Name	Spice Girls
Background	group_or_band
Origin	London, England
Genre	Pop, dance-pop, teen pop
Years active	1994–20002007–2008
Label	Virgin
Current members	Victoria BeckhamMelanie BrownEmma BuntonMelanie ChisholmGeri Halliwell
Past members	Michelle StephensonSuzanne TinkerLianne Morgan
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The Spice Girls were an English pop girl group formed in 1994. The members consist of Victoria Beckham (née Adams), Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell. They are signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe" in 1996, which hit number-one in more than 30 countries and helped establish the group as a "global phenomenon". Credited for being the pioneers that paved the way for the commercial breakthrough of teen pop in the late 1990s, their debut album, Spice, sold more than 23 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling album by a female group in music history. They have sold over 80 million records worldwide with only four albums and twelve singles, making them the best selling girl group of all time. Measures of their success include international record sales, a 2007–2008 reunion tour, merchandising, record-breaking achievements, iconic symbolism such as the Union Jack dress, "Girl Power", a box office hit film Spice World and their nicknames.

Under the guidance of their long-time mentor and manager Simon Fuller, the group embraced merchandising and became a regular feature of the British press. In 1996, Top of the Pops magazine gave each member of the group aliases, which were adopted by the group and media alike. According to biographer David Sinclair, "Scary (Brown), Baby (Bunton), Ginger (Halliwell), Posh (Beckham) and Sporty (Chisholm) were the most widely recognized group of individuals since John, Paul, George and Ringo." They are the biggest cultural icons of the 1990s, according to a survey carried out by Trivial Pursuit, winning by 80 percent in a poll of 1,000 people carried out for the board game, stating that "Girl Power" defined the decade.

In May 1998, Halliwell left the group in the middle of numerous rumours. The four remaining members released the third album Forever, but went their separate ways in November 2000 to focus on their solo careers. On 28 June 2007, all five reformed before the launch of their Reunion Tour in December, alongside the release of their Greatest Hits album. In December, a new official documentary Giving You Everything aired on various television networks around the globe. The tour was a success and is estimated to have grossed over US$100 million. The tour won the Billboard 2008 Touring Award for Top Boxscore for a 17-night stand at London's O2 Arena.

Band history

Formation and early years (1994–1996)

In the mid-1990s, father-and-son management team Bob and Chris Herbert set about creating an all female group to compete with popular boy bands that dominated the pop music scene in the mid- to late-1990s: "The whole teen-band scene at the time was saturated by boy bands like Take That and the Backstreet Boys. That was all a bit of a yawn for me, and only appealed to female audiences...I felt if you could appeal to the boys as well, you'd be laughing." In February 1994, Heart Management – which comprised the Herberts together with financier Chic Murphy – placed an advertisement in "The Stage" trade magazine asking "WANTED: R.U. 18–23 with the ability to sing/dance? R.U. streetwise, outgoing, ambitious and dedicated? Heart Management Ltd are a widely successful music industry management consortium currently forming a choreographed, singing/dancing, all-female pop act for a recording deal. Open audition. Danceworks, 16 Balderton Street. Friday 4 March. 11am-5:30pm. Please bring sheet music or backing cassette". About 400 women who answered the ad went to Dance Works studios. There, they were put into groups of 10 and danced a routine to "Stay" by Eternal. After that, the selection continued and the girls had to sing solo songs. Victoria Adams-Wood sang "Mein Herr", Melanie Brown sang "Greatest Love Of All", Melanie Chisholm sang "I'm So Excited", Michelle Stephenson sang "Don't Be A Stranger". After the auditions, the women returned home and waited for some weeks. Geri Halliwell had seen the ad but went skiing in Spain and missed the audition because her face got sunburnt.

In April 1994, the women got a call and were down to the last 12. They went to Nomis Studios, Shepherd's Bush. The women chosen were Suzanne Tinker (who did not attend), Melanie Laccohee, Lianne Morgan, Michelle Stephenson, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm (who did not attend), Victoria Adams-Wood, and a few others. Geri Halliwell saw the ad after two months, and decided to call. The management let her in to the last 12, so she was one of them. After arriving, the women had a little solo interview, in which Halliwell sang "I Wanna Be A Nightclub Queen". After the interviews, they were divided into 3 groups of four women and they created a routine for "Just A Step From Heaven" by Eternal. In one group there was Adams-Wood, Brown, Stephenson and Morgan. After a dance, Halliwell joined and she was taught their dance. Later, they sang solo songs and Brown sang "Queen Of The Night". Those five were told they had been picked while they were having a cup of tea. After the auditions, the women returned home and waited a couple of weeks. It soon became apparent that Stephenson did not have the drive and belief that the rest of the group had, so the decision was made to fire her from the group. Bob Herbert stated that "she just wasn't fitting in... she would never have gelled with it and I had to tell her to go". However, Stephenson stated that it was her decision to leave the group, because of the illness of her mother, who was diagnosed with breast cancer and she decided not to be in the band because she was too young and didn't want to have problems with her boyfriend having to live with the women for months. The Herberts searched for a replacement and first came across Abigail Kis, who did not impress, and then were led to eighteen-year-old Emma Bunton at the suggestion of vocal coach Pepe Lemer. Bunton instantly impressed the Herberts and was invited to meet the group in July 1994, who welcomed her with open arms: "Straight away I knew she was the one", stated Halliwell. Due to the large interest in the group, the Herberts quickly set about creating a binding contract for the group. Encouraged by the reaction they had received at the Nomis showcase, all five members delayed signing contracts on the legal advice from, amongst others, Adams-Wood's father Tony Adams. In March 1995, because of the group's frustration at their management's unwillingness to listen to their visions and ideas, they parted from Heart Management. In order to ensure they kept control of their own work, the group allegedly stole the master recordings of their discography from the management offices. That same day the group tracked down Sheffield-based producer Eliot Kennedy, who had been present at the showcase, and persuaded him to work with them. The group was introduced to record producers Absolute, who in turn brought them to the attention of Simon Fuller of 19 Entertainment. The group began a relationship with Fuller and finally signed with him in March 1995. During the summer of that year the group toured record labels in London and Los Angeles with Fuller and finally signed a deal with Virgin Records in September 1995. From this point on, up to the summer of 1996, the group continued to write and record tracks for their debut album while extensively touring the west coast of the United States, where they had signed a publishing deal with Windswept Pacific.

