Hubbry Logo
search
logo
Mel B
Mel B
current hub
2236268

Mel B

logo
Community Hub0 Subscribers
Write something...
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
See all
Mel B

Melanie Janine Brown McPhee, MBE (born 29 May 1975), commonly known as Mel B or Melanie B, is an English singer, songwriter, dancer, television personality, 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 Scary Spice. With over 100 million records sold worldwide, the Spice Girls are the best-selling female group of all time. The group went on an indefinite hiatus in 2000, before reuniting for a greatest hits album (2007) and two concert tours: the Return of the Spice Girls (2007–2008) and Spice World (2019).

Mel B debuted as a solo artist in 1998 with the release of "I Want You Back" which peaked atop the UK Singles Chart. Her debut solo studio album, Hot (2000), produced the successful singles "Tell Me" and "Feels So Good". Her second studio album, L.A. State of Mind (2005), spawned the single "Today". Mel B released "For Once in My Life" in 2013, her first single in eight years; it peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart.

Since 2007, Mel B has established herself as a television personality and talent show judge. She participated on the fifth season of the American dance competition series Dancing with the Stars (2007), finishing in second place with her professional partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Between 2011 and 2016, Mel B served as a guest and main judge on the Australian and British shows of The X Factor. In 2012, she co-presented the Australian version of Dancing with the Stars for one season. Mel B has also judged on America's Got Talent (2013–2018, 2025–present), The Voice Kids Australia (2014), The Masked Singer Australia (2022–2023), Queen of the Universe (2023), and America's Got Talent: Fantasy League (2024). From 2016 to 2018, she co-presented Lip Sync Battle UK alongside rapper Professor Green.

Mel B was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to charitable causes.

Melanie Janine Brown was born in Harehills, Leeds, and grew up in the Burley area of the city, the daughter of Martin Brown and wife Andrea Dixon, daughter of Stanley Dixon and wife Eileen Mary English. Her father was from Saint Kitts and Nevis and her mother is English. Through her mother, Mel B is a first cousin of actor and director Christian Cooke; Cooke's mother Di and Mel B's mother Andrea are sisters. Mel B studied performing arts at Intake High School in Rodley, Leeds before entering the entertainment industry. For a time, she worked as a dancer in Blackpool, Lancashire.

In 1994, Mel B, along with Melanie C, Geri Halliwell and Victoria Adams responded to an advertisement in The Stage magazine. Around 400 women who answered the advertisement attended auditions at Danceworks Studios in Mayfair, London. Halliwell, Melanie C, Beckham, Mel B, and Michelle Stephenson were originally chosen as the members of the group which was known as Touch. Stephenson later left and was replaced by Emma Bunton.

The group were unsatisfied with their original management, Heart Management, and broke with them. In 1995, they toured record labels in London and Los Angeles. After teaming up with music manager Simon Fuller, they signed a deal with Virgin Records and the group name was changed to Spice Girls. Their debut album, Spice, was 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. In total the album sold 30 million copies worldwide and became the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group and 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.

In 1997, they 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. "Viva Forever" was released as the album's final single in July 1998. The single was another number one and was the group's first single released following Halliwell's departure from the group in May 1998.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.