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Geraldine Estelle "Geri" Halliwell (born 6 August 1972) is an English pop singer-songwriter, children's author, actress and Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund. Halliwell first became famous in the late 1990s as a member of the girl group the Spice Girls, which became one of the most successful girl groups of all time, selling in excess of 55 million records worldwide. As a solo artist, she has received four Brit Award nominations and released four number-one singles in the Uk and has sold about four million copies worldwide. The former Ginger Spice, pop singer Geri Halliwell was born August 6, 1972 in London; a onetime topless model and Turkish game show hostess, in March of 1994 she answered an advertisement for an all-girl vocal group, and with fellow applicants Victoria Adams, Melanie Brown and Melanie Chisholm formed the nucleus of what later (with the addition of fifth member Emma Bunton) became the Spice Girls. The biggest pop phenomenon of the late 1990s, the Spice Girls enjoyed a series of chart-topping singles like "Wannabe," "Say You'll Be There" and "2 Become 1; " the group's unofficial leader, Halliwell was commonly known in the press as Ginger Spice, notorious for her garishly provocative costumes, thick make-up and saucy behavior. As the Spice Girls' star continued to skyrocket, they even starred in a film, 1997's Spiceworld; however, after weeks of speculation, Halliwell officially left their ranks in mid-1998 amidst rumors of considerable in-fighting. After exiting the group, her image underwent a radical revamp, adopting a natural, demure look much more in keeping with her next job in the fall of 1998, to the shock of many onlookers, she was named a United Nations ambassador, additionally taking up the cause of breast cancer awareness. Halliwell returned to music in mid-1999 with "Look at Me," which debuted on the UK pop charts at the number two spot; the album Schizophonic followed a few weeks later along with her autobiography If Only. Two years she returned with Scream If You Wanna Go Faster which included her hit cover version of the disco classic "It's Raining Men". Two instructional yoga videos - Geri Yoga and Geri Body Yoga - and another book - Just For the Record - appeared before her third album, Passion, arrived in 2005. Halliwell was born to Lawrence Halliwell, who was of Swedish descent, and his wife Ana María (nee Hidalgo), of Spanish descent, and grew up in Watford, Hertfordshire. For a brief time, Halliwell's mother tried to bring her up as a Jehovah's witness. Halliwell took her A-Levels at Camden School for Girls having taken her GCSEs at Watford Girls Grammar School. Before starting her music career, Halliwell had worked as a nightclub dancer in Majorca (Spain), a model and presenter on the Turkish version of Let's Make a Deal and as a glamour model. Following her rise to fame with the Spice Girls, nude photos of Halliwell were re-published in a number of top-shelf magazines in the UK. During the documentary Spice Girls: Giving You Everything broadcast on UK television on 31 December 2007, Halliwell repeated her claim to have only done 'harmless, topless shots', despite extensive evidence to the contrary, including pictures in her own autobiography. Halliwell first found fame as one of the five members of the girl group the Spice Girls, and was dubbed Sexy Spice for her seductive outfits and stage costumes. However, she preferred being called Ginger Spice stating, "I always thought of myself as clumsy, not sexy." Of her over-the-top outfits, she is mostly recognized for her famous Union Jack dress that she wore for the 1997 Brit Awards. She became renowned for her independent and feminist attitude. The group joined the most successful musical artists of the 1990s, selling over thirty-five million albums with the studio releases Spice and Spiceworld. Their debut single "Wannabe" became the first of a string of number-ones in the United Kingdom (nine in total) and reached the top position in 41 countries around the globe, including Australia, Canada and the US Other successful releases followed, including "Say You'll Be There" and "2 Become 1" from Spice, and "Spice Up Your Life", "Too Much" and "Stop" from Spiceworld. As a songwriter, Geri - as part of the Spice Girls - set the record for the shortest time to achieve 6 no. 1 UK singles, taking 1 year 5 months from Wannabe's first week at no. 1 to the ascent of Too Much. This outpaced Lennon/McCartney, who took 1 year 6 months (From Me to You through I Feel Fine). On May 30, 1998 Halliwell left the Spice Girls due to "differences between band members". The first official confirmation was an announcement to the media by her solicitor on 31st May. Her action aroused controversy, her former band being due to embark on a North American tour, which they eventually completed without her. Although she had already left the group, the Spice Girls released "Viva Forever", the final music video to feature Halliwell's likeness. After she left, the other girls wrote a few songs about her which appeared on their album Forever, notably "Goodbye" (although it is said that Geri had helped write this song before her departure, but since the song was released after her departure, most