Breakthrough (1996–1997)

On 7 June 1996, the Spice Girls released their debut single "Wannabe" in the United Kingdom. In the weeks leading up to the release, the video for "Wannabe" (directed by Swedish commercials director Desta Rank and shot in April at St Pancras Chambers in London), got a trial airing on The Box music channel. The video was an instant hit, and was played 502 times a week. After the video was released, the Spice Girls had their first live TV slot on broadcast on LWT's Surprise Surprise. The first music press interview appears in Music Week. In July 1996, the group conducted their first interview with Paul Gorman, the contributing editor of music industry paper Music Week, at Virgin Records' London headquarters. His piece recognized that the Spice Girls were about to institute a change in the charts away from Britpop and towards out-and-out pop. He wrote: "JUST WHEN BOYS with guitars threaten to rule pop life – Damon's all over Smash Hits, Ash are big in Big! and Liam can't move for tabloid frenzy – an all-girl, in-yer-face pop group have arrived with enough sass to burst that rockist bubble." The song entered the charts at number 3 before moving up to number 1 the following week and staying there for seven weeks. The song proved to be a global hit, hitting number 1 in 31 countries and becoming not only the biggest selling debut single by an all-female group but also the biggest-selling single by an all-female group of all time.

Riding a wave of publicity and hype, the group released their next singles in UK and Europe; in October "Say You'll Be There" was released topping the charts at number one for two weeks. In December "2 Become 1" was released, becoming their first Christmas Number 1 and selling 430,000 copies in its first week which made it the fastest selling single of the year. The two tracks continued the group's remarkable sales by topping the charts in over fifty-three countries In seven weeks Spice had sold 1.8 million copies in Britain alone, making the Spice Girls the fastest selling British act since the Beatles. In total, the album sold 3 million copies in Britain, certified 10x Platinum. That same month the Spice Girls attracted a crowd of 500,000 when they switched on the Christmas lights in Oxford Street, London. At the same time, Simon Fuller started to set up million pound sponsorship deals for the Spice Girls with Pepsi, Walkers, Impulse, Cadbury’s and Polaroid. for sales in excess of 7.4 million copies. The album is also included in the Top 100 Albums of All Time list of The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) based on US sales. In total, the album sold 23 million copies worldwide becoming the biggest-selling album in the music history by an all-female group. The group performed "Who Do You Think You Are" to open the show with Geri Halliwell wearing a Union Jack mini-dress, causing it to become one of pop history’s most famed outfits. In March 1997, a double A-side of "Mama"/"Who Do You Think You Are" was released in Europe, the last from Spice, which once again saw them at number one, making the Spice Girls the first group in history to have four consecutive number one hits. This was the year when the Spice Girls reached the height of their career. In November, the Spice Girls released their second album, Spiceworld. The album was a global best seller. It set a new record for the fastest-selling album when it shipped seven million copies over the course of two weeks. Gaining favourable reviews, the album went on to sell over 10 million copies in Europe, Canada, and the United States Criticised in the United-States for releasing the album just nine months after their debut there, and suffering from over-exposure at home, the Spice Girls began to experience a media backlash. The group was criticised for the number of sponsorship deals signed – over twenty in total – and they began to witness diminishing international chart positions. Nevertheless, the Spice Girls remained the biggest-selling pop group of both 1997 and 1998.

On 7 November 1997, the group performed "Spice Up Your Life" in the 1997 MTV Europe Music Awards and won awards for Best Group. After this performance, the Spice Girls made the decision to take over the running of the group themselves, and fired their manager Simon Fuller. The firing was front page news around the world. Many commentators speculated that Fuller had been the true mastermind behind the group, and that this was the moment when the band lost their impetus and direction. According to their various autobiographies, it was mainly Geri and Melanie B who pushed for Fuller’s dismissal, claiming that he had become too controlling by restricting their personal and artistic freedom. The group quickly found the burden of managing themselves time consuming, so they assigned various responsibilities to each member of the group: Melanie B. was responsible for tour control; Geri for sponsorship; Emma Bunton for personnel, schedule, and charities; Victoria Adams for merchandising and finance; and Melanie C. for the record company, singles, and formats. They later built their own team, headed by Nancy Phillips, to deal with their affairs. Two of the Spice Girls, Emma Bunton and Victoria Adams, later returned to Fuller's stable once it was clear that the impetus behind the group was starting to disappear.

In December 1997, the second single from Spiceworld, "Too Much", was released. This became the second Christmas number one for the group and the sixth consecutive number one hit single in the UK. In February 1998, the Spice Girls won a special award for overseas success at the 1998 Brit Awards, for sales of 32 million albums worldwide, That night, the group performed their next single, "Stop". This was their only track not to hit number one in Britain (it entered and peaked at number two). Further singles released from the album included "Viva Forever", was scheduled to be released as a double A-side with "Never Give Up on the Good Times", but these plans were scrapped due to Halliwell's departure from the group in May 1998. The song became the seventh number one, and the video includes scenes of Halliwell stop motion animation.

In early 1998, the Spice Girls embarked upon the world tour that Fuller had set up for them covering Europe and North America. The Spiceworld Tour kicked off in Dublin, Ireland on 24 February 1998 before moving on to mainland Europe and then returning to Britain for two gigs at Wembley Arena and Twelve gigs at Birmingham’s NEC Arena. Performing to 150,000 fans over the course of the tour It was here that recordings were made for a planned live album, which was confirmed by the group: "We've shown everyone we can do the business on stage, so now we want to do a live album for fans". Despite masters of the recording being made, the idea was eventually dropped. Later that year, the Spice Girls were invited to sing on the official England World Cup song "How Does It Feel (To Be on Top of the World)", however, it was derided by England football fans in favour of a re-release of the Lightning Seeds anthem "Three Lions", which comfortably beat it to #1 in the Singles Charts. This was also the last song the group recorded with Geri's vocals until 2007.

Halliwell's departure, Forever, and breakup (1998–2007)

On 31 May 1998, Halliwell announced her departure from the Spice Girls. Through her solicitor she stated: "Sadly I would like to confirm that I have left the Spice Girls. This is because of differences between us. I'm sure the group will continue to be successful and I wish them all the best." Halliwell claimed that she was suffering from exhaustion and wanted to take a break. Halliwell's departure from the group shocked fans and became one of the biggest entertainment news stories of the year, making news headlines the world over. Geri went on to launch an initially successful solo career. The four remaining members were adamant that the group would carry on and that their approaching North American tour would continue as normal, however, Halliwell's departure threw most of the group's plans into disarray. It was cited as the reason the planned live album was cancelled. It also meant that most of the material the group had recorded throughout the first half of 1998 at Dublin's Windmill Lane Studios with long-time collaborators Richard Stannard and Matt Rowe, was eventually scrapped. A rumoured animated venture by Disney also failed to materialise.

"Viva Forever" was the last single taken off Spiceworld. The video for the single was made before Geri's departure and features the girls in animated form – a decision made because there was no time to produce a video due to the heavy world tour schedule. Originally planned as a double A-side with "Never Give Up on the Good Times", the idea was dropped for several reasons, mainly due to time restraints (since there was no time to re-record and edit out Halliwell's vocals or make a video for the track). While on tour in the United-States, the group continued to record new material and they released a new song, "Goodbye", before Christmas in 1998. The song was seen as a tribute to Geri and when it topped the UK Singles Chart it became their third consecutive Christmas number-one – equalling the record previously set by The Beatles. The song also became one of the most successful songs of the 1990s in Canada, where it stayed at number one for sixteen weeks. Later, Emma Bunton and Mel C appeared at the 1998 MTV Europe Music Awards, and the group won two awards: "Best Pop Act" and "Best Group" for a second time.

