Geri Halliwell
Geraldine Estelle Halliwell-Horner is an English singer, songwriter, television personality, author, and actress. She rose to fame in the mid-1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Ginger Spice. With over 100 million records sold worldwide, the Spice Girls are the best-selling female group of all time. Their slogan "girl power" was most closely associated with Halliwell and her Union Jack dress from the 1997 Brit Awards also became an enduring symbol. Halliwell left the Spice Girls in 1998, citing exhaustion and creative differences, but rejoined when they reunited for a greatest hits album and two concert tours: the Return of the Spice Girls and Spice World.
After leaving the Spice Girls, Halliwell pursued a career as a solo artist, signing a recording contract with EMI. She released her debut album, Schizophonic, which produced the UK number-one singles "Mi Chico Latino", "Lift Me Up" and "Bag It Up"; the lead single, "Look at Me", reached number two. Her second album, Scream If You Wanna Go Faster, was preceded by the lead single, "It's Raining Men" and earned her a Brit Award nomination. Her third studio album, Passion, produced the UK top five single "Ride It". In 2013, Halliwell returned to the music industry in Australia with the release of her first solo single in eight years, "Half of Me".
Halliwell has served as a judge on television talent shows, including Popstars: The Rivals, The X Factor UK, and Australia's Got Talent. She has appeared in the films Spice World, Crank: High Voltage, and Gran Turismo. As an author, Halliwell has released two autobiographies: If Only and Just for the Record ; the children's book series Ugenia Lavender, and the young adult novel series Rosie Frost.
Early life
Geraldine Estelle Halliwell was born on 6 August 1972 at Watford General Hospital in Watford, Hertfordshire, the daughter of Ana María and Laurence Francis Halliwell. Her mother is a Spaniard, hailing from Huesca, while her father was of Swedish, Finnish, English and a "bit of French" descent. Halliwell's paternal grandfather was a Swedish-speaking Finn, Mathias Karlson Sjövik, born in Korsnäs, Finland, who emigrated to Sweden. Halliwell grew up on a council estate in North Watford. She was educated at Watford Grammar School for Girls and Camden School for Girls. Before starting her music career, Halliwell had worked as a nightclub dancer in Mallorca, a presenter on the Turkish version of Let's Make a Deal, and a glamour model. At the age of 19, she appeared as a Page 3 girl in The Sun. Following her rise to fame, nude photos of Halliwell were republished in a number of magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse in 1998.Career
1994–1998: Spice Girls
In 1994, Halliwell, along with Melanie C, Mel B and Victoria Beckham, responded to an advertisement in The Stage magazine seeking members for a new all-girl pop group. Around 400 women responded and auditioned. After a couple of line-up changes, Halliwell, Melanie C, Mel B and Beckham became the members of the group called "Touch", and were later joined by Emma Bunton.In March 1995, the group broke with their original management, Heart Management. In the months that followed, they teamed up with music manager Simon Fuller, signed a deal with Virgin Records, and changed the group name to Spice Girls. In 1996, the group released their debut album, Spice, which became a worldwide commercial success. The album peaked at number one in more than 17 countries and was certified multi-platinum in 27 countries. The group's massive and sudden popularity was compared to Beatlemania. The album sold 30 million copies worldwide, became the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group, and is one of the most successful albums of all time. The album's first single, "Wannabe", reached number one in 37 countries and all of the subsequent singles from the album – "Say You'll Be There", "2 Become 1", "Who Do You Think You Are" and "Mama" – also peaked at number one in United Kingdom.
Shortly after the release of "Wannabe", each member of the group received a nickname from Top of the Pops magazine; the use of these nicknames later became widespread. Because of her red hair, Halliwell was named "Ginger Spice". Although regularly uttered by all five Spice Girls, the phrase "girl power" was most closely associated with Halliwell and was often accompanied with a V sign. In a Christmas 1996 interview with The Spectator magazine, Halliwell spoke of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as being an inspiration for their girl power ideology. In a 2019 interview with Harper's Bazaar, she said, "For me, if you look it up, it means equalisation between the sexes. It means everybody, whether you're a man, woman or something in between. Forget about labels, it's about embracing everyone's individuality and giving them the opportunity and gender equality and pushing that forward."
In 1997, the group released their second album, Spiceworld. The album's first two singles "Spice Up Your Life" and "Too Much" reached number one in the UK, marking seven consecutive number one singles, an all-time record for a musical group. The album was a global best seller, selling 20 million copies worldwide. The group also starred in their own film, Spiceworld: The Movie, which grossed $100 million worldwide. The third single from Spiceworld, "Stop", peaked at two, breaking the group's sequence of number ones.
On 31 May 1998, Halliwell announced through her solicitor that she had left the Spice Girls due to depression and differences between the group. Her action aroused controversy as her former group was due to embark on a North American tour, which they eventually completed without her. In the months that followed, Halliwell was featured on two more Spice Girls releases that were scheduled prior to her departure. On 1 June 1998, Halliwell alongside the other Spice Girls were featured in the song and video for " On Top of the World", the official theme of the England national football team for the 1998 World Cup. In July 1998, the Spice Girls released "Viva Forever" as the final single from Spiceworld. The animated music video for the song still features Halliwell's likeness, as it was in production months prior to her departure. The group is among the best-selling girl groups of all time, selling over 75 million albums.