people see it as a tribute to Geri) and "Let Love Lead the Way." Shortly after leaving the Spice Girls, Halliwell appeared in the fly-on-the-wall documentary Geri, a 90 minute piece for the UK television channel Channel 4 by Molly Dineen. In 1999 Halliwell launched her solo career and released her debut solo album Schizophonic, with lead single "Look at Me", produced by co-writers and old friends, Absolute. The single reached number two in the UK, just 700 copies behind Boyzone's "You Needed Me". The single would go on to sell over 1 million copies worldwide. Further singles from the album, "Mi Chico Latino" and "Lift Me Up", became UK number ones with the latter outselling Halliwell's former bandmate Emma Bunton. The fourth single, "Bag It Up", also reached number one. Geri set another two records for shortest time for a female songwriter to achieve her ninth and tenth no. 1 UK singles. Lift Me Up hit no. 1 3 years, 3 months, and 3 weeks after Wannabe's first week at no. 1, and Bag It Up hit 4 months later. Mel C, in contrast, took seven more months to achieve her tenth no. 1 single as a songwriter, with I Turn To You. All-time leaders Lennon/McCartney took 3 years, 1 month, 3 weeks between From Me To You and their tenth no. 1 UK hit Paperback Writer. Demonstrating her flair for outrageous promotion, Halliwell performed "Bag It Up" during the BRIT Awards ceremony in 2000, emerging between giant inflatable legs, ripping off her shirt and walking in stiletto heels over the backs of topless pink-haired men whilst singing the song. "Look at Me" was released to radio in the U.S. in late 1999, receiving limited airplay. With only a radio single, Schizophonic debuted at number forty-two on The Billboard 200 before dropping out within the next month. This is still the highest charting by a solo Spice album in the U.S.; (Emma Bunton's Free Me peaking at no. 183 and Melanie C's Northern Star peaked at no. 208 on The Billboard 200). The album was eventually certified gold, distributing over 500,000 copies. "Mi Chico Latino" did not have a big impact on USA radio, and no further singles from Schizophonic or albums were released in the U.S.. 'Schizophonic' would go on to sell 2.5 million copies worldwide. Halliwell had a high-profile but short-lived relationship with Chris Evans during that time. She was also romantically linked to Robbie Williams. In 2001 Halliwell followed up with her second album, Scream If You Wanna Go Faster. It also included her cover version of the Weather Girls' 1983 hit, "It's Raining Men", used on the Bridget Jones's Diary film soundtrack, and the video game, DDRMAX2: Dance Dance Revolution 7thMIX. The song also won her the International Song of the Year award at the 2002 NRJ Music Awards. The song became a huge hit, selling over 4 million copies worldwide, in the United World Chart it hit number two (behind "Lady Marmalade" by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya & Pink) based on Sales, Airplay and Votes, it became the second best selling single of 2001. The song had been added to the album at the last minute; another song, "Feels Like Sex", had already been slated as the lead single. (This song remained an album-only track. "Circles Round the Moon" was rumoured to be a single as Halliwell performed it on CD:UK and 12" Vinyl Promos were sent to clubs, but it was never released.) The follow-up singles were "Scream If You Wanna Go Faster" (number eight) and "Calling" (number seven), the latter, stated by Halliwell was her favourite co-written track on the album. She even released a special French edition of the single, entitled "Calling (Au Nom de L'amour)". The album sold more than 1.3 million copies across the world (this album wasn't released in the USA). But in 2003, she came ninth in the Channel 4 poll of the 100 Worst Britons. Geri has released two autobiographies in If Only (1999) and Just for the Record (2002), detailing her rise to fame and her turbulent celebrity lifestyle. She has also released two Yoga DVDs Geri Yoga and Geri Body Yoga. In 2002, Halliwell was featured alongside Pete Waterman and Louis Walsh as a judge on the television series Popstars: The rivals which created Girls Aloud. In the U.S. Halliwell has also pursued a television career, re-uniting with former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller to appear as a judge on the reality programme All American Girl and as a guest reporter on celebrity-based series such as Extra. She has also made appearances in the television series Sex and the City and a film, Fat Slags (2004), based on characters from Viz Magazine. In 2004, Halliwell began a period of collaboration with channel Five, as was one of the hosts of the Party in the park event for the Prince's Trust, the presenter and main performer of the Tickled Pink Girls' night in Live! event and an appearance in a documentary There's Something About Geri. In late 2004, Halliwell made a return to music with the single "Ride It", which reached no. 4 on the UK charts and no. 1 on the dance charts. The single was not promoted abroad, but still sold well throughout continental European countries reaching high positions, such as no. 3 in Spain. This was the first single from her third album, Passion which was at that stage slated for a spring