The Spice Girls returned to the studio in August 1999, after an 8 month recording break to start work on their third album. The album's sound took a mature direction when American producers like Rodney Jerkins, Jimmy Jam, and Terry Lewis came on to collaborate with the group. In December 1999 they performed live for a UK-only tour, named Christmas in Spiceworld, in London and Manchester, also showcasing new songs from the third album. During 1999, the group recorded the character Amneris' song "My Strongest Suit" in Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida, a concept album which would later go on to fuel the musical version of Verdi's Aida. The band performed again at the 2000 BRIT Awards, and it was announced that they had received the Outstanding Achievement in Music Award. Despite being at the event, Halliwell did not join her former bandmates on stage. In November 2000, the group released Forever. Sporting a new edgier R&B; sound, the album received a lukewarm response and achieved only a fraction of the success of its two best-selling predecessors, selling five million copies.

In an attempt to cover more ground, the group split up and covered different countries separately; for example Victoria Beckham and Emma Bunton headed to North America while Melanie B and Melanie C concentrated on Europe. In the US, the album peaked at number thirty-nine on the Billboard 200 albums chart. In the UK, the album was released the same week as Westlife's 'Coast to Coast' album and the chart battle was widely reported by the media, where Westlife won the battle reaching number one in the UK, leaving the Spice Girls at number 2. The lead single from Forever, the double A-side "Holler"/"Let Love Lead the Way", did enjoy some success – it became the group's ninth number one single in the UK. However the song failed to break onto the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart stateside, instead peaking at number seven on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles. "Holler" did peak at number thirty-one on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 2001.

The only major performance of the lead single came at the MTV Europe Music Awards in November 2000. With their few TV performances aside, the group did little meaningful promotion, where their last performance came in December 2000. Further planned single releases off the album never materialised. Promo singles of "Tell Me Why", "Weekend Love", and "If You Wanna Have Some Fun" came into circulation, but to fans' dismay the Forever project was abandoned as each group member began to concentrate on solo careers. In December 2000, the group unofficially announced that they were beginning an indefinite hiatus and would be concentrating on their solo careers in regards to their foreseeable future, although they pointed out that the group was not splitting. In early 2001 they officially announced they were breaking up.

Return of the Spice Girls (2007–2009)

It has been rumoured that the decision to reform was made in December 2006. In January the Spice Girls managements started a "fan" campaign to bring "Stop" back to the charts. The date chosen for this was the same week the press conference was booked. On 28 June 2007, the group held a press conference at The O2 in London, formally announcing their intention to reunite. The plan to reform had long been speculated by the media, but the group finally confirmed their intention to embark upon a world wide concert tour, starting in Vancouver on 2 December 2007. Filmmaker Bob Smeaton, directed an official documentary on the reunion. It was entitled Spice Girls: Giving You Everything and was first aired on Australia's Fox8 on 16 December 2007, followed by BBC One in the UK, on 31 December. Ticket sales for the first London date of "The Return of the Spice Girls" World Tour sold out in 38 seconds. Sixteen additional dates in London had been added and sold out. In the United States, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Jose shows also sold out, prompting additional dates to be added. It was announced that the Spice Girls would be playing dates in Chicago and Detroit (Auburn Hills) and Boston, as well as additional dates in New York to keep up with the demand. On the first concert in Canada, they performed to an audience of 15,000 people, singing twenty songs and changing a total of eight times. Along with the tour sellout, the Spice Girls licensed their name and image to Tesco's UK supermarket chain. The band have reportedly been paid £5 million for their appearances in Tesco advertisements.

The group's comeback single, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)", was announced as the official Children in Need charity single for 2007 and was released 5 November. The first public appearance on stage by the Spice Girls was made at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, where the group performed at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. They performed two songs, 1998 single "Stop" and the lead single off their greatest hits album, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)". The show was filmed by CBS on 15 November 2007 for broadcast on 4 December 2007. They also performed the song live for the BBC Children in Need telethon on 16 November 2007 from Los Angeles, in Roberto Cavalli gowns. Australia was the only country for the album to debut and reach number 1. This is the first Spice Girls album to reach #1 in Australia. To date, their Greatest Hits album has been declared platinum in Australia and the UK, On 1 February 2008, it was announced that due to personal and family commitments their tour would come to an end in Toronto on 26 February 2008, meaning that tour dates in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Cape Town and Buenos Aires were cancelled. In March 2008, the group won the coveted "Icon Awards" at the 95.8 Capital Awards; Emma Bunton and Melanie C collected the award. In June, they captured the Glamour Award for the Best Band; Bunton, Melanie B and Halliwell received the award at the event. In September, the Spice Girls won the "Best Live Return Award" at the 2008 Live Vodafone Music Awards, beating acts such as Led Zeppelin and the Sex Pistols. Bunton was there to collect the award. In November 2008, Billboard announced the Spice Girls as the winners in the "Top Boxscore" category of the Billboard Touring Awards, for their 17 show stint at the O2 Arena in London.

Recent activities and Viva Forever: the Musical (2009–present)

In September 2009, rumours emerged of a second Spice Girls reunion after Brown, Chisholm, Halliwell and Bunton were photographed having a meal together in London. Victoria Beckham was absent from the night due to her work schedule. Brown then mused about the possibilities of another tour on her Twitter. Halliwell was then quoted during a television interview saying; “We always talk about creative plans and possibilities, definitely... And yes [we did talk about that last week]. Right now, we are gathering information and thinking about possibilities... but when you're evolving a plan you don't share it to the world until it's concrete...If they do cement themselves, I'll be the first to tell you. Brown then responded to questions regarding another reunion via her official message board, saying; "I would love to tell you. But until all 5 of us have finalised everything, out of respect for each other and the Spice brand, mum's the word for now. All 5 of us are in discussions right now, I’ll let you know what we decide on once all 5 of us agree. But it is all very exciting!". Bunton then told readers of Now Magazine that they had been discussing work-related subjects and that she's "...sure all five of us will be catching up again soon. Watch this space!" Bunton also stated later that the Spice Girls would not be reuniting for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In mid-October, Melanie C denied on GMTV all rumours about a possible reunion with Spice Girls, explaining that it is not feasible to have a comeback at the moment. In the same month, reports suggested that the Spice Girls are to star in a reality show in which they will cast female actors to play their roles in a musical. Melanie Brown denied this claim, stating that all members of the group were already accounted for and planning "something exciting". On 1 November 2009, Simon Fuller supposedly suggested that the Spice Girls would get together to perform at the 2012 Summer Olympics and kick-off their second reunion tour, though this has not been verified by any of the girls.

