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Melanie C

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Melanie C

Melanie Jayne Chisholm (born January 12, 1974 in Widnes, Cheshire), also known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer. In the early years of her singing career she was one fifth of the English girl group the Spice Girls, where she was known as "Sporty Spice". As solo artist she has released three solo albums. Chisholm has co-written 11 UK number-one singles - second only to Madonna [1].

Music career

Sporty Spice

Main article: Spice Girls

In 1996 Chisholm, along with Melanie Brown, Mitchell Ponce, Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton and Victoria Beckham, shot to fame as a member of the Spice Girls with the release of "Wannabe" . The follow-up album 'Spice' also shot to number one all over the globe including in the USA. Often to be found in a tracksuit and with her hair in a ponytail, Chisholm received the nickname "Sporty Spice" from Top of the Pops magazine (all of the group were given humorous nicknames in a small piece titled "Spice Rack").

The Spice Girls dominated the late 1990s, selling over 35 million albums in just two years. The Spice Girls went on to become one of the best-selling girl bands of all time, selling more than 55 million records worldwide. They had 9 UK #1 singles and 2 #1 albums. After a third album release, Forever the girls went their separate ways, and Melanie C went to develop a solo career.

Northern Star

File:MelC-NothernStar.jpg
Northern Star album cover (1999).

Chisholm took her first steps in establishing a solo identity in late 1998 by duetting with Canadian rocker Bryan Adams on the song "When You're Gone". She followed the duet with the album Northern Star in 1999. Eager to distance herself from her "Sporty" image, the rocky "Goin' Down" (UK #4) was chosen as the first single from the album. Though it failed to make a huge impact in the charts or do much for album sales which at this point debuted at #10 on the UK album charts, the single and its video showed the world a different side to Melanie Chisholm.

The album's title track was chosen as the follow up single and was a surprise hit (UK #4). In March 2000, Melanie had her first break as a solo artist. A slightly remixed version of "Never Be The Same Again" featuring a rap from Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes was chosen as the album's third single and became Chisholm's first solo UK #1. The song, co-written and produced by Rhett Lawrence, helped bring Northern Star back into the album chart Top 10.

Capitalising on her new found success, Chisholm released a fourth single from Northern Star, a dance remix of "I Turn to You", and earned herself a second UK #1 single. "I Turn to You" eventually climbed to the top of the Billboard Dance Charts in America, and went on in 2002 to be featured in a club scene in the film Bend It Like Beckham. Northern Star was re-released with the single versions of "Never Be the Same Again" and "I Turn to You", and eventually peaked at #4 on the UK album charts.

"If That Were Me" was chosen as the fifth and final single from Northern Star and proceeds were donated to a charity for the homeless and peaked at (UK #18), in the highly competitive Christmas market. The song might have suffered as a result of recent Spice over-exposure (the release of Melanie B's solo album Hot and the Spice Girls' Forever, both with accompanying singles). It should also be noted that it was the first of Melanie's singles to be released on just one CD format in the UK. Northern Star is certified 3x platinum in the UK selling 800,000 copies, platinum in Europe and Gold in Australia.

Reason

Reason album cover (2003).

Melanie C released her second studio album Reason in March, 2003. The album included production from a series of collaborators include Gregg Alexander (New Radicals, Ronan Keating), Marius De Vries (Madonna), Dr Robert of the Blow Monkeys, David Arnold (Björk) and Matt Rowe, writer of the Spice Girls "Wannabe". The lead single from Reason was "Here It Comes Again" which peaked at number seven in the UK with the album entering the UK album charts a week later at number five.

Other singles from the album were "On The Horizon" (UK #14, written with Gregg Alexander, former frontman of New Radicals), "Let's Love" in Japan (where the song accompanied a Toyota commercial), "Yeh Yeh Yeh" in mainland Europe and, finally, a UK double A-side of "Melt / Yeh Yeh Yeh" which achieved a disappointing chart position of #27. After a series of disappointments and the failure of "Melt / Yeh Yeh Yeh", she was dropped by her label, Virgin Records although Reason has been certified Gold in UK.

