Musical career

Musical career


1994-2001: Scary Spice
In 1996 Brown, along with Melanie Chisholm, Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, and Victoria Beckham (at that time Victoria Adams), shot to fame as a member of the Spice Girls with the release of "Wannabe". The debut album, Spice, shot to number one all over the globe, including the U.S.. Because of the fact she was often to be found in leopard print clothing and big wild hair and having a loud attitude, Brown received the nickname "Scary Spice" from Top of the Pops Magazine (each member of the group was given a humorous nickname in a small piece titled "Spice Rack"). The Spice Girls were popular in the late 1990s, selling over thirty-five million albums in just two years. They went on to become one of the best-selling girl groups of all time, selling more than fifty-five million records worldwide. They had nine UK number-one singles and two number-one albums. After a third album release, Forever (UK number-two), the members went their separate ways, and Brown developed a solo career.


[edit] Early solo work
At the height of the Spice Girls' success, Brown was invited to work with Missy Elliott on the single "I Want You Back", a song for the soundtrack of the film Why Do Fools Fall in Love. It was recorded in just one afternoon, due to Brown's busy Spice Girls schedule. The video featured Brown's then husband Jimmy Gulzar, who appeared chained and submissive to his wife. Upon its British release in September 1998, I Want You Back sold 80,000 copies in its first week alone, giving Brown her first and only solo #1 in her home country. This was confirmed on the day that the Spice Girls played their last world tour concert at Wembley Stadium in front of 52,000 fans. Ultimately the single sold 218,000 copies and became the 82nd Bestselling British Single of 1998.[2]

At the suggestion of her then-husband Jimmy Gulzar, Brown covered Cameo's 1986 hit Word Up as her next solo release. The track was notable for being produced by Timbaland. The track was already released on the soundtrack to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. This resulted in its flopping in the UK (peaking at #14), making it the lowest charting Spice Girls related single of the 90s.[3] The European video was a surreal animation, directed by Jimmy. A further video was shot which featured the mini me character from Austin Powers. The track was not included on Brown's UK version of her debut solo album, and speaking at the time of her album release she stated that she "didn't really like 'Word Up'".[citation needed]

Following the disappointing performance of Word Up , Brown stopped releasing records for a while, but worked quietly on tracks for her debut solo album and the third Spice Girls album. Turning to television work, she hosted Pure Naughty, a weekly BBC2 magazine show focusing on black music. She also hosted the MOBO Awards on two occasions, in 1998 with Bill Bellamy and in 1999 with Wyclef Jean, and took part in a BBC funded short film entitled Fish.


[edit] Hot - debut solo album
As a way of dealing with the problems of her marriage, Brown continued working on her debut solo album.[citation needed] She worked with producers such as Sisqo, Teddy Riley, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (Janet Jackson, Prince), with whom she was also working on the Spice Girls' third album, Forever.

In September 2000, she said that she heard the first single release from the album, "Tell Me". The track debuted at #4 in the UK charts with about 40,000 copies sold in its first week. It finally sold approximately 100,000 copies, making it the 158th "best seller" of 2000.[4] The album, Hot, was released one month later on 3 October, was not a success and garnered mediocre reviews.[5] It sold a disappointing 7,419 copies in its first week and charted at a weak #28, before quickly falling out of the charts.[6]

Following the release of "Feels So Good", rumours began that if her next single flopped she would be dropped by her record company, Virgin Records. In May, Brown performed a small set at the London G-A-Y Astoria club, her only solo gig until 2004. A third single was released in June 2001, "Lullaby", a pop number dedicated to her daughter. It was accompanied by a very simple video shot in Morocco and featured Brown with Phoenix Chi. The media criticised Brown for using her child in the music video and single artwork, labelling her Desperate Spice and insinuating that she was exploiting her child as a marketing tool. The single entered and peaked at a disappointing #13, and Virgin duly dumped Brown from their label.[7]


[edit] Return to music: LA State of Mind
In April 2004, Brown was approached to take part in the musical Rent. She played the role of Mimi, a drug-addicted young girl, and achieved positive reviews, but not from the show's fanbase. A few weeks after Brown finished her Rent stint, she played her second and last solo gig to date in a New York club, performing some songs from the musical and showcasing some new material she had written. As the songs received positive feedback,[citation needed] Brown decided to release them a year later through an independent label, Amber Café.

The only single from the album, "Today", saw a UK release in June 2005. Brown had stated it was just a gift to her fans, and minus a few small appearances no promotion was made. "Today" entered the singles chart at #41, selling around 1,000 copies in its first week.

