarding the new songs as her best material yet. The next single on the album has been confirmed as "Better Alone", which some regard as an attack on her former label, Virgin Records.

Discography

Albums

• 1999 Northern Star #4 UK, #208 US
• 2003 Reason #5 UK
• 2005 Beautiful Intentions #24 UK

Hit singles

• 1998 "When You're Gone" (duet with Bryan Adams) #3
• 1999 "Northern Star" #4
• 1999 "Goin' Down" #4
• 2000 "Never Be the Same Again" (featuring Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes) #1
• 2000 "I Turn to You" #1
• 2000 "If That Were Me" #18
• 2003 "Here It Comes Again" #7
• 2003 "On the Horizon" #14
• 2003 "Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh" #27
• 2005 "Next Best Superstar" #10

External links

• Official Website (requires Flash)
• http://www.melaniec-online.net/
• http://www.Mel-Maniac.de/
• http://www.MelanieC-News.de/