Victoria Beckham
Victoria Caroline, Lady Beckham, is an English fashion designer, singer, and television personality. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Posh Spice. After the Spice Girls disbanded in 2001, Beckham signed with Virgin Records, to release her self-titled debut solo album, which produced two UK Top 10 singles. Beckham has also become an internationally recognised style icon and fashion designer.
Beckham has starred in seven official documentaries and reality shows, including Victoria's Secrets, Being Victoria Beckham, The Real Beckhams, Victoria Beckham – A Mile in Their Shoes, Victoria Beckham: Coming to America, Beckham, and the Netflix documentary Victoria Beckham. She is married to former association football player Sir David Beckham, and they have four children, including Brooklyn and Romeo. As of May 2019, the couple's joint wealth is estimated at £355 million.
Following high-profile collaborations with other brands, Beckham launched an eponymous label in 2008, and a lower-priced label in 2011. The Victoria Beckham label was named designer brand of the year in the UK in 2011; in 2012 the brand was assessed as the star performer in the Beckham family's business interests. Writing in the Daily Telegraph in 2011, Belinda White noted that the transition from WAG to fashion designer had been more successful than most had predicted, saying: "She has gathered a significant celebrity following and won over the scathing fashion pack who now clamour for a ticket to her bi-annual show at New York Fashion Week." Beckham was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 New Year Honours and a Chevalière de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2026 for services to the fashion industry.
Early life
Victoria Caroline Adams was born on 17 April 1974 at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, England, and raised in Goffs Oak, Hertfordshire. She is the eldest of three children of Jacqueline Doreen, a former insurance clerk and hairdresser, and Anthony William Adams, who worked as an electronics engineer. They founded an electronics wholesale business which allowed a comfortable upbringing for Victoria, her sister, Louise, and her brother, Christian Adams. Beckham's great-great-great-grandfather was German artist and revolutionary Carl Heinrich Pfänder and her great-great-great-granduncle was Minnesota politician William Pfaender.After watching the musical film Fame in 1980, she decided to pursue a musical career. Jacqueline and Anthony Adams enrolled her at Jason Theatre School. In 1991, Beckham entered Laine Theatre Arts in Epsom, Surrey and studied dance and modelling. Beckham attended St. Mary's High School in Cheshunt, where she was embarrassed by her family's wealth and often begged her father not to drop her off outside the school in their Rolls-Royce. Eventually, she became a member of a band called Persuasion.
Music career
1994–2000: Spice Girls
Beckham auditioned for a March 1994 advertisement in The Stage which required girls who were "street smart, extrovert, ambitious and able to sing and dance". In 1994, Beckham joined the all-female group, the Spice Girls. In the recordings before her marriage, she is credited with her maiden name as Victoria Adams. The group's first single was called "Wannabe", and she worked alongside Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, Mel B and Melanie C. It went to number one in the United Kingdom and United States, and another 35 countries. It was followed by eight further number one singles from their albums Spice, Spiceworld and Forever. Each member of the group received a nickname from the media and Beckham was named "Posh Spice". The group is the best-selling female group of all time, selling over 80 million records worldwide. After the release of their third album, Forever, which charted at number two in the UK but was far less successful than their previous two albums, the Spice Girls stopped recording, concentrating on their solo careers in regards to their foreseeable future.2000–2002: ''Victoria Beckham''
On 14 August 2000, Beckham released her first solo single, "Out of Your Mind" in collaboration with Dane Bowers and Truesteppers. The week of release coincided with the release of "Groovejet " by Spiller featuring Sophie Ellis-Bextor, resulting in a chart battle dubbed 'Posh vs. Posher' by the tabloids. Before the single's release, on 8 July 2000, Beckham made her public solo debut at London's Hyde Park at a concert to raise money for the Prince's Trust charity. She sang "Out of Your Mind" to a 100,000-strong audience. Beckham then signed a recording contract with her group label Virgin Records. Her next single as a solo artist, "Not Such An Innocent Girl", was released on 17 September 2001. Again, she faced competition in another hugely hyped chart battle, this time with Kylie Minogue's single "Can't Get You Out of My Head". Despite a huge promotional campaign, Beckham was outsold eight to one, and her single debuted at number 6. Beckham's eponymous debut album, which was released on 1 October 2001, reached Number 10 in the UK album chart. The album cost a reputed £5 million to produce and it sold a modest 50,000 copies.The second and final single to be released from the album was "A Mind of Its Own" on 11 February 2002. The single reached number 6 in the UK and sold 56,500 copies. Rumours soon spread that Beckham was to be dropped by her label for not charting in the Top Three. These were strongly denied at the time. Beckham commented "You know what newspapers are like, they just like to put all the negative stuff in, but as far as I'm concerned and the record company is concerned it is all great." A third single, "I Wish", was promoted but never materialised. The single version was a remix featuring Robbie Craig, and was performed on TV on Friday Night's All Wright. Following the announcement of Beckham's second pregnancy, the single was shelved. Beckham was reportedly dropped by Virgin Records along with fellow Spice Girls Emma Bunton and Melanie B, but a statement from her publicist denied reports, stating: "No-one has been dropped. The Virgin deal has come to a natural end and both parties have decided not to continue."