On 18 January 2010, it was announced that the group was nominated for a BRIT Award in the new category, "Best Performance of the 30th Year." They are nominated for their iconic performance of the singles, "Wannabe" and "Who Do You Think You Are". Following the group's nomination, the group's management updated their official website asking people to vote. A subscribers newsletter was additionally sent out on the same day the website was updated. This was the first time in nearly two years that the website had been updated. On 16 February 2010, the group won a BRIT Award for "Most Memorable Performance of 30 Years". Judy Craymer has teamed up with the Spice Girls and Simon Fuller to start developing a Spice Girls musical entitled Viva Forever. Although the girls will not be in the show, they will influence the show's cast and production choices in a story which uses their music but bears no relation to their personal story; similar to that of ABBA's music in Mamma Mia!. On 28 August 2010, it was reported that Jennifer Saunders will pen the script for the Spice Girls' musical, "Viva Forever." Saunders has twice previously worked with the group; the first time, appearing in the Comic Relief version for the Who Do You Think You Are video, the second making a cameo appearance in the 1997 feature film, Spiceworld.

Solo careers

Each member of the Spice Girls (except Beckham) has developed their own solo career since the height of Spicemania. Mel B was the first Spice Girl to release her solo material in 1998 with "I Want You Back" her collaboration with Missy Elliott, which became a number one hit in the UK. Later that year, Mel C's debut single "When You're Gone", a duet with Bryan Adams, was released. In 1999, after departing from the group, Halliwell released her first solo album Schizophonic, which would go on to produce three number one singles in the UK. In 1999, Chisholm released her debut solo album, Northern Star, which spawned two number one UK hits. Since 2000, each member has produced various solo music projects with varying degrees of success.

Geri Halliwell

After her departure in 1998, Halliwell became a successful music artist internationally. Her debut album, Schizophonic, sold twice as much as Forever in UK. The album produced one number 2 and three number 1 singles in UK. Following the release of her debut album, she released 2 more albums and 5 more singles (including her worldwide hit It's Raining Men, which was the second best selling single of 2001. In total, she sold more than 12 million records worldwide as a solo artist. In 2008, Halliwell published a book series named Ugenia Lavender. She was named in 2008 the biggest selling children author of the year in the UK, and she had two top selling autobiography books before her successful Ugenia Lavender series. Halliwell is now rumoured to be working on new music.

Melanie Chisholm

Chisholm took her first steps in establishing a solo career in late 1998 by singing with Canadian rocker Bryan Adams on the song "When You're Gone". Her debut album, Northern Star was released in 1999, became more successful than Forever in UK, where it was certified 3× Platinum, The album produced two #1 singles, "Never Be the Same Again" featuring Lisa Lopes and "I Turn To You". After the release of three more albums, Chisholm temporarily stopped recording and concentrated on motherhood. After a brief hiatus, she performed in the West End London musical Blood Brothers. So far, Chisholm sold close to 10 million records worldwide. Chisholm holds the position for most United Kingdom number-ones by a female co-writer. She is also third after Lennon and McCartney for the most UK number-one singles by a British co-writer and she is the only woman to reach the UK number-one as part of a quintet, quartet, duo and as a solo artist.

Emma Bunton

Bunton released her first solo single in 1999, "What I Am". The song, a cover, was in collaboration with the English duo Tin Tin Out. After strong competition from fellow Spice girl Halliwell, it reached #2 in the UK with Halliwell's "Lift Me Up" peaking at #1. In 2001, she released her debut album, A Girl Like Me, certified Gold in UK. and a leading judge on the UK reality skating show Dancing On Ice. She is now the host of the UK's Channel 5 talent show Don't Stop Believing.

Melanie Brown

Brown's first album Hot was released in October 2000. She had four UK top 20 singles, including two top 10 and her #1 hit, "I Want You Back" featuring Missy Elliott. After the release of her last single, "Today", and her second album, L.A. State of Mind, which both failed to make an impact, Brown became more successful in television for her participation in the US hit show Dancing with the Stars where she got the second place, and for her stage musical activities. In total, she sold over 500,000 records as a solo artist. Currently, Melanie divides her time spent in the United States and United Kingdom, where she is best known for her athletic appearance and fitness. Melanie is currently working on her third album, and has now a reality television show called which is being aired on Style channel across the globe. In October 2010, Brown announced that she is releasing her first solo single in 5 years, entitled "Lip Lock" a duet with R'n'B singer Ludacris.

Victoria Beckham

On August 2000, Beckham released her first solo single, Out of Your Mind, in collaboration with Dane Bowers and Truesteppers. The single debuted at number 2 in UK Single Charts. On 1 October 2001, Beckham released her self-titled album which peaked at number 10. After the release of her debut album, Beckham cancelled all plans on her singing career and only focused on fashion where she became more successful and highly regarded within both the fashion industry and pop culture. She is the only Spice Girl member that have never had a British solo number 1, although she is also the only member to have all her released albums and singles peak in the top 10. In total, Beckham sold more than 650,000 in UK alone with only an album and 4 singles. In 2010, she was nominated for the British Fashion Award by the British Fashion Council for her fashion range, nominated against designers Burberry, Mulberry and Pringle of Scotland.

Cultural impact

British music scene

After being shut out by the Britpop revolution that occurred in the early 1990s when bands like Oasis, Pulp and Blur dominated the charts, pop music found a voice again. The image of the Spice Girls was deliberately aimed at young girls, an audience of formidable size and potential; reinforcing the range of appeal within the target demographic were the bandmates' five distinctive personalities, which encouraged fans to identify with one member or another. This marketing was helped in no small way by the aliases assigned to each member of the group, similar to the marketing ploy used in children's serial literature of including several different character types in the storyline. Shortly after "Wannabe"'s release, the group appeared in Top of the Pops magazine where each member was given a nickname based upon her image: Adams became "Posh Spice", Bunton became "Baby Spice", Brown was named "Scary Spice", Halliwell was named "Ginger Spice", and Chisholm became "Sporty Spice".

"Girl Power"

The "Girl Power" has put a name to a social phenomenon, Some critics dismissed it as no more than a shallow marketing tactic, while others took issue with the emphasis on physical appearance, concerned about the potential impact on self-conscious and/or impressionable youngsters. Regardless, the phrase became a cultural phenomenon, In summation of the concept, author Ryan Dawson said, "The Spice Girls changed British culture enough for Girl Power to now seem completely unremarkable."