release after a second single. However, several months elapsed before another single was released, during which time she was apparently ordered to record some new tracks for the as-yet unreleased album by her record company, which was unhappy with the setlist. Halliwell was planning her first solo tour around the UK and Ireland, but a bad management and tour schedule plus the label's pressure to record more songs and low ticket sales made her cancel the tour. Eventually a new single, "Desire", was released on May 30, 2005, reaching no. 22 in the UK singles chart and no.1 on the UK Dance chart. Released shortly after, the album Passion similarly received little attention from the public or critics, and stalled at no. 41 in the UK charts. It was rumoured that "Love Never Loved Me" would have been released as the third single from Passion, but it was not. On June 28, 2007, Halliwell announced she was joining her former band-mates for "The Return of the Spice Girls", a concert tour that would see all five original members of the Spice Girls together on stage for the first time since Halliwell walked out mid-tour in 1998. Part of the setlist of the reunion tour features Halliwell performing solo, singing her hit single It's Raining Men. It was announced on 1 February that the end of the tour will actually take place in Toronto, on 26 February 2008. On April 12, 2007, it was announced that Halliwell had signed a six-book deal with Macmillan Children's Books. The books feature nine year old Ugenia Lavender,as well as characters loosely based on Halliwell's celebrity friends. In interviews to promote the book series, Halliwell said she had no plans to return to a solo musical career. 1999, after having left the Spice Girls, Geri Halliwell became a representative for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). As a goodwill ambassador, Halliwell toured the Philippines on a fact-finding trip. She visited with staff and clients of family planning clinics, women's groups in slum areas, and college students. In 2000, Geri Halliwell appeared in the two part documentary series Geri's World Walkabout for the BBC which followed her work with the UN and other travels. Geri met with kids in Rio de Janeiro and visited child piano-prodigies in the United States, among other things. Halliwell picked up UN work again in 2006, by visiting Zambia from 14 November to 16 November, to promote greater international awareness of the urgent need to reduce maternal death and halt the spread of HIV/AIDS. Both aims are contained in the Millennium Development Goals adopted by the world's leaders in September 2000. She attended the first 2007 BBC Four Reith Lecture and can be heard asking questions on women's rights in the recording. Halliwell attended the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London on July 7, 2007 and introduced Duran Duran to the crowd. In the run-up to the 1997 UK General Election, Halliwell declared: "I saw a lot of what Mrs Thatcher did. She was definitely the original Spice Girl rising from the greengrocer's daughter to Prime Minister. She was a real role model of a strong woman". She also claimed that her background was deeply-rooted in support for the Conservative Party and that Thatcher was the pioneer of 'Girl Power' and the spiritual sixth member of the Spice Girls. She claimed in 1996 that Tony Blair was "not a safe pair of hands for the economy". In the 2001 UK General Election Halliwell appeared in the first Party Political Broadcast on behalf of the Labour Party of the campaign. The reason for her defection was "the good example set by Mr Blair and his wife as parents" and that she "genuinely admires and believes in Tony Blair". Some political commentators ridiculed Halliwell's "speedy" (5 years) change of support and mocked the Labour Party for its reliance on high-profile fans to inspire the electorate. In October 2005, after Passion was a failure, Halliwell sacked her managers, the husband and wife team Paul and Katie Conroy, and went to Los Angeles, U.S., to work on unnamed projects. Soon after, she was photographed by the paparazzi, having put on weight and looking exhausted. The tabloids reported that Halliwell was pregnant, which was subsequently confirmed. British scriptwriter and former drummer with the band Bush, Sacha Gervasi, is reported to be the child's father. On 7 March 2006, Hello! magazine published an interview with Halliwell which did not confirm the father's identity. Geri stated, "It is tacky to kiss and tell, I would never deprive a child of the right to know its father." On May 14, 2006, Halliwell gave birth to her daughter, Bluebell Madonna, by caesarean section at London's Portland Hospital with her sister by her side. Explaining her name choice, she said, "What really clinched it for me was my mother telling me that the bluebell is increasingly rare – so it's a precious flower, which seems just right for my daughter." Her daughter's second name came from two of Geri's heroines, the Virgin Madonna and pop singer Madonna. On 23 April 2007 all the former Spice Girls except Melanie B attended the christening of Halliwell's daughter, with Victoria Beckham and George Michael's partner Kenny Goss serving as godparents. |
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