Biography In May 1998, a twenty-five-year-old woman walked out of her job and it made world news. Geri Halliwell had left the biggest pop phenomenon of the nineties, the Spice Girls. Geri had come a long way from her modest childhood in Watford (suburbs of London). Like many other starstruck young girls, she would dress up, stand on the table with a hairbrush in her hand, and sing along to Madonna. She wanted to be a pop star. She wanted to marry George Michael. She wanted to be rich and famous. Geri had boundless energy, plenty of cheek, and she always stood apart from the crowd. However, the road to fame is all too often a rocky one. After leaving school she also left home, and attempted to scrape a living through a series of dead-end jobs (receptionist in a famous hotel, assistant in a videoclub, newspapers delivery woman, etc.).
Following stints as a glamour model, various auditions for stage and screen roles, and a taste of celebrity - as a very famous game-show hostess in Turkey - Geri responded in 1994 to a curious advertisement placed in The Stage, looking for candidates to form an all-girl band. The rest is history. As Ginger Spice, Geri's stage presence was formidable, her outfits legendary. The band enjoyed a succession of number-one hits, two phenomenally successful albums (more than 35 millions of albums sold world-wide) and a box-office success movie. Records were set up on and on.
But Geri wanted her feet back on the ground. It was time for her to go, to find out who she was when she wasn't Ginger Spice. In the end of May 1998, she decided to quit the band, explaining herself in an official statement in which she wrote by way of postscript: "I'll be back!" Indeed, she came back in May 1999 to start her musical solo career with the release of her first single entitled "Look At Me". This single went n°2 in the European charts, what was unexpected for the ex-Spice Girl. Then, followed the release of her first solo album entitled "Schizophonic" which was a real success with more than 2,5 million of copies sold world-wide. This album, which lyrics were all written by Geri herself, contains other hits such as "Mi Chico Latino", "Lift Me Up" and "Bag It Up" that all went n°1 in the British charts! However, she failed to win over a single musical market, the French one, which is reputed to be difficult to conquer. That is why she only released two singles in France ("Look At Me" and "Mi Chico Latino"). Geri has some notions of French and likes coming in France, especially in the South where she spends some time during her holiday.
Everything was going on really well for Geri's solo career. Then, she took a rest to start writing some lyrics for her second solo album. She spent some time with her good friends such as George Michael or Robbie Williams… She came back in May 2001 with her second album entitled "Scream If You Wanna Go Faster" and with her new single "It's Raining Men" which is a cover. This single was a real success throughout Europe and went n°1 in several countries such as Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Germany, France etc. Geri was also very talked-about during this period because of her important weight loss... Afterwards, she successively released in Great Britain the singles "Scream If You Wanna Go Faster" (which went n°8 in the British charts) and "Calling" (which went n°7 in the British charts). She made a special French version of "Calling" which was entitled "Calling (au nom de l'amour)". Geri made it as a gift in order to thank France for her previous single's warm reception. This single went n°22 in the French charts, which remains really good for a British artist. In February 2002, at the NRJ Music Awards in Cannes, she was rewarded with the NRJ Music Award for the Best International Song with her hit "It's Raining Men"!
Therefore Geri has succeeded in building a successful solo career even if British tabloïds keep on criticising everything she does. On top of that, she showed her generosity many times by involving herself in charity works. For instance, she works for the United Nations as a goodwill ambassador in order to warn young populations, in the developing countries, from AIDS risks and others transmissible sexual illness. Besides, she also works for the Breast Cancer Awareness with Cherie Blair notably and she was also involved in the Comic Relief work (which helps young under-developed populations). She was also involved with some other charity works such as the E.D.A. (Eating Disorder Association), CLIC - Cancer and Leukeamia In Childhood, the WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, Tommy's, and so on.
However, Geri knows how to diversify herself and to show her diverse talents. Firstly, in October 1999 she published her autobiography entitled "If Only", which was very successful and which quickly became a best-seller. It even was republished in September 2002 with a new cover. Moreover, Geri, who regularly practises yoga, decided to record a video in order to share her passion. Thus, in October 2001, "Geri Yoga" was released in VHS and DVD. Once more, this was successful and the yoga video went rapidly on the top of the video sales. Then, in September 2002, the sequel of "If Only", entitled "Just For The Record", was released. It was successful as well. This book was republished in June 2003 with a brand new cover. Besides, in November 2002, another yoga video entitled "Geri Body Yoga" was commercialised.
