The 31st of May 1998: Geri Halliwell officially left the Spice Girls

Geri Halliwell - Ginger Spice - has left the chart-topping Spice Girls. But the Fab Five are the new Fab Four, with the remaining members vowing to go on. In cryptic messages, they say they are all still friends, while Geri herself insisted: "I'll be back." The announcement followed days of increasingly feverish speculation, after Geri had missed the BBC's National Lottery Show on Wednesday 27th of May, and two concerts in Norway. The group had announced that a statement would be made at their central London solicitors by 2pm on Sunday 31st of May.

About 30 journalists gathered outside the offices of Lee & Thompson and tension mounted as the clock ticked past the deadline. Almost half an hour later and after several false alarms Ms Halliwell's solicitor, Julian Turton, and Alan Edwards, the spokesman for the remaining four members of the band, finally emerged. Mr Turton read out a statement which he said was written by Geri:

This was followed by the announcement on behalf of the remaining four members of the group:

Thus, the Spice Girls announced that they would carry on and fulfil their commitments including the forthcoming American tour. The group was due to play 40 dates in the United States, beginning in nine days time after the statement, followed by a charity concert in Rome and four dates in Britain.

After the statements were read out, Mr Edwards and Mr Turton went back into the building and declined to answer further questions about the split. It remains to be seen whether this is the beginning of the end of Britain's most successful band since the Beatles, or whether they can each shrug off the differences and move on to greater things. Fans waiting nearby could not agree, with some saying they could survive the loss, but others having a warning for the other four. "As far as I'm concerned Geri goes, the Spice Girls go" suggested one, adding that Geri was the "mother hen." Besides, lots of people wondered about the reasons why Geri left the band.

Geri's reason to leave the Spice Girls

Many rumors spread over the world about why Geri left the band. For instance, one of the main rumor being that Melanie B. would have forced Geri to leave. However, the official reason given by Geri herself was totally different. Indeed, Geri was to give an exclusive interview for News at Ten about the breast cancer, but the Spice Girls' schedule could not allow her to do this interview and it was simply cancelled. By the time, the girls were pretty busy with their European tour and the promotion of their new single "Viva Forever". The other girls wanted Geri to wait till September to give this interview which was so important to her. So this annoyed Geri very much and lead her to wonder about her principles and values. Eventually, she concluded that she had not her place in the band anymore and that she had to leave.

Nevertheless, Geri had already planned to leave the band on September 1998, after the last concert of their worldwide tour at Wembley Stadium, in London. She had warned the girls about this in March 1998. Geri thought it would be great for the band to stop while they were still successful and not the opposite. She wrote in 'Just For The Record':"I'd been thinking for some time that the Spice Girls should go out with a bang rather than a fizzle.[...]I wanted to box it up in a nice neat package. The girl band thing conquered. Mission accomplished."

Thus, we can be lead to wonder why Geri left the band hastily? What really lead to her departure in May of 1998?

Was the excuse of the cancelled interview the real reason of her departure?

In fact, Geri had numerous reasons to leave the band when she did. She explains herself more about her departure in 'Just For The Record', her second book. Firstly, she evokes of course the cancellation of the interview and its postponement to September. But Geri wrote she realised now that this reason was 'only one part of the picture'.

Indeed, she wrote she was being being suffocating underneath the Ginger Spice character. This character did not represent her anymore. She wanted to find who she really was when she was not Ginger Spice, with all this make-up, big hair, giant platforms and headline-grabbing outfits. She had to move on.

Next, she mentioned 'musical differences'. She saw that it was becoming obvious that the four other girls wanted to make very R'n'B-oriented music while Geri has always been a 'very pop-oriented' girl.

Afterwards, she wrote that her relationship with the four other girls was 'far from perfect' but she confessed she has to 'take responsaility' for her part in that.

Moreover, her leadership role which had lead the Spice Girls to worldwide succes since 1994, was no longer necessary to the band according to her. She could not see her utility within the Spice Girls. The band had become 'a machine' they could not control anymore. Geri worte:'The Spice Girls had become a machine and we weren't driving it, it was driving us. The machine was bigger than the five of us and didn't need any emotional attachment or soul to run any more.'

