Spice Girls

The Spice Girls (1996–1998/2000) were a British vocal girl group. They enjoyed substantial commercial success from 1996 to 2000, and it is claimed that they are the biggest-selling girl group of all time, with reported sales of over forty-five million albums and thirty million singles. They are also famous for popularising the term Girl Power. The group originally consisted of Victoria Adams, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm, Melanie Brown, and Geri Halliwell. However, in 1998, Halliwell left to pursue a solo career. The remaining four members never formally broke up, but have not performed together or released any new recordings since 2000. They have each released solo material, and some have stated that they have no interest in participating in the group in the future.

Further decline—last attempt with Forever

The remaining members continued as a foursome, releasing "Goodbye", a song from a single CD released in late 1998. The song's lyrics pay tribute to Halliwell and talked about how the rest of them would persevere. The video went on to become a TRL and MuchMusic regular, but barely received any other video or airplay. In the U.K., the song held the number one position during the Christmas week of 1998, giving them three consecutive Christmas number-one singles there, and eight in total. It made the top twenty in the U.S. (number eleven), and was their last single to do so over there. In Canada, the single now ranks as the third biggest-selling song of the 1990s, but despite this, it seemed the career of the Spice Girls as a group had come to an end, as during the following year there were no single releases, no talk of a third album, and both of the Melanies started solo careers. "Goodbye" became the forty-second best-selling single of the 1990s. http://foreverspice.com/spicediscography/spicegirls-goodbye.htm

Related Topics:
Goodbye - TRL

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However, the girls made one last attempt at resurrecting their career with the single "Holler" in 2000, a much more urban and soulful offering than any of their previous songs. "Holler" was released with the ballad, "Let Love Lead the Way", making it a double A-side, from their third album, Forever. It topped the U.K. charts for a week in 2000, giving them nine number-ones in total. http://www.onlineweb.com/theones/2000.htm

Related Topics:
Holler - Urban - Soulful - Let Love Lead the Way - Forever

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Their album was more successful in the U.K. than expected, debuting at number two, and selling quite well. Worldwide, it was a complete failure, peaking at number thirty-nine in the United States, and selling only a fragment of what its predecessors had. Many blame the poor performance of the album in the U.S. on there being no lead single released to promote it. A promotional CD was released to U.S. radio stations for "Holler", but it only managed to reach number seven on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart (translating as number one-hundred and seven, if it was officially released). Geri Halliwell's departure seemed to have ended the prospects of a comeback third album.

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Subsequently, although there was talk about releasing a second single from Forever ("Tell Me Why"), the four of them questioned their time as a group. With ever-increasing solo projects in front of them, the girls decided that it would be best if they finally went their separate ways. That is exactly what they did, and the Spice Girls began their solo careers. Although there was no official break-up, they're generally thought of as having done so, though for some reason they were reluctant to announce this.

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