Besides, Geri also explored the televisual world. Indeed, she took part in the British T.V. show "Popstars: The Rivals" as a member of the jury. This show aimed at finding young singers to make two musical groups. The girls band Girls Aloud was born from this show. The episodes were started being shot from August 2002 and were broadcast on ITV from September 2002 to the end of that year. This show was successful and was regularly watched by about ten million of televiewers. Then, she took part in another T.V. show, in the United States, entitled "All American Girl". This T.V. show, which was broadcast from March to the end of May 2003 on ABC, aimed at finding young girls who could sing, dance and act. Unfortunately, that was not successful.
Nevertheless, Geri did not give up because of this failure. She stayed in the United States and applied to comedy classes. In fact, she decided to make it in the acting field. Thus, she made a short appearance in the famous american serial "Sex and the City", in an episode shot in July 2003 and broadcast in August 2003. This was the occasion for her to make her new career as an actress start officially and to unveil her new curves as well. That summer, she also took part in a movie based on the British comics "The Fat Slags". Other actors involved in this movie are Jerry O'Connell, Anthony Head, Fiona Allen and Sophie Thompson. The movie was out in British cinemas in October 2004 but was not successful. The lack of promotion, the release being several times postponed and the story itself can account for the commercial failure. In April 2005, the DVD of the movie was released.
Before she made her comeback into the music industry, Geri agreed on taking part in several projects. That's how she found herself co-animating with Duncan James, from boys band Blue, Party in the Park, which took place in Hyde Park, London, in July 2004. The annual successful event is organised by Prince Charles' Prince Trust. There, she interviewed several artists such as Lenny Kravitz, Sean Paul, Lionel Ritchie, Will Young, Avril Lavigne, etc. Moreover, in September 2004, she accepts to animate and to participate in the ASDA's Tikled Pink campain, for the Breast Cancer Care. She took the opportunity to perform her successful singles "Look At Me" (in a jazzy way), "It's Raining Men" and even her single-to-be "Ride It"!
Geri had officially unveiled her new single "Ride It" in Blackpool, in September 2004, during Illuminations switch-on ceremony. Her performance did not get unnoticed because of the low-necked dress she wore that night. Consequently, that night was the starting point of her musical comeback after three years since the release of her last single "Calling" in 2001. "Ride It" was released in Novembre 2004 managed to go to the 4th position in the British official singles charts. The single was also a succes in some other European countries.
However, things would not be that brilliant anymore for her soon. To begin with, her record company, Virgin, decided to postpone the 3rd album's release and to send her in Sweden to have her record new tracks and to remix her songs. Then, she comes back then in May 2005 with her new single "Desire". Unfortunately, radio stations refused to play the song and the video was not shown on T.V. very much either. In spite of that, Geri tried her best to promote it, performing the single on various T.V. shows. Besides, the channel 5 documentary "There's Something About Geri" harmed Geri's public image and discredited her as an artist. What's more, the important time gap between the release of "Ride It" in November 2004 and "Desire" in May 2005 did not make things better. Consequently, the single only reached the 22nd position in British charts and was not a commercial success. To end with, her long-awaited third album, entitled "Passion", was released in June 2005 but was not as successful as "Schizophonic" or "Scream If You Wanna Go Faster". Besides, Geri's live tour that she had announced in December 2004 was officially "postponed" but cancelled in reality. Furthermore, British tabloids were being harsh with her. Following her commercial failures and British tabloids' fierceness, Geri decided to hide away in Los Angeles.
Geri rested and took advantage of her free time to go to acting lessons. Then, in autumn 2005, a good piece of news arrives for Geri: she found herself pregnant. In spite of her absence from the British soil, English tabloids insisted on rumours of pregnancy which were still hypothetical by the time. Moreover, British newspapers published more and more rumours concerning a supposed Spice Girls reformation to celebrate the single "Wannabe"'s 10 years anniversary. The fact that Geri was seen several times with her former bandmates did not make rumours stop. But, in reality, Geri saw them to have mere talks, about pregnancy notably with Victoria Beckham. It is only in March 2006 that Geri made things official about her pregnancy by posing and giving an exclusive interview to HELLO! magazine. We learnt in that interview that the baby is due for the end of May 2006... to be continued...  |
