|
Archives • August 1999 News 31st August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> Mel C: World Tour Melanie C will go on a one month short world tour starting October 1st in New York. The tour will go through North America, then to Europe hitting Munich, Milan, Madrid, Paris, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen before winding up in the UK by the end of the month. New venues have been revealed for North America, and dates/venues for European countries are yet To Be Announced. 29th August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> Northern Star Show A show on Melanie's new album will be aired tomorrow on Channel 4 in the UK at 5:25 pm. 28th August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> Northern Star Single Melanie C's ballad song "Northern Star" will be released as a single on November 29! This leaves December 13 still open and free of already announced Spice Girls related releases. December 13 is the most likely release date if there is to be a Spice Girls Christmas single. 24th August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> Mel C Webchat Transcript Incase you missed Melanie C's webchat today on the official Spice Girls homepage, there is a transcript up on that site, also here is a local copy of it. As always, this is an interesting webchat. Among other interesting things, Melanie reveals that "Goin' Down" will be released as a single in the US in october, and that she will be attending the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards(US). 24th August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> Mel C: This is the real me The Sun ran a pretty good article/interview with Melanie C which took place right after her V99 performance. In the article it is revealed that the title track to her album, "Northern Star", will be released as a Christmas single. She also talks about Geri Halliwell, the Spice Girls, and how they relate to how she is now. Basically the title says it all. Here is a local copy to read: Black Text = The Sun While Posh and Scary Spice have become mums for real, their band mate Mel C has given birth to a baby of her own. She sees her new solo career as her little bundle of joy - it has given her something to do while her Spice pals breastfeed and change nappies. Mel also says this is the real her - a swearing, working-class grunge kid without a backflip or Liverpool shirt in sight. We are talking backstage at the V99 festival in Chelmsford, Essex, where she has just won over a crowd of 50,000 doubters with her aggressive guitar-based rock set. She admits she's lived in a chaotic Spice world for the last three years but now the time has come for her to step out of her shellsuit. She tells me: "When the girls became pregnant I knew they were going to need time off. I thought I would create my own baby and this is it. This is the real me - stripped bare. I have lived in the Spice bubble for a long time and I want to show the world what I am really like. I wasn't going to sit around doing nothing but it is not going to mean the end of the band. It will only make us fucking strong and I need this outlet to get things out of my system. I want to be accepted as a solo artist and show I can do things on my own. Yes, I do swear, and people might find that shocking. When you talk to your nan you don't swear. When you are performing in front of thousands of young Spice Girls fans or you are on Live And Kicking you don't swear. But come on - I'm at a festival and I'm a working-class girl from Liverpool and I swear - of course I fucking do. People say this is a new image, a new direction, but it is just me." Mel is effing and blinding on stage, too, shouting: "I don't give a fuck - my band are wicked, even if you think I'm shit." A few bottles are thrown towards the stage as she walks on but later Mel is in defiant mood, although admitting to some pre-gig nerves. She says: "I was lying in bed this morning feeling terrified. I wished the other girls were with me on stage so I could hide behind them. But once I was up there I wasn't looking for them. This feels so different. I love doing Spice Girls stuff and dancing but deep down I've always wanted my own rock band. I feel very comfortable and independent. As a solo artist, the only responsibility I've got when I'm up there is to myself, not to three other girls. If I fuck it up I've only got myself to blame. I don't have to say sorry to everyone. But I do miss them. I wish they were backstage with me now, looking after me." She adds: "I know there are a few cynics out there who don't want to accept me but I think I've got the songs to win them over. I know I am a winner." Mel also says she has made her peace with Geri Halliwell and is delighted her former bandmate has hit No 1 with Mi Chico Latino. She says: "We're all made up for her. We were all talking about her the other day and how happy we are with her success. It's cool between us all. We are so close and there is no jealousy between any of us." Mel C and Emma are soon to become neighbours. Baby Spice has just splashed out £1.6million on a penthouse in the complex where Mel lives in Hampstead, North London. Still only 24, Mel and her pals have amassed a £20million fortune since bursting on to the scene in 1996. She reveals: "I am really looking forward to Emma moving in near me. It will be nice hopping round to borrow some sugar. My life is great. I have never been happier. I love being a Spice Girl but now I'm having even more fun. I'm having my cake AND eating it. But it won't be difficult going back to the band. It's just like putting a different hat on." Mel's diary is as full as her bank account. Solo single Going Down is out next month, followed by the album Northern Star. The title track, her Christmas single, is a No 1 if ever I've heard one. Then it's back on the road with a solo world tour, followed by Spice Girls dates at Christmas. Oh, and in between, there is the small matter of recording the Fab Four's third album at London's Abbey Road studios. Mel admits: "My life is chaotic but even though I've got punky hair and loud guitars and sing the Sex Pistols' Anarchy In The UK, I'm still a Spice Girl at heart. That's why I always sing 'I am an anti-Christ, I am a Sporty Spice and look - I still wear my Spice Girls trainers!" 