The album, LA State Of Mind, was released on 27 June 2005 in two formats: as a regular CD and as a Limited Edition with a 30 minute DVD documentary detailing Brown's life in LA. The album fared even worse than its lead single, selling just 670 copies in its first week and charting at #453

Rumours of a second single were fuelled by "Beautiful Girl" bouncing around on the UK Singles Release Schedule for a couple of months. Allegedly a video was made, but due to the poor sales of both the previous single and the album, this release never materialised. Brown was not dropped from Amber Café; both parties decided to amicably part ways.


[edit] Return of the Spice Girls
After several years of speculation, Brown reunited with the other Spice Girls for a reunion tour that began in December 2007 and concluded in February 2008. The tour was a major success, and also coincided with a greatest hits album, documentary and promotion.


[edit] Third album (Reimagined)
Brown revealed in June 2008 that she had completed ten tracks and will be working with Janet Jackson and Missy Elliott. [8] However in July 2008, following a report by celebrity blogger Perez Hilton that Brown had lied about her collaboration with Jackson, [9], Brown admitted that there was no truth to her previous claim.[10] [11] [12] [13] Brown is also busy recording tracks for a new album she expects to have ready for release late 2008. "It's an R&B-pop kind of thing, a cross between early Pink and Destiny's Child. Urban pop. That's what I do best, where I come from, what people know me for, I've recorded four songs so far with some really great people," she says. One of the producers behind the album is Rodney Jerkins, aka Darkchild, who previously worked with Brown on the Spice Girls' final studio album, Forever, in 2000.[14] Scott Storch revealed they are currently working on Brown’s new album together.[15] Brown revealed in June 2008 that she had completed ten tracks and will be working with Missy Elliott and Lil' Kim. Brown has also recorded on Missy's 7th studio album on a track called "Milk and Cookies". Brown made a brief appearance on British morning show GMTV and announced that she would be releasing a fitness DVD, and then continued to say the new album is not ready yet and said the expected arrival of the album would be in 2009. The first single is rumored to be called "Whose Is It", and is expected to be dropping in late 2008. The song "Who's Is It" was first demo'd by the American girl group Danity Kane for Tapemasters, Inc. After not making it on their second studio album, Welcome to the Dollhouse (album), it has since been re-recorded for Mel.


[edit] Non-musical works
From 2001-2004 Melanie B concentrated on a variety of non-singing projects. She hosted a number of TV shows such as This Is My Moment (a talent show) for ITV1 and shot a documentary called Voodoo Princess for Channel 4 which got many good reviews. She took part in smaller projects as a presenter such as Top of the Pops, Party in the park for the Prince's Trust and The All Star Animal Awards. She has appeared as herself in an advert for the Yorkshire tourist board in a series which included contributions from other Yorkshire-born celebrities and in the film Happy Birthday Oscar Wilde.[16]

In 2002, Brown released her hit autobiography, Catch A Fire, which reached #7 in the official books chart[citation needed] and saw her touring the UK to promote it with a run of book signings.

In her autobiography "Catch a Fire" Brown talked about how she loses interest in her passions with time. She lost interest in dancing once she found music (with the Spice Girls), and after her album failed to meet expectations she found herself not interested in making another. With that she turned to acting. Outside of SpiceWorld and 'Fish' Brown's first real role came in the form of a British drama, Burn It. She appeared in a horror film entitled, LD 50 Lethal Dose, which was released directly to DVD in 2004. She acted in a long run of shows as part of the cast for the Vagina Monologues which was a big success in the UK. She was in the movie The Seat Filler, co-produced by Will Smith and starring Destiny's Child star Kelly Rowland. Melanie also appeared as Mimi in the broadway production of Rent.

In recent years, Brown has also been seen playing herself in episodes of the comedy series Bo' Selecta and A Bear's Tail. In 2003, Brown made a cameo appearance in the music video Bo Selecta's Proper Crimbo. In late 2007, she hosted a television special for Canada's MuchMoreMusic called Your Fave Videos of the 80's.


[edit] Dancing With The Stars
Following an appearance in the short film Love Thy Neighbor,[17] in September 2007, Brown joined the fifth season of the U.S. television hit Dancing with the Stars with her partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy. The pair was the highest scoring couple during the season and made it to the finals. On 27 November 2007, in the season finale, though they had a perfect score on their final dance, they took second place in the show.[18]