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• Melanie Brown's Secrets To Getting Fit

  Hollyscoop - Found Jun. 26, 2009 Hollyscoop caught up with Spice Girls star Melanie Brown at the Reebok EasyTone Footwear Celebration in Beverly Hills where she gave us the...

• Wedding belles Kendra's Playboy wedding

  Sydney Morning Herald - Found Jun. 24, 2009 Madison's next professional venture is a role in Scary Spice Melanie Brown's burlesque show in Las Vegas. Kendra Wilkinson's Pre-Wedding Spa Party - EOnline.com Kendra Wilkinson Wants Honeymoon Where She Can "Walk Around Naked" - EOnline.com Wish fulfillment: Kennedy Kendra has plans for her theater - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Kendra Wilkinson to honeymoon on private island - AZCentral.com Explore All

  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

• Mel B -- Backs That Ass Outta Vegas

  TMZ - Found Jun. 22, 2009 See Also Filed under: Hot Vegas Tags: las vegas, LasVegas, Mel B, melanie brown, MelanieBrown, MelB, spice girls, SpiceGirls Email4ie6...

• Melanie Brown Reveals Secrets to Her Slim Figure

  Hollyscoop - Found Jun. 10, 2009 Former Spice Girl Melanie Brown had tongues wagging recently when she revealed a super toned super slim figure during a pool party in Las Vegas.

• Fuming Melanie Brown Las Vegas Peep Show Run Ends: No Contract ...

  Post Chronicle - Found Jun. 9, 2009 Melanie Brown has reportedly been left disappointed after bosses of her Las Vegas revue failed to renew her contract.

• Meet the Beckhams, undressed

  New York Daily News - Found 7 hours ago Agent Provocateur nabbed Dita von Teese and Maggie Gyllenhaal for ad campaigns, while Melanie Brown turned heads in Calvin Klein and Ultimo.

• The battle for Jacko's kids

  Evening Herald - Found 22 hours ago Among her clients have been Spice Girl Melanie Brown, who employed the LA-based lawyer in her legal battles with Eddie Murphy. Michael Jackson Leaves Behind Two Unfinished Albums - E! Online More Than 1 Million Try for Jackson Memorial Tix - ABC News FOX News Gets Inside Look at Neverland Ranch - Fox News Michael Jackson Book a Headache for Jackie O - ABC News Explore All

  EURweb

• O'DAY TO JOIN PEEP SHOW?

  PR inside - Found Jul. 3, 2009 Former DANITY KANE star AUBREY O'DAY is reportedly in talks to bare almost all in the role former SPICE GIRLS star MELANIE BROWN created in saucy Las ... Is Former HAIRSPRAY Star Aubrey O'Day PEEPSHOW Bound? - Broadway World Explore All

  PR inside

• The mother of Michael Jackson's two eldest children has indicated ...

  Glasgow Herald - Found Jul. 2, 2009 Among her clients have been Spice Girl Melanie Brown, who employed the LA-based lawyer in her legal battles with Eddie Murphy. Debbie Rowe eyes custody claim: Report - Entertainment Weekly Online Michael Jackson: CNN airs rehearsal clip - Entertainment Weekly Online Short Video From Michael Jackson's Last Performance Released - Fox News Rowe's attorneys ask for guardianship hearing delay - USA Today Explore All

  KansasCity.com

• Aubrey O'Day to Join Peepshow in Vegas

  Hollyscoop - Found Jul. 2, 2009 Ex-Spice Girl Melanie Brown got her hot new bod by strutting her stuff in the topless Vegas act as well. Is Aubrey O'Day Set to Bare All in Topless Vegas Show? - FOXNews.com O'Day to star in Vegas Peepshow? - Digital Spy Explore All

  Fox News

Melanie Brown extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Melanie Brown
Background information
Birth name	Melanie Janine Brown
Also known as	Melanie B, Mel B, Melanie G, Mel G, Scary Spice, Scary
Born	29 May 1975 (1975-05-29) (age 34) Harehills, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
Genre(s)	Pop, R&B, dance pop, hip hop
Occupation(s)	Singer, rapper, songwriter, actress, TV presenter, author
Years active	1994–present
Label(s)	Virgin, Amber Café
Associated acts	Spice Girls, Missy Elliott

