Melanie C
About
Melanie is one of the most successful british female vocalists of the last decade. With 3 million solo album sales, 6 Top 10 singles and over 200 combined weeks on the UK chart, she has co-written 11 UK Number 1 singles–more than any other female artist independently or as part of a group.
A hugely accomplished artist in her own right, Melanie Chisholm began her career in 1996 as one fifth of the iconic Spice Girls. Phenomenally triumphant across the world, they remain one of the most commercially successful acts of recent history. Winners of 4 Brit Awards amongst countless other prestigious accolades, they dominated the latter part of the 1990’s with 9 UK Number 1 singles (including 3 Christmas Number 1s) 2 Number 1 albums and LP sales of 35million within their first 2 years. By 2000, that figure rose to 53 million and preceded the groups’ eventual disbandment as well as Melanie’s burgeoning solo career.
About
During college, she replied to an advert in The Stage by Chris and Bob Herbert, who were looking to form a new girl group, later to become the Spice Girls. She left college just short of completing her three-year course and gained teaching qualifications in tap and modern theatre dance with the ISTD.
In the early to mid 1990s Melanie made several appearances in television commercials and music videos while trying to pursue her music career. It was not until The Spice Girls became popular that she made regular television appearances and played herself in many commercials. In 1997, her feature film debut came in Spiceworld The Movie playing herself alongside her bandmates. In 2000, she played herself in an episode of The Norm Show while promoting her girl band’s third studio album Forever.
Melanie’s first solo venture was featuring on the hit single When You’re Gone with Bryan Adams. Incredibly successful across Europe, it entered the UK charts at Number 3 and gave Melanie aspirations for more solo projects. Her debut solo album, ‘Northern Star’ followed in 1999 and peaked at Number 4. Spawning 2 Number 1 singles, it was certified triple platinum in the UK, Gold in Australia and platinum in Europe.
Melanie’s solo success however reached far beyond home shores. In 2005 a track entitled First Day Of My Life was to become one of her biggest hits to date, selling over 400,000 copies in Germany alone. It also went on to chart at Number 1 in Spain, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland and Portugal where it helped to propel the album Beautiful Intentions to double platinum status and kept it at Number 1 for 9 weeks.
In October 2006 Melanie released her first ever Live Hits DVD. Recorded before a sold-out audience at London’s The Bridge, it featured 19 blistering hit singles and showcased her talent as both a writer and live performer.
After she had settled into motherhood, the self-styled workaholic started looking at a number of projects and mentioned to friends her desire to ‘tread the boards’ of the West End. Fate would come in the form of a phone call asking Melanie if she would like to audition for the iconic role of Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers. The much-loved musical play set in her beloved Liverpool was the dream part as she opened at the Phoenix Theatre in October 2009 for a 6 month run.
Much was made of the choice – being the first Liverpulian and one of the youngest actresses to play the role, but Melanie shone. Her performance earned 5 star reviews from respected theatre critics from The London Evening Standard, The Mail On Sunday and The New York Post, with Charles Spencer of The Daily Telegraph calling her ‘an absolute sensation’.
And the plaudits didn’t stop there. Melanie went on to receive nominations for a prestigious Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Entertainment and an Evening Standard Theatre Award nomination for Outstanding Newcomer.
Melanie C has been described by the Sunday Times as “brilliant”, her success and reputation among her contemporaries make her a powerful brand ambassador.