"Cool Britannia"

The term "Cool Britannia" became prominent in the media and represented the new political and social climate that was emerging with the advances made by New Labour and Tony Blair. Coming out of a period of 18 years of Conservative government, Tony Blair and New Labour were seen as young, cool and very appealing, a main driving force in making Britain look fashionable again. Although by no means responsible for the onset of "Cool Britannia", the arrival of the Spice Girls added to the new image and re-branding of Britain, and underlined the growing world popularity of British, rather than U.S., pop music. This fact was underlined at the BRIT Awards in 1997. The group won two awards but it was Halliwell's Union Jack dress that appeared in media coverage over the world and eventually became a symbol of "Cool Britannia".

1990s iconic status

The Union Jack dress that Halliwell wore has been identified with iconic status, becoming one of the most prominent symbols of 1990's pop culture. The dress was sold at a charity auction to Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas for a record £41,320, giving Halliwell the Guinness World Record for the most expensive piece of pop star clothing ever sold after interest from a frenzy of bidders. The dress was one of many items of Spice Girls memorabilia sold at the auction, where total sales reached £146,511 for charity.

Some sources revere the Spice Girls as "gay icons", especially those in the United Kingdom. In a survey in which more than 5,000 male and female homosexually-oriented individuals from the UK had voted, Victoria Beckham placed 12th and Geri Halliwell placed 43rd in the Top 50 gay icons of all time. Halliwell joked at the Video Music Awards in 1998 about her appearance as Ginger Spice: "As you have noted, I am no longer dressed like a drag queen." During an interview, Emma Bunton explained why the Spice Girls have so many gay fans: "We were really flattered with having such a huge gay fan base because they know about fashion and they know about songs ... I'm so flattered that we've got such a huge gay following, it's amazing."

Ten years after the release of their debut single, the Spice Girls were voted the biggest cultural icons of the 1990s by 80 percent in a UK poll of 1,000 people carried out for the board game "Trivial Pursuit", stating that "Girl Power" defined the decade.

Fashion trends and nicknames

As the girls become more popular, their images became as important as their music. In their early days of the band, the girls had a laid back and casual look, and maintained an image of everyday British young females. As their career progressed into a worldwide phenomenon, the girls and their manager Simon Fuller became more aware of the impact their images had. The Spice Girls soon became noticeable just by their clothes and hairstyles, and soon became icons of late 1990s fashion. In a summer 1996 issue of Top of the Pops, the girls were given nicknames for their images and personalities, and this soon had an impact on their fashion. In contrast to their early career, the girls soon began to differ their images from each other, and each girl had a unique look.

Victoria Beckham (née Adams) (March 1994–November 2000 and June 2007–present). Victoria was called Posh Spice because of her more upper middle-class background, her choppy brunette bob and refined attitude, form-fitting designer outfits and her love of high-heeled footwear.

Melanie Brown (March 1994–November 2000 & June 2007–present). Mel B was given the nickname Scary Spice because of her outrageous, "in-your-face" attitude, "loud" Leeds accent, throaty laugh, pierced tongue, manner of dress (which often consisted of leopard-print outfits), and her voluminously curly hair.

Emma Bunton (October 1994–November 2000 and June 2007–present). Emma was called Baby Spice because she was the youngest of the group, wore her long blonde hair in pigtails, wore babydoll dresses, had an innocent smile, and had a girly girl personality.

Melanie Chisholm (March 1994–November 2000 and June 2007–present). Melanie C called Sporty because she usually wore a tracksuit with her hair in a ponytail and sported a tough girl attitude. She also possessed true athletic abilities, her signature being her ability to perform back handsprings.

Geri Halliwell (March 1994–May 1998 and June 2007–present). Geri was called Ginger Spice because of her "liveliness, zest, and flaming red hair." She often wore outrageous stage outfits, as in the iconic Union Jack dress. Geri was seen by many as de facto leader of the group thanks to her articulate conversational style and business savvy nature.

Portrayal in the media

The Spice Girls became media icons in Great Britain and a regular feature of the British press; to obtain stories and gossip about the group, as a supposed affair between "Baby Spice" Emma Bunton and manager Simon Fuller, which became fodder for numerous tabloids. Rumors of in-fighting and conflicts within the group also have hit the headlines, specially between Geri Halliwell and Mel B; the rumours suggested that they were fighting to be the leader of the group. The rumors reached their height, when the Spice Girls dismissed their manager Simon Fuller during the power struggles, with Fuller reportedly receiving a 10 million pound severance check to keep quiet about the details of his sacking. Months later, in May 1998, Halliwell would leave the band, in the middle of rumors of fight with Mel B, the news of Halliwell's departure was covered as a major news story by media around the world, and became the biggest entertainment news stories of the year. During the ceremony, Geri's breasts were exposed twice causing controversy.

The stories of their encounters with other celebrities also became fodder for the press; In November, the British Royal Family were considered fans of the Spice Girls, including The Prince of Wales and his son Prince Harry of Wales. That month, South African President Nelson Mandela said: "These are my heroes. This is one of the greatest moments in my life" in an encounter organized by Prince Charles, who said, "It is the second greatest moment in my life, the first time I met them was the greatest".

Victoria Adams started dating football player David Beckham in 1997 after they had met at a charity football match, prompting him to request a meeting with her. The couple announced their engagement in 1998 and were dubbed "Posh and Becks" by the media, After marriage, they have been called the celebrity couple of the decade and are Britain's biggest power-couple, attracting much media coverage in the following years.

Other Brand Ventures

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Film

In June 1997, the group began filming their movie debut with director Bob Spiers. Meant to accompany the album, the comical style and content of the movie was in the same vein as The Beatles' films in the 1960s such as A Hard Day's Night. The light-hearted comedy, intended to capture the spirit of the Spice Girls, featured a plethora of stars including Roger Moore, Hugh Laurie, Elton John, Richard O'Brien, Jennifer Saunders, Richard E. Grant, Elvis Costello, and Meat Loaf. Released in December 1997, Spiceworld: The Movie proved to be a hit at the box office breaking the record for the highest-ever weekend debut for Super Bowl Weekend (25 January 1998) in the US, with box office sales of $10,527,222. This record has since been beaten by The Butterfly Effect in 2004. The movie took in total $77 million dollars at the box office worldwide, $100 million combining cinema tickets and DVD Sales, including $30 million in America and £11 million in Britain. Despite being a commercial success, the film was widely panned by critics; the movie was nominated for seven awards at the 1999 Golden Raspberry Awards where they "won" the award for "Worst Actress".

Television

The first television special that the Spice Girls filmed was a documentary of their experiences from 1996–97, titled One Hour of Girl Power. Later, Girl Talk was released. It was a television special where the Spice Girls spoke individually about themselves and the group. In April 1997, The Spice Girls appeared on the popular American television show Saturday Night Live, singing "Wannabe" and "Say You'll Be There". In November 1997, An Audience With The Spice Girls was screened for British channel ITV. The show attracted 11.8 million viewers in UK, one fifth of the population. In January 1998, The Spice Girls appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, singing two songs, followed by an interview with Oprah.