Melanie Janine Brown (born 29 May 1975), Harehills, Leeds is an English pop singer and songwriter turned actress and television personality best known as one of the members of the girl group the Spice Girls, the most successful female group of all time.¹ She was given the nickname "Scary Spice" by the British media because of her outrageous, "in-your-face" attitude, 'loud' Leeds accent, throaty laugh, manner of dress (which often consisted of leopard-print outfits), and her voluminously curly hair.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Musical career 2.1 Scary Spice 2.2 Early solo work 2.3 Hot - debut solo album 2.4 Return to music: LA State of Mind 2.5 Return of the Spice Girls???? 2.6 Third album (Reimagined) 3 Non-musical works 3.1 Dancing With The Stars 3.1.1 Performances 3.2 Current projects 4 Personal life 5 Discography 5.1 Albums 5.2 Singles 6 Filmography 7 References 8 External links

Early life

Brown was born in Harehills, Leeds, West Yorkshire. She has a younger sister named Danielle who is an actress. She studied performing arts at Intake High School, in Leeds, before entering the entertainment industry. For a time she worked as a dancer in the holiday resort, Blackpool, Lancashire.

After seeing an advertisement for an audition in a newspaper, Brown started her music career in a band known as Touch. The group left the original management team and eventually teamed up with music manager Simon Fuller. In this pairing, she and the other girls became known as the Spice Girls. After the group achieved worldwide success, she embarked on a solo music career in 1998. Her first solo album, Hot, produced by Virgin Records, was a moderate success, including a number one hit. However, it did not sell or chart very well. In 2005, she released a second solo album which did not attract much attention.

Musical career

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.. Mel B was called Scary Spice because of her animal print clothing, big hair, loud Leeds accent, throaty laugh, and aggressive attitude. 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.

Solo Artist As a solo artist Melanie B has charted up five UK Top 20 singles, including two Top 10 hits and a number 1 hit. She has sold over half a million records.

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.

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

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 Marquez 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.

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.

Third album (Reimagined)

Brown revealed in June 2008 that she was 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 2000,⁸ as well as on Melanie's first solo album, Hot in 2001. Scott Storch revealed they are currently working on Brown’s new album together and tracks are "MEL-ody", "Sex", "B*stard Is A Too Good A Word For You".⁹ Brown revealed in June 2008 that she had completed ten tracks and will be working with Missy Elliott and Lil' Kim. . 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 was rumored to be called "Whose Is It", and was expected to have dropped in late 2008. The song "Whose Is It" was first demoed 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 was re-recorded for Mel. She has since confirmed that "Whose Is It" will not be on the album. Thus far no official release date has been set for the album, no official announcement for the album has been made nor official confirmation from any record label has been made, she has said to fans on her official website asking about the album that it is not finished yet and she wants to finish her album before finding a label for it.

Non-musical works

From 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.¹⁰

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.

Dancing With The Stars

Following an appearance in the short film Love Thy Neighbor,¹¹ 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.¹²

Performances

Week #	Dance/Song	Judges' score			Result
		Inaba	Goodman	Tonioli
1	Cha cha cha/ "A Deeper Love"	8	8	8	Safe
2	Quickstep/ "Take on Me"	7	8	8	Safe
3	Jive/ "Sweet Soul Music"	9	9	9	Safe
4	Viennese Waltz/ "Breakaway"	8	9	9	Bottom two
5	Samba/ "Spice Up Your Life"	10	9	10	Safe
6	Rumba/ "A Woman's Worth"	10	10	10	Safe
7	Foxtrot/ "Jimmy Mack" Paso Doble/ "Free Your Mind"	8 10	8 10	8 10	Safe
8	Tango/ "Personal Jesus" Mambo/ "Mambo Jambo"	9 9	9 10	9 10	Safe
9 Semi-finals	Viennese Waltz/ "Somebody to Love" Paso Doble/ "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"	10 10	10 10	10 10	Safe
10 Finals	Cha cha cha/ "Car Wash" Freestyle/ "The Way I Are" Mambo/ "Mambo Jambo"	9 9 10	9 9 10	10 9 10	Second place

Current projects

In the summer of 2008, Brown co-hosted her own reality show with Joey Fatone airing on TLC. The Singing Office, which premiered on 29 June 2008 had Brown and Fatone pitted against each other to find the best singers out there working in typical American offices. Brown and her producer husband, Stephen Belafonte, also acted as executive producers on the series.

Brown has also recently launched her own clothing line, "Catty Couture". Heavy on her beloved animal prints, Brown premiered her first collection with a fashion show for buyers in downtown L.A. on 7 April 2008.

Brown hosted the 57th Annual Miss Universe Pageant along with Jerry Springer on 14 July 2008 and continues to appear as a "special events" correspondent on Access Hollywood. She is the face (and body) of Ultimo Lingerie and in September 2008 she walked the Runway at New York Fashion Week for the brand alongside Amanda Beard.

On 13 October 2008 Melanie B, presented the MOBO Awards for the second time, this time alongside Rev Run.

On 4 November 2008, Brown was the guest host of The Paul O'Grady Show, a British chat show. The guests which appeared on the show were Brown's band member Melanie C, Sex and the City actress Kim Cattrall and singer Solange Knowles.

On 15 December 2008 Brown will release Totally Fit a three-disc box set exclusively at TotallyFit.com before being launched nationwide across the USA on 3 February 2009. The Fitness release will feature a 28-day plan of Aerobic and resistance workouts along with advice on Nutrition and recipes.

In April 2009, Mel B joined actress and former Dancing With the Stars champion Kelly Monaco as original stars of a Las Vegas revue called PEEPSHOW at the Las Vegas Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino.¹³

It is unknown when Mel will release her next album, some reports suggest that Mel will be taking a break after the peepshow tour and possibly release her new album after the hiatus.

Personal life

Following her rise to fame, Brown had a long relationship with Icelandic Fjolnir Thorgeirsson and a short relationship with Australian singer Peter Andre.

While on the Spiceworld Tour, Brown began a romantic relationship with Dutch dancer Jimmy Gulzar. They married in Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, on 13 September 1998;¹⁴ Mel B changed her stage name to 'Melanie G'. Their only child together, daughter Phoenix-Chi, was born in Westminster, London, on 19 February 1999, this made her the first spice girl to become a mother.¹⁵ Marital problems ensued, including allegations of abusive and inattentive behaviour by Gulzar, and the marriage collapsed by the end of 1999. In 2000 Brown filed for divorce, which was finalized later that year.¹⁶ The custody battle for her daughter was highly publicised; Brown won custody, but had to pay a large alimony settlement of £1.25m to her ex-husband.¹⁷

Brown's next serious relationship was with British actor Max Beesley, from whom she split in 2002. In 2003 Brown moved to Los Angeles, California with her daughter Phoenix-Chi, stating that she planned to live there permanently. In 2006, Brown became the subject of many tabloid stories, on the basis of her relationship with Hollywood actor Eddie Murphy. Unconfirmed stories quickly came that the pair had tattoos of each other's names, were planning a wedding, and had introduced each other to their respective families. On 17 October 2006 AOL claimed that Brown was in fact having a baby by Murphy.¹⁸ Brown was quoted as saying: "We're in love and get on really well. All the children have met and get on too - it's like a great big happy family. I can't wait to spend Christmas with him and I can't wait to have this baby."¹⁹

In early December 2006, news came that Brown and Murphy were no longer a couple, and Murphy told a journalist of the Dutch TV show RTL Boulevard at the Dreamgirls film premiere that the parentage of Brown's unborn baby could not be proven until a paternity test has been performed, stating: "I don't know whose child that is until it comes out and has a blood test. You shouldn't jump to conclusions, sir."²⁰²¹ Brown gave birth to Angel Iris Murphy Brown, on 3 April 2007, which coincidentally is also Murphy's birthday. Murphy was listed as the father on the birth certificate despite the ongoing paternity battle. On 22 June 2007, People magazine reported the results of a court-ordered DNA test, confirming through Brown's publicist that Murphy was indeed the father of Brown's baby. Murphy has since admitted paternity.²² Brown indicated her feelings about Murphy, stating: "The less said about the Beverly Hills Cock the better."²³

In February 2007, Brown began dating long term friend and movie producer Stephen Belafonte.²⁴ Brown and Belafonte quietly married on 6 June 2007, in Las Vegas, Nevada.²⁵ They renewed their vows in a marriage ceremony in Egypt on 8 November 2008.

Discography

Albums

Title	Released	Chart position
Hot	9 October 2000	UK #28
LA State Of Mind	27 June 2005	UK #453
Reimagined	TBC	TBC

Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions26272829							Album
		UK	IRE	AUS	NZ	NET	SWI	US
1998	"I Want You Back" (featuring Missy Elliott)	1	6	12	20	6	25	25	Why Do Fools Fall in Love Soundtrack, Hot
1999	"Word Up"	14	—	—	—	86	—	34	Austin Powers 2 Soundtrack
2000	"Tell Me"	4	22	43	—	44	66	—	Hot
2001	"Feels So Good"	5	—	—	—	85	88	—
	"Lullaby"	13	—	—	—	—	—	40
2005	"Today"	41	—	—	—	—	—	—	L.A. State of Mind

Filmography

• 1993 Coronation Street - Bettabuys check-out worker (uncredited)
• 1997 Spice World - as herself
• 2000 Fish
• 2001 This is My Moment - talent show host
• 2002 Voodoo Princess - documentary presenter
• 2003 Burn It - Claire (TV series - season 1 only)
• 2003 LD:50- Lethal Dose - Louise
• 2003 Bo' Selecta - as herself
• 2004 The Seat Filler - Sandie
• 2004 MTV Cribs - as herself
• 2005 Telling Lies - Maggie Thomas
• 2005 A Bear's Tail - as herself
• 2005 Avid Merrion's Xxxmas Special - as herself (in faux Cribs interview)
• 2006 Love Thy Neighbor - Lonnie
• 2007 Dancing With The Stars - as herself (US TV Series - season 5, second place)
• 2007 Giving You Everything - as herself
• 2009 Loose Women - as herself
• 2009 Mel B - Totally Fit - as herself

References

• Brown, Melanie - "Catch a Fire: The Autobiography" - Headline Book Publishing, 2 September 2002. ISBN

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Melanie B

• Melanie B Official Website
• Melanie Brown at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e Melanie B Albums Hot · L.A. State of Mind · Reimagined Singles "I Want You Back" · "Word Up" · "Tell Me" · "Feels So Good" · "Lullaby"  · "Today" · "Whose Is It" Tours "Hot Promo Tour" "L.A State Of Mind Promo Tour" "Reimagined Promo Tour" Stage, flim, Television and Live Perfomaces "Spiceworld: The Movie" "Pure Naughty" "Fish" "This Is My Moment" "Voodoo Princess" "Burn It" "LD 50 Lethal Dose" "Bo' Selecta" "The Seat Filler" "MTV Cribs" "Telling Lies" "A Bears Tail" "Avid Merrions Xxxmas Special" "The Vagina Monologues" "Rent" "Love Thy Neighbour" "Dancing With The Stars" Soundtracks "Spiceworld: The Movie" "Why Do Fools Fall In Love ?" "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me"

v • d • e Spice Girls Victoria Beckham · Emma Bunton · Melanie Brown · Melanie Chisholm · Geri Halliwell Studio albums Spice · Spiceworld · Forever Compliation albums Greatest Hits Singles "Wannabe" · "Say You'll Be There" · "2 Become 1" · "Mama"/"Who Do You Think You Are" · "Spice Up Your Life" · "Too Much" · "Stop" · "Viva Forever" · "Goodbye" · "Holler"/"Let Love Lead the Way" · "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)" Promotional singles "Never Give Up On The Good Times"/"Viva Forever" "If You Wanna Have Some Fun"  · "Tell Me Why"  · "Weekend Love"  · "How Does It Feel to Be on Top of the World"  · "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)" Promotional Pepsi singles "Step To Me" " Move Over (Generation Next)" Concert tours Spice Promo Tour  · Girl Power! Live in Istanbul  · Spiceworld Tour · Christmas in Spiceworld · Return of the Spice Girls VHSes/DVDs One Hour of Girl Power  · Girl Power! Live in Istanbul  · Live at Wembley Stadium  · Spice Girls in America: A Tour Story Related articles Discography · Awards · Girl Power · Dolls · Spice World (film · video game) · Giving You Everything · Simon Fuller · Michelle Stephenson