1999–2003: ''Schizophonic'' and ''Scream If You Wanna Go Faster''
In 1999, one year after leaving the group, Halliwell launched her solo career and released her debut album Schizophonic, with the lead single "Look at Me", produced by Absolute and Phil Bucknall. "Look at Me" was followed by further number ones at the UK Singles Chart, "Mi Chico Latino", "Lift Me Up" and "Bag It Up". The album itself reached a peak at number four in the United Kingdom and sold 600,000 copies there, making it double platinum. The album was preceded by a 90-minute documentary titled Geri, released in May 1999 for the British television channel Channel 4 by Molly Dineen. The documentary was a ratings success with 4.5 million viewers—almost one-fifth of available viewers—and Channel 4 aired it again one month later. Halliwell was nominated at the BRIT Awards ceremony in 2000 for Best British Female Solo Artist and Best Pop Act; she performed "Bag It Up" during the show. In the United States, Schizophonic peaked at number 42 on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold for shipments of over 500,000 copies. The album has sold over two million copies worldwide.In October 1999, Halliwell released the autobiography If Only, in which she described her life as a Spice Girl. By the following year, the book had sold over 200,000 copies. Halliwell donated the advance she received for the book to a London-based breast cancer care organization.
In 2001, Halliwell released her second album, Scream If You Wanna Go Faster. The album peaked at number five in the United Kingdom and was certified gold. Her cover version of the Weather Girls' 1983 hit, "It's Raining Men" was released as the lead single from the album and was also included on the Bridget Jones's Diary film soundtrack. "It's Raining Men" became a major hit worldwide, peaking at number one in the United Kingdom and within the top 10 in over 27 countries, becoming Halliwell's biggest hit to date. The song won her the International Song of the Year award at the 2002 NRJ Music Awards. Follow-up singles "Scream If You Wanna Go Faster" and "Calling" reached number eight and number seven in the United Kingdom, respectively. Halliwell also released a French version of "Calling" titled "Au Nom de L'amour". In 2001, Halliwell released the yoga DVD Geri Yoga with Katy Appleton; this was followed by Geri Body Yoga the following year.
In January 2002, Halliwell was once again nominated at the BRIT Awards, this time for Best British Female Solo Artist and Best British Single for "It's Raining Men". In September 2002, she released her second autobiography, Just for the Record. In late 2002, Halliwell was featured alongside Pete Waterman and Louis Walsh as a judge on the television series Popstars: The Rivals, which created Girls Aloud. She was also featured as a guest reporter on the television program Extra in the US. In 2003, she made a guest appearance on the television series Sex and the City.
2004–2012: ''Passion'', ''Ugenia Lavender'', and Spice Girls reunion
In late 2004, Halliwell made a return to music with the single "Ride It", which reached number four in the United Kingdom and number one on the dance charts. Halliwell planned her first solo tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland, but low ticket sales led to the cancellation of the tour. That year, Halliwell appeared in the 2004 film Fat Slags, based on characters from Viz magazine. She also appeared on Channel Five as one of the hosts of the Party in the Park event for the Prince's Trust and was the presenter and main performer of the Tickled Pink Girls' night in Live! event. The single "Desire" was released on 30 May 2005, reaching number 22 in the UK Singles Chart and number one on the UK Dance Charts. Released shortly after, the source album, Passion, peaked at number 41 in the British charts. The album was preceded by the promotional documentary There's Something About Geri.On 12 April 2007, it was announced that Halliwell had signed a six-book deal with Macmillan Children's Books. The series of children's novels, titled Ugenia Lavender, follow the adventures of nine-year-old Ugenia, a character based on Halliwell, alongside her friends Bronte, Rudy and Trevor. The character Princess Posh Vattoria, a caricature of Halliwell's bandmate Victoria Beckham, was featured in early drafts, but has not appeared in the book series. Other characters are said by Halliwell to be loosely based on Gordon Ramsay, George Michael, Marilyn Monroe, Vincent van Gogh, Wayne Rooney and the character Justin Suarez from the TV series Ugly Betty. According to the official site, the book sold more than 250,000 copies in its first 5 months, making Halliwell 2008's most successful female celebrity children's author.
On 29 June 2007, the Spice Girls regrouped and announced plans for a reunion tour, from which they were said to have earned £10 million each. The group toured as a quintet and released their first compilation album, Greatest Hits. This album was released in early November 2007 and the tour began on 2 December 2007. On 31 December 2007, the Spice Girls documentary Spice Girls: Giving You Everything was released. In addition to their sell-out tour, the Spice Girls appeared in Tesco advertisements for which they were paid £1 million each.
In 2009, Halliwell appeared in the film Crank: High Voltage and on the BBC One's The One Show on 7 May 2009. In 2010, Halliwell stood in for Dannii Minogue as a guest judge on The X Factor at the Glasgow auditions alongside Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Cheryl. In March 2010, vocal coach and singer Carrie Grant announced on ITV1's The Alan Titchmarsh Show that Halliwell would be making a return to music. In April 2010, Halliwell posted a message on her website, saying she was back in the studio. On 31 July 2011, Halliwell confirmed she had been working on her fourth album and remarked that it was "pretty much finished." In February 2012, Halliwell announced that her fourth album was being mastered.