Beautiful Intentions

File:Beautiful-Intentions-Melanie-C.jpg
Beautiful Intentions re-issue cover (2005). Audio sample of "First Day of My Life"ⓘ

Melanie spent much of 2004 working on new material and setting up her own record company, Red Girl Records. Now without major label backing, all of Melanie's activities are decided upon and funded by herself, alongside her business partner and manager, Nancy Phillips.

In April 2005 Melanie released her third album, Beautiful Intentions. The Adam Argyle penned "Next Best Superstar" was chosen as the lead single and was released simultaneously in the UK, Europe, and Australia. The single peaked at number ten in UK. The album debuted at #24, selling more than 8,000 copies in its first week and quickly fell off the charts. It would eventually go on, however, to be a success throughout other parts of Europe.

A second single, "Better Alone", was announced for UK release - but later restricted to purchase from iTunes (for digital download) and her official online shop (for two physical CDs and a DVD single). It was soon reported after the release of Better Alone on her website that Red Girl Records had sold out of one of the three versions of the single formats. The third single from her third album was "First Day Of My Life", a previously unheard Melanie C recording written by Guy Chambers. First Day Of My Life topped the charts in several European countries - including Spain, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland and Portugal. The single became one of the biggest hits of 2005 in parts of Europe, but it was never released in the UK. It was nominated as The Single Of The Year in ECHO Music Awards 2006 on March 12th. On 15th of September 2006 First Day Of My Life single has been awarded platinum in Germany (selling over 400,000 units). As the result of this success, Beautiful Intentions has been certified Gold (100,000 sales) in Germany. It has been certified Platinum in Portugal and reached the #1 spot on the album charts on its second week of release (9 weeks at number one). Better Alone (accompanied by a different video to the initial Mary McCartney shoot for the proposed UK release) was released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on February 24. The song appeared to have been slightly remixed. On May 15th, First Day Of My Life was released in Australia. The "Beautiful Intentions" era concluded with the radio release of Je Suis Nee Pour Toi (French version of First Day Of My Life) to Francophone radio stations. Melanie announced in an interview for the Herald Sun newspaper in Melbourne, Australia that on a worldwide scale Beautiful Intentions outsold her 2nd album Reason.

In a news statement on her official website, it was confirmed that Melanie C is working on her next studio album (to be released in Spring 2007).

Discography

Studio albums

Year Title Chart positions
UK GER SWE SWI MEX AUT POR PL
1999 Northern Star 4 7 4 12 26 32 NR 8
2003 Reason 5 13 38 21 47 50 NR 47
2005 Beautiful Intentions 24 15 32 14 NR - 1 11

Singles

Year Title Album Chart position Audio
UK GER SWI AT SPA LATVIA
1998 "When You're Gone" On a Day Like Today 3 14 11 4 3 .ⓘ
1999 "Goin' Down" Northern Star 4 101 17 .ⓘ
1999 "Northern Star" Northern Star 4 50 75 73 .ⓘ
2000 "Never Be the Same Again" Northern Star 1 5 3 2 Audio file "NeverBeTheSameAgainSample.ogg" not found
2000 "I Turn to You" Northern Star 1 2 3 11 .ⓘ
2000 "If That Were Me" Northern Star 18 58 50 28 / Audio file "IfThatWereMeSample.ogg" not found
2003 "Here It Comes Again" Reason 7 59 61 49 16
2003 "On The Horizon" Reason 14 80 / 24 /
2003 "Let's Love" Reason NR NR NR NR NR
2003 "Melt / Yeh Yeh Yeh" Reason 27 63 NR 13 .ⓘ
2005 "Next Best Superstar" Beautiful Intentions 10 32 25 41 NR Audio file "NextBestSuperstarSample.ogg" not found
2005 "Better Alone" Beautiful Intentions NR 51 33 66 NR Audio file "BetterAloneSample.ogg" not found
2005 "First Day of My Life" Beautiful Intentions NR 1 1 2 1 .ⓘ

DVDs

B-sides

Tours

  • 1999 - From Liverpool To Leicester Square
  • 2000/2001 - Northern Star European Tour
  • 2001 - Northern Star World Tour
  • 2003 - Reason UK & Ireland/Germany Tour
  • 2004 - The Barfly Mini-Tour
  • 2005/2006 - Beautiful Intentions Live Tour

See also

References

  1. ^ [1]
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