23rd August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> V99 Wrap Up! Melanie C performed for the second day of V99 yesterday. The crowd was once again not the most excited, but politely clapped at the end of her 20 minute performance. The crowd particularly didn't like her cover of the Sex Pistol's "Anarchy In The UK", which she sang only as a joke and laugh, but the crowd thought she was being serious. At the beginning of her performance when she took the stage Mel said: "Alright?!! Now, you didn't think you'd see ME up here, did ya?!! Some people might not wanna see up here, but I don't give a fuck!! So, enjoy it anyway." 23rd August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> V99 TV Tomorrow (Tuesday) on UK Channel 4 they will have a show that goes behind the scenes of this year's V99 Music Festival at which Melanie C performed. 21st August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> Mel C- V99- Day 1 Melanie C is complete with her first day of performing at V99. Her performance was 25 minutes long, in which she sang six songs. They were "Soul Believer", "Ga Ga", "Northern Star", "Goin' Down", "Take Me Higher", and "Anarchy In The UK". Most of those songs were rock songs except for "Northern Star", which is a ballad. This time Melanie was wearing a shirt that says "White Trash". Her performance has received mixed reviews. Tomorrow Melanie C will perform in Staffordshire, as V99 moves there for it's second day. 20th August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> Mel C- Tour Info A spokesperson for Melanie C has said that Melanie will perform in the following cities & venues on the following dates:
The spokesperson also said that these will be club appearances and that they will probably be the only ones for North America as she is busy working on the third Spice Girls album. 20th August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> Japanese Bonus The Japanese version of Melanie C's debut album Northern Star will have some bonus tracks on it. Thanks Mike. 20th August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> Mel C's Leadmill Gig Melanie C's gig at the small Leadmill Club in Sheffield took place last night in front of a crowd of 900 people including the other Spice Girls there to support her. Melanie wore a pink t-shirt that said "Fuck me, I'm famous" and performed 12 songs, including of course her new single "Goin' Down" as well as a cover of the Sex Pistol's "Anarchy In The UK", which she sang with them before in Hollywood. (Story) The performance lasted 50 minutes. Her songs went from hard rock, to ones that made the other Spice Girls get out on the dance floor, to slow songs such as "Be The One", which inspired David and Victoria to kiss. At the end of her performance Mel said: "I know you don't know the songs but thanks for being so supportive. You're the best audience I've ever had. You're the first audience but the best one." 19th August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> Mel C Webchat The Official Spice Girls homepage will have Melanie C in on this Tuesday, the 24th of August at 6pm UK Time for a "live" webchat. You can go there now and submit a question for Melanie to answer. 19th August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> Mel C- NME Interview There is a new interview with Melanie C for NME, in which she continues her honest opinion streak she began in the Q Magazine interview. In it Melanie reveals that she has tried Marijuana a long time ago, talks more about Geri, her upcoming V99 performance, David Beckham, pop music saturation, and her political position. Here is a portion of the interview: Black Text = NME This weekend, Mel C and her new band play V99. It will either be a Robbie-style mass conversion, like V98, or a baptism of fire in the flames of indie disdain. In this week's NME, the erstwhile Sporty Spice gives her views on indie, money and politics. "When it was first mentioned to me, my initial reaction was like, 'Fuck, yeah!'" she says of her gig at V99. "But a lot of my friends go to festivals and went to V98, and I just thought, 'Do these people really want to see a Spice Girl onstage?' So God knows what's going to happen, but the music's right, so hopefully it will go down well. I know I can do it, it's just whether I shit my pants." People might just dismiss you as a millionaire megastar trying to prove you have indie-rock credibility. "Which is crap, isn't it? But you know what? I really don't care. That's their problem and they can deal with it. I'm not really trying to prove anything, I'm just doing what makes me happy. Whether it's gonna be successful or not is another matter." In the course of the interview she also answered questions such as: If you could shag David Beckham without Posh finding out, would you? "I think David is absolutely beautiful but he's not my type. And we may as well have all shagged him anyway, we get all the ins and outs. Heeheehee! No, not really. David's lovely but he's too quiet for me. I like bolshy blokes. Victoria's the boss there." Mel expanded her detail of the drugs she admitted to dabbing into in her recent Q Magazine interview, admitting to trying marijuana. "I was a kid at college when I tried a spliff." But Mel, 25, says she doesn't take drugs now because they cause too many problems. "The smallest problem that you may have, if you're going out and doing drugs it's just going to make it seem so much worse." Mel C said she would rather listen to heavy rock acts such as Nirvana. She has admitted that the Spice Girls were to blame for unleashing a flood of terrible pop music onto the British charts and said that she would not choose to listen to most of the pop groups inspired by the Spice Girls. "I listen to it if it's on the radio. We're partly to blame for this, but with the huge success of the Spice Girls, the market has been absolutely saturated." Mel also took a swipe at former colleague Geri for quitting the band and then launching a solo career."I love Geri. She was one of my best friends, but unfortunately I've not been able to keep in contact with her since she left. But I was just shocked. She left the band, I thought, to pursue other areas of her career. Then I found out she was making a solo record and that hurt, because I thought she was leaving because she didn't want to