Melanie C (born Melanie Jayne Chisholm, also known as Melanie Chisholm, Mel C or Sporty Spice) was born 12 January 1974 in Whiston, Merseyside. She is an English singer, songwriter and actress. As a solo artist, she has released seven albums (five of them on her own independent record label Red Girl Records), and earned nominations for a BRIT, ECHO awards and Laurence Olivier Award (for her role in “Blood Brothers” musical).
For her performance in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar as Mary Magdalene, Chisholm won Best Supporting Actress in a musical at the Whatsonstage.com Awards.
Melanie also has co-written 11 UK Number 1s - more than any other female artist independently or as part of a duo, quartet or quintet, being surpassed by Madonna in 2006.
Melanie started her music career in 1996 as one fifth of the world's biggest girl group, Spice Girls. During their reign of the 1990s, the girls scored nine number 1 singles in the UK, sold over 40 million albums worldwide and made their distinctive mark on pop culture. By 2000, that figure rose to 53 million and preceded the groups’ eventual disbandment as well as Melanie’s burgeoning solo career.
Embracing a new creative direction, her first solo endeavour was the Bryan Adams duet ‘When You’re Gone’, which reached the UK Top 3 and became a huge European hit. Setting the tone for her first ever 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 United Kingdom, Gold in Australia and platinum in Europe.
Her second solo album, the Top 5 hit ‘Reason’, followed in March 2003. Containing tracks produced by former New Radicals frontman Gregg Alexander and Marius De Vries (Madonna, Rufus Wainright), it boasted a vibrant, coesive sound of increasing musical maturity and rapidly went Gold after the lead Top Ten single ‘Here It Comes Again’.
In early 2004, Melanie founded her own independent label Red Girl Records. So-called after her beloved Liverpool Football Club and propensity to blush easily, it provided undiluted artistic freedom and saw the release of ‘Beautiful Intentions’, Melanie’s third solo LP.
Songs were previewed before fans at a series a Barfly gigs in the summer of 2004 as Melanie became eager to encapsulate the 'live' feel of her new tracks and one such previewed track, Next Best Superstar , was decided as the first single. It scored a top ten hit for Melanie at the start of 2005 and second single Better Alone was released as a download and through the official online shop.
In late 2005, Melanie was asked to record the theme tune to German soap opera 'Julia'. The track, written by Guy Chambers and Enrique Iglesias entitled First Day Of My Life, was then released in Germany where it topped the charts and was certified platinum after selling a massive 400,000 copies. But its success didn't stop there, going on to be number 1 in Spain, Portugal and Austria, it became one of the biggest hits of the year. The huge success of the single reflected on album sales as Beautiful Intentions became certified gold in Germany and platinum in Portugal, where it stayed at number 1 for nine 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.
Fast forward to now and Melanie kicks off 2007 with the challenge of 2 new singles prior to the album release. In Europe, the lead single is ‘The Moment You Believe’ – a beautiful love song written with long-term collaborator Peter Vettese that’s already powering its way up many European airplay charts. "This Time" also features writing and production credits from Guy Chambers, Cathy Dennis, Steve Mac, Stephen Hague, Jill Jackson and two of her own band members Paul Gendler and Greg Hatwell. Melanie played many festivals across Europe during the summer, including the sold out Isle of Wight Festival.
Here, the UK single is a stellar reinvigoration of the 1982 hit ‘I Want Candy’. Produced by Stephen Hague (whose previous credits include New Order, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Robbie Williams) it’s taken from the British film of the same name, which was heralded by Empire as “Fresh and funny a British American Pie”.
The videos for both singles were directed by Tim Royes and have attracted considerable attention. ‘The Moment You Believe’ was filmed in one continuos shot, while ‘I Want Candy’ sees Melanie dancing for the first time since the Spice Girls. As a result, it was the No.1 viewed video on You Tube the day it was added, gaining over 200,000 views.
In November 2007, Chisholm reunited with the Spice Girls for a Greatest Hits album release and a four-months world tour. When the tour reached its first two-day break, Chisholm performed an acoustic solo set at The Mint in Los Angeles on 6 December and another one in The Grand Ballroom in New York City. On the last show of the tour, Chisholm did her famous "Sporty Spice" backflip as a surprise to the fans, as well as the other Spice Girls. In February 2008 Chisholm returned to her solo career. She released her fourth album "This Time" in Canada on April 8 2008, followed by a full Canadian tour in May 2008. The first single was Carolyna. "Understand" was released as a second single in Canada on July 25th. The video was filmed largely in Toronto, but several live clips were included from her various Canadian performances as well.
On 22 August 2008, Melanie announced on her offical website she was pregnant and would start writing songs for her fifth studio-album.
In September 2011, she released her fifth solo album "The Sea". In September 2012, she released her sixth solo album "Stages", a collection of song covers from various musical theatre shows and films. In October 2016, she released her seventh solo album "Version of Me". Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