In 1999 the TV special, The Spice Girls in America: A Tour Story was aired. This followed the Spice Girls' exploits and adventures in America, focusing on their tour of the USA, and when Geri Halliwell left the Spice Girls. In 2003 the television series on VH1 Behind the Music devoted a chapter to tell the story of the Spice Girls, as well as E! True Hollywood Story, the TV documentary series on the E! Entertainment Television cable.

The first public appearance on stage by the Spice Girls Reunion was made at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, where the group performed at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. They performed two songs, 1998 single "Stop" and the lead single off their greatest hits album, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)". The show was filmed by CBS on 15 November 2007 for broadcast on 4 December 2007,

In December 2007, the official documentary, Spice Girls: Giving You Everything that made its world première in Australia on FOX8, It later aired in Canada on 19 December 2007 (on the CTV), and on the BBC in the United Kingdom on 31 December 2007. The film features narrative insight and commentary from the five girls themselves. The title of the documentary comes from chorus lyrics from their UK #1 single "Say You'll Be There". The episode attracted 3.6 million viewers in the UK.

Musical

In mid-October 2009, Now Magazine reported that the group, lead by Geri, were set to produce a West End musical that would highlight their "rags-to-riches" story.

Late November 2009, reports indicate that a name for the musical had already been chosen; "Viva Forever," after the Girls' 1998 number one hit. Jennifer Saunders is set to write the book.

Merchandise and sponsorship deals

video game for PlayStation.]]

The year 1997 saw the Spice Girls capitalizing on their fame through a multi-million dollar phenomenon of merchandise, with hundreds of official products, including Chupa Chups, Walkers Crisps, Cadbury Chocolate, Polaroid, Impulse Deodorant, Aprilia Scooters, Domino Sugar, Spice Girls Dolls, a PlayStation video game, Sponsorship with ASDA Supermarket chain Channel Five (UK), and signed contract with Pepsi earned the group over £5 million (US$10 million). The Spice Girls brand had produced over £300 million pounds worldwide through merchandise in 1997. Globally, the group's total grosses are estimated to have been $500–800 millions of dollars between 1996 and 1998.

During the summer of 1997, the group was criticized for "selling out" to worldwide brands in the, being accused of overexposure and signing too many sponsorship contracts with large coporate businesses.

Polaroid: A regular Polaroid instant camera with a pink-and-purple shell and Spice Girl badging was produced along with a Spice Girls branded disposable Polaroid camera and flashlight. Each of the girls filmed a television advert promoting new types of Polaroid film (i.e. black & white, writable, etc.), in addition to making a group advert.

Impulse: The girls launched a fragrance known as "Impulse Spice", Deodorant and shower gel products were produced. One television advertisement was made for the product.

PlayStation: "SpiceWorld", a video game featuring computer-animated cartoons of the girls was developed in 1998.

Aprilia Scooters: 5 different scooters, each promoting a Spice Girl, were created and marketed as the "Spice Sonic Effect"

ASDA Supermarkets: British supermarket chain ASDA, created over 40 different Spice Items for Christmas 1997 developing goods such as party supplies, xmas supplies, Chocolate biscuits, Cookies, Cakes, Pizzas, Towels, Pillows, Bean Bags, Clothing supplies even including spice branded platform shoe sneakers and even Spice Girl branded kids meals in the stores' restaurants. Signed contract with ASDA for earned over £1 millions (US$2 million) Tesco Supermarkets: A two-part television ad campaign celebrating Christmas with the Spice Girls aired in 2007, been paid £5 million (US$10 million). Certified sales of 13 million albums in Europe, "Wannabe" is the most successful song released by an all female group. Sales are in the region of 7 million copies. Spice is the 18th biggest-selling album of all time in the UK with over 3 million copies sold, topped the charts for 15 weeks (non-consecutive) the most by a female group in the UK Spice is the biggest-selling album of the all time by a girl group with sales of 23 million copies worldwide. The Spice Girls achieved the highest ever annual earnings by an all female group in 1998 with an income of £49 million (approximately US$100 million). "Spiceworld" shipped 7 million copies in just two weeks, including 1.4 million in Britain alone – the largest-ever shipment of an album over 14 days. broke the record for the highest-ever weekend debut for Super Bowl Weekend (25 January 1998) in the US, with box office sales of $10,527,222. This record has since been beaten by The Butterfly Effect in 2004.

In Canada, "Goodbye" sat at the number-one position for sixteen consecutive weeks. The song ranks in Canada as the third best-selling single of the 1990s and the best-selling single of 1999 certified 2× Platinum.

Received several awards including five BRIT Awards, three American Music Awards, three MTV Europe Music Awards, one MTV Video Music Awards and three World Music Awards.

Tickets for Spice Girls reunion shows in London sold out in 38 seconds. In total, the tour took more than $70 million.

Discography

Spice (1996)

Spiceworld (1997)

Forever (2000)

Greatest Hits (2007)

See also

List of best-selling girl groups

List of best-selling music artists

List of Spice Girls awards

References

Book references

Hardy, Phil. The Faber Companion to 20th century Popular Music (Faber and Faber, 2001) ISBN 0-571-19608-X

Larkin, Colin. The Virgin Encyclopaedia of Popular Music (4th ed.) (Virgin Books, 2003.) ISBN 1-85227-923-0

Sinclair, David. : How the Spice Girls Reinvented Pop Fame (Omnibuss Press, 2004) ISBN 0-7119-8643-6

External links

Official Website

Official YouTube Channel

Category:Virgin Records artists Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:Juno Award winners Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Musical quintets Category:2000s music groups Category:Girl groups Category:1990s music groups Category:Eurodance groups Category:English pop music groups Category:English dance music groups Category:British girl groups Category:Musical groups established in 1994 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2000 Category:Musical groups reestablished in 2007 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2008

Name	Clive James
Birthname	Vivian James
Birthdate	October 07, 1939
Birthplace	Kogarah, Sydney, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Occupation	Essayist, poet, broadcaster
Notableworks	Cultural Amnesia
Spouse	Prue Shaw
Children	Claerwen JamesLucinda James
Influences	Orwell, Schnitzler, Zweig, Friedell, Fitzgerald, Camus, Aron, Auden, MacNeice, Larkin, Vidal
Awards	Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal for Literature
Website	http://www.clivejames.com

Clive James, AM (born 7 October 1939) is an Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet and memoirist, best known for his autobiographical series Unreliable Memoirs, for his chat shows and documentaries on British television and for his prolific journalism. He has lived and worked in the United Kingdom since the early 1960s.

Biography

Clive James was born Vivian James in Kogarah, Sydney. He was allowed to change his name as a child because "after Vivien Leigh played Scarlett O'Hara the name became irrevocably a girl's name no matter how you spelled it".