do music." Mel also says neither she nor Mel G are the really scary ones in the band, but Baby Spice is a hardnut. "The truth is I'm as soft as shite and Emma's tough as nails. She is a hard woman. Not in a scally way, she's just fucking tough. Don't mess with Emma." Mel C also distanced herself from any suggestion that the Spice Girls were all Thatcherites. "I'm a socialist. A left-wing socialist. Because I'm from a working-class background, it's quite weird to have all this money and be in the highest tax bracket. But I think if you've got a fuckload of money you should get taxed to the hilt! I believe in that principle. I was brought up very anti-Thatcher, of course, living in Liverpool." Did it piss you off when the Spice Girls were labelled Thatcherites? "Yeah. Some of the girls really didn't care, but I was freaked out because I could not walk around Liverpool after that. Thankfully it got resolved. It's nice in Liverpool because people are really proud, so when I go home I really get looked after. I can go out clubbing and I don't get any trouble." These says, Melanie the millionaire punk socialist is offered endless sportswear sponsorship deals. She turns them all down. "People say they'll send you stuff and that's great, but when I want something I want to just go and buy it now. And you feel a cunt anyway, because I've got all this money now! I'll go out and buy it thanks!" 13th August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> Mel C- Radio 1 Interview In the interview conducted today on Radio 1, Melanie talks about recording the third Spice Girls album, her tattoos, her Q Magazine interview, and of course her own album and upcoming performances. She reveals that Left Eye from TLC raps on one of the tracks on her album, Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols plays guitar on some of the tracks, and some of Beck's band is on the album. 13th August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> Mel's First Gig! Melanie C's first live show will be at The Leadmill in Sheffield, England. She has chosen the small club herself to make her debut for an audience of 900 people. A spokesman for the club said: "It should be a really exciting night. We're expecting a full house and we're delighted she has chosen us for her first concert. The crowd is obviously going to be a lot smaller, but we're hoping for a good atmosphere. She chose us because she wanted a nice intimate venue with a bit of history before she appears at the V99 Festival." Melanie C said: "The other Mel has gone off and done solo stuff, now it is my turn to have a bit of a scream and shout. The band and the set I am doing is very appropriate for the venue." 13th August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> Goin Down! Melanie C's first single 'Goin Down' is now available on the internet, and has just made it's debut on the radio, and here are they lyrics: How Come I didn't see, you were making fun of me. Was it just a matter lie or did I did I just breathe a sigh. I am singing it loud, and I don't care. I feel no remorse, my life is back on course. I am singing it loud, and I don't care. Ha. Ha. Ha. You're Goin' Down. Goin' Down. Goin' Down. Goin' Down. 11th August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> Mel C Post Melanie C made a post to the official Spice Girls homepage: 'Oi, you lot!! Mel C here! 'If you live in the UK you can get your very first listen to my new single, Goin' Down, on the Zoë Ball brekky show next Friday... oh heck! that's Friday the 13th... lucky I'm not superstitious!! 'If you don't live in the UK, don't worry cos I'll be adding the single right here pretty much the same time and it's gonna be released on 27 September with my album, Northern Star, right behind it on 18 October 'I am totally in love with the single right now... I just hope you lot like it half as much - and I've added a couple of exclusive songs to the CD so let me know what you think (...and no rude stuff thanx very much!!) 'hoping to catch you for a webchat v soon - so save up all your questions for me till then loads of luv - see ya! mel c xxx 11th August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> Mel C Documentary Melanie C has commented on her solo work to the official Spice Girls homepage. Mel said: "My first single's gonna be called Goin' Down and it'll be out around late September and I can f-i-n-a-l-l-y tell you that the album's going to be called Northern Star! Very few people so far have heard my solo stuff and there's been a lot of initial cynicism... which I kind of understand... but that's unfair cos the Spice Girls make brilliant pop music!!" During the interview, it was revealed that Melanie will also have a Channel 4(UK) documentary done on her entitled Northern Star Again. It will air on August 30 at 5.25pm. Mel also revealed that she will soon be in by herself for a webchat on the official homepage! 6th August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> Mel C Release Dates Although there are scattered reports that Melanie C's video for "Goin' Down" is already getting played in some parts of the world, the single will get it's first airplay next Friday, August 13 on Zoë Ball's BBC Radio 1 Breakfast show. The official Spice Girls Homepage claims that it will have have the single available for download just after it airs. Who knows if it will be an actual good quality mp3 of it (fat chance) or rather a realaudio clip (most likely). The single will be released for purchase on September 27th, this is UK only. And her full album Northern Star will be released on October 18 in the UK. So once again, to recap:
Thanks Jobst. 4th August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> Mel C: Track Her Melanie C has arrived back in England. She came in at Heathrow airport. While there she showed off yet another new tattoo. This one is a blue, red, and yellow Indian-style flaming eagle and is on her back. She quickly jetted off to a London recording studio to begin work on the third Spice Girls album! 3rd August 1999 | Posted by: SpiceNews >> Northern Star: Internal Testing In Barra Navidae, Mexico on July 28th five tracks from Melanie C's album Northern Star were played for the first time ever at a Virgin Records Conference. The album is expected to be a big international hit. End Of News-- |