Besides, the rumor which indicated Melanie B. as responsible for Geri's departure could be founded. Indeed, in Molly Dineen's documentary film "Geri", broadcast on the BBC in 1999, Geri said that one of the Spice Girls especially wanted her to leave the band. Later, still in this documentary film, she quoted Melanie B. who declared in an interview:"Since Geri's left the band we are stronger than ever. We don't need her anymore." And Geri made a comment:"This absolutely says it all, absolutely." So, we can be lead to think that the Spice Girl who wanted Geri to leave the band was Melanie B. However, Geri wrote in 'Just For The Record' that she really regrets what she said in this documentary.

What did Geri do after she left the band?

Everybody was looking for Geri by the time. Thousands of worldwide paparazzi tried to take a picture of her after her departure. There even were rewards for those who would manage to photograph her. Consequently, she had no other choice than running away and hiding from the medias. She took refuge in many places in France. At first, she stayed in Paris, at the Hôtel Crillon but then she left for George Michael's mansion in Southern France, in St Tropez. There, she could rest and have a quieter life. Therefore, she could enjoy very well-deserved holidays at last.

However, Geri did not want to be forgotten. Thus, she thought about lots of projects for her future career. Whereas medias set the rumour afloat that Geri would be in talks with the BBC boss to host a T.V. show, Geri planned other things.

First of all, she was writing a book - entitled 'If Only' and which was out in the end of 1999. Next, she was also thinking about shooting movies. She went to several castings, and to James Bond's in particular. Still, Geri started writing many lyrics. Indeed, she had planned to make a solo album.

Besides, apart of thinking what her future career would be like, Geri had many occupations. Firstly, she had to supervise the renovation of her mansion of St Paul that she bought when she was still in the band. Afterwards, in September of 1998, she decided to sell her whole Spice Girl wardrobe for auctions. The money which was collected from these auctions was all given to a charity organisation which copes with children who suffer cancer. Thus, her Union Jack dress was sold about £36 200 (about 55 200€). The eighty eight goods which were sold for these auctions brought altogether the amount of £146 511 (about 223 300€).

Then, in October of 1998, Geri was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Organisation. So, she went to New York to give a press conference and to be acquainted with her new job that she really took to heart. Actually, her role is to warn young populations, in the developing countries, from AIDS risks and others transmissible sexual illness. Moreover, she was contacted by the British Breast Cancer Awareness association which asked her for help. Geri, kindhearted, accepted. Thus, she was involved in many beneficial actions that she had to cope with.

Next, by the end of October 1998, Geri went to the evening party to celebrate Prince Charles' fiftieth birthday, in London, England. This was the occasion for her to make her first public reappearance since she had left the Spice Girls. Many celebrities such as Roger Moore, Robbie Williams, Joan Collins, etc., went to that event. Geri was very elegant and wore a sumptuous blue gown. She performed at the climax of the show the song "Happy Birthday" à la Marylin Monroe. Geri made headlines again thanks to that event.

But Geri decided to emphasize her efforts on the elaboration of her first solo album. In fact, she had signed a deal with EMI by the end of 1998, in order to release three solo albums. So, she spent her whole winter writing lyrics and conceiving melodies for her album. Then, she started recording in studio her own songs. She came back on springtime of 1999, on May more precisely, better than ever, to promote her new single entitled "Look At Me" and her first ever solo album called "Schizophonic" which contains ten songs. This was the starting point of her new and successful solo career into the music industry.

What does Geri think about her departure now?

Geri does not regret her departure from the band in spite of the shock this decision may have represented to many Spice Girls fans by the time. It was the only solution according to her. She did not feel comfortable in the band anymore. She was depressing and her eating disorders were getting worse and worse as time went by.

Actually, the only thing that she regrets is the way things happened. She feels as if she had run away from the girls. She would have prefered that things would have been better with the four other girls. On top of that, she regrets not to have ended the SpiceWorld tour and not to have performed in the mythical Wembley stadium, in September 1998, with the other girls. This decision to leave the Spice Girls was quite hard to make because not only she had to leave four friends but she also had to leave a whole structure which was directing her life. But Geri managed to find the strength and courage to make this decision. The future gave her reason.