His father was taken prisoner by the Japanese during the Second World War, and although he survived the POW camp, he died when the plane returning him to Australia crashed in Taiwan, and he was buried in Hong Kong. James, who was an only child, was brought up by his mother in the Sydney suburb of Kogarah.

An IQ test taken in childhood put his IQ at 140. He was educated at Sydney Technical High School (despite winning a bursary to Sydney Boys High School) and the University of Sydney, where he studied psychology and became associated with the Sydney Push, a libertarian, intellectual subculture. At the university he edited the student newspaper Honi Soit and directed the annual Union Revue. After graduating, James worked for a year as an assistant editor for The Sydney Morning Herald.

In early 1962, James moved to England, where he made his home. During his first three years in London he shared a flat with the Australian film director Bruce Beresford (disguised as Dave Dalziel in the first three volumes of James' memoirs), was a neighbour of Australian artist Brett Whiteley, became acquainted with Barry Humphries (disguised as Bruce Jennings), and had a variety of occasionally disastrous short term jobs (sheet metal worker, library assistant, photo archivist, market researcher).

James later gained a place at Pembroke College, Cambridge to read English literature. Whilst there he contributed to all the undergraduate periodicals, was a member and later President of the Cambridge Footlights, and appeared on University Challenge as captain of the Pembroke team. During one summer vacation, he worked as a circus roustabout in order to save enough money to travel to Italy. His contemporaries at Cambridge included Germaine Greer (known as Romaine Rand in the first three volumes of his memoirs) and Eric Idle. Having, he claims, scrupulously avoided reading any of the course material (but having read widely otherwise in English and foreign literature), James graduated with a —better than he had expected—and began a PhD on Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Career

Critic and essayist

James worked as a television critic for The Observer between 1972 and 1982. Selections from the column were published in three books — Visions Before Midnight, The Crystal Bucket and Glued to the Box — and finally in a compendium, On Television.

He has written literary criticism extensively for newspapers, magazines and periodicals in Britain, Australia and America, including, among many others, The Australian Book Review, The Monthly, The Atlantic Monthly, the New York Review of Books, The Liberal and the Times Literary Supplement. John Gross included James's essay 'A Blizzard of Tiny Kisses' in the Oxford Book of Essays in 1992 and in 1999.

The Metropolitan Critic, his first collection of literary criticism, was published in 1974, followed by At the Pillars of Hercules (1979), From the Land of Shadows (1982), Snakecharmers in Texas (1988), The Dreaming Swimmer (1992), Even As We Speak (2004), The Meaning of Recognition (2005) and Cultural Amnesia (2007), a collection of mini-intellectual biographies of over 100 significant figures in modern culture, history and politics. A defence of humanism, liberal democracy and literary clarity, the book was listed among the best of 2007 by The Village Voice.

Another volume of essays, The Revolt of the Pendulum, was published in June 2009.

He has also published Flying Visits, a collection of travel writing for The Observer.

Poet and lyricist

James has published poetry in periodicals all over the English-speaking world. He has published several books of poetry, including Poem of the Year (1983), a verse-diary, Other Passports: poems 1958–1985, a first collection, and The Book of My Enemy (2003), a volume that takes its title from James' poem, The Book of My Enemy Has Been Remaindered.

He has published four mock-heroic poems: The Fate of Felicity Fark in the Land of the Media: a moral poem (1975), Peregrine Prykke's Pilgrimage Through the London Literary World (1976), Britannia Bright's Bewilderment in the Wilderness of Westminster (1976) and Charles Charming's Challenges on the Pathway to the Throne (1981).

During the seventies he also collaborated on six albums of songs with Pete Atkin:

Beware Of The Beautiful Stranger (1970),

Driving Through Mythical America (1971),

A King At Nightfall (1973),

The Road Of Silk (1974),

Secret Drinker (1974), and

Live Libel (1975).

A revival of interest in the songs in the late 1990s, triggered largely by the creation by Steve Birkill of an Internet mailing list "Midnight Voices" in 1997, led to the reissue of the six albums on CD between 1997 and 2001, as well as live performances by the pair. A double-album of previously-unrecorded songs written in the seventies and entitled The Lakeside Sessions: Volumes 1 and 2 was released in 2002 and "Winter Spring", an album of new material written by James and Atkin was released in 2003.

James acknowledged the importance of the "Midnight Voices" group in bringing to wider attention the lyric-writing aspect of his career. He wrote in November 1997 that, "one of the midnight voices of my own fate should be [that] the music of Pete Atkin continues to rank high among the blessings of my life, and on my behalf as well as his I bless you all for your attention".

Novelist and memoirist

In 1979 James published his first book of autobiography, Unreliable Memoirs, which recounted his early life in Australia and extended to over a hundred reprintings. It was followed by four other volumes of autobiography: Falling Towards England (1985), which covered his London years; May Week Was in June (1990), which dealt with his time at Cambridge; North Face of Soho (2006), and The Blaze of Obscurity (2009), concerning his subsequent career. An omnibus edition of the first three volumes was published under the generic title of Always Unreliable.

James has also written four novels: Brilliant Creatures (1983), The Remake (1987), Brrm! Brrm! (1991), published in the United States as The Man from Japan, and The Silver Castle (1996).

In 1999, John Gross included an excerpt from Unreliable Memoirs in The New Oxford Book of English Prose. John Carey chose Unreliable Memoirs as one of the fifty most enjoyable books of the twentieth century in his book Pure Pleasure (2000).

Television

James developed his television career as a guest commentator on various shows, including as an occasional co-presenter with Tony Wilson on the first series of So It Goes, the Granada Television pop music show. On the show when the Sex Pistols made their TV debut, James commented: "During the recording, the task of keeping the little bastards under control was given to me. With the aid of a radio microphone, I was able to shout them down, but it was a near thing...they attacked everything around them and had difficulty in being polite even to each other."..

James subsequently hosted the ITV show Clive James on Television, in which he showcased unusual or (often unintentionally) amusing television programmes from around the world, notably the Japanese TV show Endurance. After his defection to the BBC in 1989, he hosted a similarly-formatted programme called Saturday Night Clive (1988–1990) which later became Sunday Night Clive. In 1995 he set up Watchmaker Productions to produce The Clive James Show for ITV, and a subsequent series launched the British career of singer and comedienne Margarita Pracatan. James hosted one of the early chat shows on Channel 4 and fronted the BBC's Review of the Year programmes in the late 1980s and 1990s, which formed part of the channel's New Year's Eve celebrations.

In the mid-1980s, James featured in a travel programme called Clive James in... (beginning with Clive James in Las Vegas) for LWT (now ITV) and later switched to BBC, where he continued producing travel programmes, this time called Clive James' Postcard from... (beginning with Clive James' Postcard from Miami). He was also one of the original team of presenters of the BBC's The Late Show, hosting a round-table discussion on Friday nights.

