1994–2000: Spice Girls 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. 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. Mel B debuted as a solo artist in September 1998 with the release of "
I Want You Back". The single charted at number 1 on the
UK Singles Chart and also had success around the globe. The song was recorded for the soundtrack of the film
Why Do Fools Fall in Love. The single sold 218,000 copies and became the 82nd Bestselling British Single of the year. In late 1998, the Spice Girls released "
Goodbye" as a four-piece. It topped the UK Singles Chart and became their third consecutive
Christmas number-one – equalling the record previously set by The Beatles.
1999–2004: Hot and acting In 1999, Mel B began recording her debut album, working with producers
Sisqó,
Teddy Riley, and
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the latter of whom she was also working with on the Spice Girls' third album,
Forever. The track was included on the soundtrack to
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. The song charted poorly, peaking at fourteen on the UK Singles Chart, making it the lowest-charting Spice Girls-related single of the '90s. Turning to television work, she hosted
Pure Naughty, a weekly
BBC2 magazine show focusing on black music. 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 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. Mel B's debut album
Hot was released in October 2000, a month before the final Spice Girls album
Forever was released. Following the release of
Forever, which was far less successful than their previous two albums, the Spice Girls stopped recording and the members began investing more time into their solo careers.
Hot was not a success and garnered mediocre reviews, selling a disappointing 7,419 copies in its first week and charting at No.28.
Hot was preceded by the lead single "
Tell Me" in September 2000. "Tell Me" debuted at No. 4 in the UK charts with about 40,000 copies sold in its first week of release. In February 2001, "
Feels So Good" was released as the second single from the album and peaked at No.5. It followed by "
Lullaby" in June, a pop number dedicated to her daughter. In 2002, Mel B released her autobiography,
Catch a Fire, which reached No.7 in the official books chart, Mel B said that she was working on
acoustic music in contrast with her previous releases. The resulting album,
L.A. State of Mind, was released on 27 June 2005. In a scathing review,
AllMusic stated that this album was one of the worst pop albums of the decade. The only single from the album, "
Today", saw a UK release in June 2005. "Today" entered the singles chart at No. 41, selling around 1,000 copies in its first week. The same year, Mel B appeared in the films
Telling Lies and
LD 50 Lethal Dose. In 2006, Mel B appeared in the short film
Love Thy Neighbor. In September 2007, Mel B joined the
fifth season of the US television dance competition,
Dancing with the Stars with her partner
Maksim Chmerkovskiy. On 27 November 2007, they took second place in the show, losing to
Hélio Castroneves and his partner,
Julianne Hough. That year, the Spice Girls re-grouped and announced plans for a
reunion tour, from which they were said to have earned £10 million each (approximately $20 million). The group released
Greatest Hits in early November 2007 and the tour began on 2 December 2007. The Spice Girls appeared in
Tesco advertisements, for which they were paid £1 million each.
2009–2018: Television and other projects 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. In September 2009, Mel B appeared for a week of shows as a visiting panellist on
ITV1's daily lunchtime show
Loose Women. From June through August 2010, Mel B hosted the
Oxygen weight loss show
Dance Your Ass Off. In September 2010, her own reality show aired on the
Style Network called ''
Mel B: It's an Scary World.
Mel B served as a celebrity mentor on the second season of the Australia show of The X Factor'' during the quarter-final of the live shows in 2010. During the results show, she performed a duet with the remaining five acts singing "
Stop" originally by the Spice Girls. Mel B was featured as a judge for the
third series of the Australia show of
The X Factor, which premiered in August 2011 as
Kyle Sandilands' replacement. She appeared alongside
Ronan Keating,
Guy Sebastian, and
Natalie Bassingthwaighte. For her first series on the show, she was given the Girls category. In April 2012, Mel B appeared as co-host on twelfth season of the Australian version of
Dancing with the Stars. On 31 March, it was announced that Mel B signed a global partnership with
EMI Music Australia for the release of her third studio album, but she later broke from the contract. Mel B returned for the
fourth series of
The X Factor Australia and mentored the Boys category. Her contestant Jason Owen reached the final, but runner-up to
Samantha Jade, mentored by
Guy Sebastian. In June 2012, Mel B appeared as a guest judge for the
Manchester auditions of
The X Factor UK. In July 2012, Mel B reunited with the Spice Girls for a one-off performance at the
2012 Summer Olympics Closing Ceremony in London, performing their hits "Wannabe" and "Spice Up Your Life". The performance was the most tweeted moment of the entire Olympics with over 116,000 tweets on
Twitter per minute. Later in the year, the Spice Girls reunited again to launch and attend the premiere of the musical
Viva Forever!. The group appeared in the documentary ''Spice Girls' Story: Viva Forever!'', which aired on 24 December 2012 on
ITV1. In March 2013 it was confirmed that Mel B would judge ''
Australia's Got Talent to replace Dannii Minogue and that she would not return as a judge for the fifth season of The X Factor Australia
and was replaced by Minogue, due to her commitments with Australia's Got Talent
. However, Seven, the Australian TV network that airs The X Factor Australia
, filed suit to prevent Mel B from appearing on Australia's Got Talent'' and any rival networks. The judge ruled that Mel B was still under contract with Seven until January 2014, which prevented her from appearing on a programme aired by another network until after that date. Mel B had a small part in the final episode of the
ITV2 drama series
Secret Diary of a Call Girl. In 2013, she appeared in the
Lifetime movie
Twelve Trees of Christmas. From August to September 2013, she was a judge on the televised dancing show,
Stepping Out, alongside choreographers
Wayne Sleep and
Jason Gardiner. That month, Mel B released her first single in eight years, "
For Once in My Life". The single peaked at No.2 on the
Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs charts. On 20 February 2013, NBC announced that Mel B would be a judge on ''
America's Got Talent for its eighth season, alongside Howie Mandel, Howard Stern, Heidi Klum, and later Simon Cowell in 2016. Mel B judged seasons 8 through 13, and the first season of America's Got Talent: The Champions'' before her departure was announced in February 2019. In early 2014, Mel B become a coach on the
Australia show of
The Voice Kids, alongside singers
Joel Madden and
Delta Goodrem. Later that year, Mel B was a permanent judge for the
eleventh series of
The X Factor UK when she replaced
Nicole Scherzinger. In December 2014, Mel B missed
The X Factor UK Saturday final due to illness and did not return for the
twelfth series, and was replaced by
Rita Ora In the same year, Mel B became a guest co-host on the Breakfast programme of Sydney radio station
2Day FM, alongside
Jules Lund,
Merrick Watts and
Sophie Monk. In late 2014, she appeared on
The Big Fat Quiz of the Year and a sketch with the cast of
Coronation Street for charity telethon
Text Santa. In January 2016, Mel B began presenting
Lip Sync Battle UK alongside
Professor Green. Later that year, Mel B guest judged the
thirteenth series of The X Factor UK at the
London auditions for Scherzinger. In 2016 she announced that the
Spice Girls – except for
Victoria Beckham and
Melanie C – were working on new material and a 20th anniversary tour for 2017. Plans for a reunion were dropped when Halliwell announced she was expecting her second child. Mel B also confirmed her return to
The X Factor Australia after a three-year absence to replace Minogue. In 2017 she returned to
Broadway to star in the musical
Chicago as Roxie Hart. The same year, she returned to acting in the movie
Chocolate City: Vegas Strip and made a cameo in the movie
Killing Hasselhoff. In late 2017, Mel B had a cameo appearance in the music video for "
Spice Girl" by
Aminé.
2018–2025: Second Spice Girls reunion and further television work On 5 November 2018, Mel B announced the Spice Girls reunion tour on her Instagram profile. It was confirmed that Mel B and ex-bandmates Melanie C, Bunton and Halliwell (but not Beckham) would return for a 13-date UK and Ireland stadium tour
Spice World - 2019 Tour, their first in a decade. In 2021, Mel B appeared on the
second series of
The Masked Singer as "Seahorse" and finished in 11th place. In May 2021, Mel B collaborated with
Fabio D'Andrea in his short music film, "Love Should Not Hurt", in support of
Women's Aid. In 2021, she also appeared on the Spanish version of
The Masked Singer as "Medusa" and finished in ninth place. Mel B later appeared on the panel of the
fourth season of the
Australian version of The Masked Singer as Minogue's replacement, and remained on the panel for the
fifth season in the second half of 2023. Also in the same year, she appeared as a guest star in the French version of
The Masked Singer and covered
Katy Perry's "
Roar". Mel B was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the
2022 New Year Honours for services to charitable causes and vulnerable women. Mel B was also appointed as a tourism ambassador from the United Kingdom to
Nevis in 2022. In November 2022, Mel B presented the BBC documentary
Trailblazers: A Rocky Mountain Road Trip alongside
Ruby Wax and
Emily Atack. In December 2022, she starred in the Christmas TV
A New Diva’s Christmas Carol, alongside
Ashanti and
Vivica A. Fox. , unveiled in 2024, featuring names of Mel B, geologist Maria Fearne,
Alice Bacon, and
Kay Mellor In June 2023, Mel B announced that she would appear as a judge on the second season of the
Paramount+ reality series
Queen of the Universe. In 2024, Mel B returned to ''America's Got Talent
to judge on the spinoff, America's Got Talent: Fantasy League''. In 2025, Mel B was a contestant on
Netflix's reality competition television series,
Celebrity Bear Hunt. On 3 February 2025, it was announced Mel B would return as a judge for the 20th season of the main ''America's Got Talent'' show after her last appearance in 2019 replacing Heidi Klum.
2026: Hot vinyl release On 18 April 2026,
Hot was released on vinyl for the first time, as part of that year's
Record Store Day; one week later, the album reached a new peak of number three on the UK R&B Albums Chart. ==Personal life==