2002–2004: Unreleased albums and final solo releases
In 2002, Beckham signed a contract with Telstar Records and 19 Management worth £1.5 million. In 2002, she began recording an electropop-influenced album, tentatively titled Open Your Eyes. However, desiring a more urban sound, she began working with producer Damon Dash the following year on R&B and hip hop influenced tracks for an album tentatively titled Come Together. The Dash-produced track "It's That Simple" featuring M.O.P. premiered on radio stations in July 2003 as a promotional single, generating mixed reviews. Beckham's first single with Telstar, the double A-side "Let Your Head Go" / "This Groove", was released in the UK on 29 December 2003, utilizing one song from both projects: "Let Your Head Go" from Open Your Eyes and "This Groove" from Come Together. The release received heavy promotion and many TV appearances across the Christmas period and charted at number three in the UK. Outside of the UK, Simon Fuller reportedly had planned to market Beckham’s music in the US. In April 2004, Telstar announced bankruptcy and both albums were cancelled, while Beckham, disappointed with wasted time in studio, gave up music to focus on her fashion career. The albums were never released, but have since leaked online in their entirety.2007–2012: Return of the Spice Girls
In 2007, the Spice Girls reformed and announced plans to embark upon a reunion tour, from which they were said to have earned £10 million each. Beckham had previously stated that she and her former Spice colleagues were enjoying their solo careers in various fields, saying "We're all still doing our own thing." Their Greatest Hits album was released in early-November 2007 and the tour began on 2 December 2007. At its advent, Beckham said "I wanted my children to see that Mummy was a pop star. It was the last opportunity for them to stand in a crowd full of people screaming for the Spice Girls." When Beckham had her hair coloured brown for the tour, she stated that her sons immediately reacted by saying "Oh my goodness, it's Posh Spice. She's back."Film-maker Bob Smeaton directed an official film of the tour titled Spice Girls: Giving You Everything, which was first aired on Fox8 in Australia. It later aired in the UK, on 31 December 2007 on BBC One. As well as their sell-out tour, the Spice Girls were contracted to appear in Tesco advertisements, for which they were paid £1 million each.
In October 2009, reports suggested that the Spice Girls were to star in a reality show in which they would cast female actors to play their roles in a musical. The following year, Judy Craymer teamed up with the Spice Girls and Simon Fuller to start developing a Spice Girls musical titled Viva Forever!. On 26 June 2012, all five Spice Girls were in attendance at a press conference in London to promote the launch of Viva Forever! The musical opened at the West End's Piccadilly Theatre on 11 December 2012. On 12 August 2012, after much speculation, Beckham and the Spice Girls performed a medley of "Wannabe" and "Spice Up Your Life" at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, reuniting solely for the event. Their performance was the most tweeted moment of Olympics closing ceremony with over 116,000 tweets on Twitter per minute.
The band reunited again for a 2019 tour, however Beckham opted not to participate in the reunion choosing to focus on her fashion label instead. When the American television presenter Ellen DeGeneres asked her why she chose not to join with the other Spice Girls for the reunion tour, she said "It just didn't feel like the right thing to do. I'll always be Posh Spice, always."