His major documentary series Fame in the 20th Century (1993) was broadcast in the United Kingdom by the BBC, in Australia by the ABC and in the United States by the PBS network. This series dealt with the concept of "fame" in the 20th century, following over a course of eight episodes (each one chronologically and roughly devoted to one decade of the century, from the 1900s to the 1980s) discussions about world famous people of the 20th century. Through the use of film footage, James presented a history of "fame" which explored its growth to today's global proportions. In his closing monologue he remarked, "Achievement without fame can be a rewarding life, while fame without achievement is no life at all."

James presented the 1982, 1984 and 1986 official Formula One season review videos. He also presented The Clive James Formula 1 Show for ITV to coincide with their Formula One coverage in .

One of his most famous quotations concerning television is, "Anyone afraid of what he thinks television does to the world is probably just afraid of the world".

Radio

In 2007, James started presenting the BBC Radio 4 show A Point of View, with transcripts appearing in the "Magazine" section of BBC News Online. In this show James discussed various issues with a slightly humorous slant, similar to a newspaper op-ed. Topics covered included media portrayal of torture, young black role models and corporate rebranding. Three of James's broadcasts in 2007 were shortlisted for the 2008 Orwell Prize.

In October 2009 James read a radio version of his book The Blaze of Obscurity, on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week programme.

In December 2009 James talked about the P-51 Mustang and other American fighter aircraft of Word War II in The Museum of Curiosity on BBC Radio 4.

He has posted vlog conversations from his internet show Talking in the Library, including conversations with Ian McEwan, Cate Blanchett, Julian Barnes, Jonathan Miller and Terry Gilliam. In addition to the poetry and prose of James himself, the site features the works of other literary figures such as Les Murray and Michael Frayn, as well as the works of painters, sculptors and photographers such as John Olsen and Jeffrey Smart.

Theatre

In 2008 James performed in two self-titled shows at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival: Clive James in Conversation and Clive James in the Evening. He took the latter show on a limited tour of the UK in 2009.

Awards

In 1992, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia and in 2003 he was awarded the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal for Literature. He has received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Sydney and the East Anglia. In April 2008, James was awarded a Special Award for Writing and Broadcasting by the judges of the Orwell Prize.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2010.

Personal life

James is married to Prue Shaw, an academic in modern languages specialising in Italian and medieval romance philology. The couple have two daughters, Claerwen (a painter), and Lucinda (a civil servant). James divides his time between a converted warehouse flat in London and a house in Cambridge. James generally maintains a strict policy of not talking about his family publicly.

A friend of Diana, Princess of Wales, upon her death James wrote a piece for The New Yorker entitled "I Wish I'd Never Met Her", recording his overbearing grief. Since then he has declined to comment upon their friendship.

While a detractor of communism and socialism for their tendency towards totalitarianism, James still identifies himself with the left, accepting socialism's planned economy and state-owned media and eschewing the free market and privatisation of capitalism. In a 2006 interview in The Sunday Times, James states of himself: "I was brought up on the proletarian left, and I remain there. The fair go for the workers is fundamental, and I don't believe the free market has a mind".

In a speech given in 1991, he criticised privatisation: "The idea that Britain's broadcasting system—for all its drawbacks one of the country's greatest institutions—was bound to be improved by being subjected to the conditions of a free market: there was no difficulty in recognising that notion as politically illiterate. But for some reason people did have difficulty in realising that it was economically illiterate too".

Overall, James identifies as a liberal social democrat. He strongly supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, saying in 2007 that "the war only lasted a few days" and that the ongoing Iraq war is "the Iraq peace." He has also written that it was "official policy to rape a woman in front of her family" during Saddam Hussein's regime and that women have enjoyed more rights since the invasion.

James is currently a Patron of the Burma Campaign UK an organisation that campaigns for human rights and democracy in Burma.

Describing religions as "advertising agencies for a product that doesn't exist," James is an atheist and sees this as the default, obvious position.

James is able to read, with varying fluency, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Latin, ancient Greek, Russian and Japanese. A tango enthusiast, he has traveled to Buenos Aires for dance lessons and has a dance floor in his house which allows him to practise.

References in popular culture

Monty Python parodied James' writing in a passage of The Brand New Monty Python Bok. Craig Brown has parodied James' writing numerous times.

Bibliography

Autobiography

* Unreliable Memoirs (1980)

* Falling Towards England (1985)

* May Week Was in June (1990)

* North Face of Soho (2006)

* The Blaze of Obscurity (2009)

Fiction

* Brilliant Creatures (1983)

* The Remake (1987)

* Brrm! Brrm! (1991), released in the United States as The Man From Japan (1993)

* The Silver Castle (1996)

Poetry

* The Fate of Felicity Fark in the Land of the Media: a moral poem (1975)

* Peregrine Prykke's Pilgrimage Through the London Literary World (1976)

* Britannia Bright's Bewilderment in the Wilderness of Westminster (1976)

* Fan-mail: seven verse letters (1977)

* Charles Charming's Challenges on the Pathway to the Throne (1981)

* Poem of the Year (1983)

* Other Passports: poems 1958–1985 (1986)

* The Book of My Enemy (2003) (Poetry and lyrics)

* Opal Sunset: Selected Poems 1958–2009 (2009)

Non-Fiction

* The Metropolitan Critic (1974)

* (1977)

* At the Pillars of Hercules (1979)

* (1981)

* From the Land of Shadows (1982)

* Glued to the Box: television criticism from the Observer 1979–82 (1983)

* Clive James On Television (one-volume edition of the television criticism books) (1991)

* Flying Visits: Postcards from the Observer, 1976–83 (1984)

* Snakecharmers in Texas: essays 1980–87 (1988)

* The Dreaming Swimmer: non-fiction, 1987–1992 (1992)

* Fame in the 20th Century (1993)

* Even as We Speak (2004)

* The Meaning of Recognition: New Essays 2001–2005 (2005)

* Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts (2007)

* The Revolt of the Pendulum: Essays 2005–2009 (2009)

See also

Peter Porter (poet), friend, and a regular partner in discussions on radio

Edward Pygge, a pseudonym used by James

Notes

External links

CliveJames.com

The Clive James Show Clive James recorded these video interviews with artists, writers, filmakers and actors in his London home.

Clive James at the Internet Movie Database

Interfacing With Clive James by Brendan Bernhard, New York Sun, 18 January 2006

Clive James at Edinburgh Comedy Festival

Interview, Leicester Mercury

Audio: Clive James in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion programme The Forum

Clive James Interviewed by Alyssa McDonald on New Statesman.

Category:Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Category:Australian memoirists Category:Australian travel writers Category:Australian literary critics Category:University of Sydney alumni Category:People from Sydney Category:Edinburgh Comedy Festival Category:Members of the Order of Australia Category:Australian expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:Australian poets Category:Australian atheists Category:1939 births Category:Living people Category:Sydney Technical High School alumni Category:University Challenge contestants Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature