Книга: Geri Halliwell «Geri: Just For the Record»

Geraldine Estelle "Geri" Halliwell (born 6 August 1972) is an English pop singer-songwriter, author and actress. After coming to international prominence in the late 1990s as Ginger Spice, a member of the girl group the Spice Girls, Halliwell launched her solo career in 1998 and released her album Schizophonic. Since then, she has released two more studio albums – Scream If You Wanna Go Faster and Passion – and four number one singles at the UK Singles Chart, "Mi Chico Latino", "Lift Me Up", "Bag It Up" and "It's Raining Men". In 2008, Halliwell published a book series named Ugenia Lavender.^[1] As a solo artist, Halliwell has sold 12 million records worldwide and been nominated for two Brit Awards in 2000 and 2002.

In 1999, Halliwell launched her solo career and released her debut album Schizophonic, with the lead single "Look at Me", produced by Absolute and Phil Bucknall. "Look at Me" would go on to sell over one million copies worldwide, followed by further number ones at the UK Singles Chart "Mi Chico Latino", "Lift Me Up" and "Bag It Up". Halliwell performed "Bag It Up" during the BRIT Awards ceremony in 2000, emerging between giant inflatable legs, ripping off her shirt and walking in stiletto heels over the backs of topless pink-haired men whilst performing the song.^[2]

"Look at Me" was released to radio in the United States in late 1999, receiving limited airplay. With only a radio single, Schizophonic debuted at number forty-two on the Billboard 200 before dropping out within the next month. The album was eventually certified Gold, distributing over 500,000 copies.^[3] In 1999, she wrote an autobiography If Only, in which described her life as a Spice Girl.^[4]

Early life

Halliwell was born at Watford General Hospital, Watford, Hertfordshire England, to Laurence Francis Halliwell (1922–1993),^[5] who was of English descent, and his wife Ana María (née Hidalgo), who is a Spaniard from Huesca. Halliwell grew up on a council estate in North Watford.^[6] Halliwell took her A-Levels at Camden School for Girls, obtaining an A-level in English at A grade standard, having taken her GCSEs at Watford Girls Grammar School. Before starting her music career, Halliwell had worked as a nightclub dancer in Majorca,^[6] a presenter on the Turkish version of Let's Make a Deal^[6] and as a glamour model.^[6] Following her rise to fame with the Spice Girls, nude photos of Halliwell were re-published in a number of magazines in 1992 and 1995 including Playboy and Penthouse.^[7][8]

Career

1994–98: Spice Girls

Halliwell first found fame as one of the five members of the girl group the Spice Girls, and was dubbed "Ginger Spice" by Top of the Pops magazine in 1996.^{[citation needed]} Geri became renowned for wearing outrageous stage costumes and often garnered extensive publicity.^{[citation needed]} The group sold over 65 million records and are the best selling girl group of all time.^{[citation needed]} Their debut single "Wannabe" became the first of nine number-ones in the United Kingdom and reached the top position in 41 countries around the globe, including Australia, Canada and the United States. Other successful releases followed, including "Say You'll Be There" and "2 Become 1" from Spice, and "Spice Up Your Life", "Too Much" and "Stop" from Spiceworld.^[9]

On 30 May 1998, Halliwell left the Spice Girls due to depression and differences between the group.^[10] The first official confirmation was an announcement to the media by her solicitor on 31 May.^{[citation needed]} Her action aroused controversy, her former group being due to embark on a North American tour, which they eventually completed without her.^[11] Although she had already left the group, the Spice Girls released "Viva Forever", the final music video to feature Halliwell's likeness. After she left, the other girls co-wrote a few songs about her, which appeared on their album Forever: "Goodbye" and "Let Love Lead the Way".^[12]

1999–01: Schizophonic

Halliwell appeared in a 90 minute documentary Geri for the British television channel Channel 4 by Molly Dineen.^[13] In 1999, Halliwell launched her solo career and released her debut album Schizophonic, with the lead single "Look at Me", produced by Absolute and Phil Bucknall. "Look at Me" would go on to sell over one million copies worldwide,^{[citation needed]} followed by further number ones at the UK Singles Chart "Mi Chico Latino", "Lift Me Up" and "Bag It Up". Halliwell performed "Bag It Up" during the BRIT Awards ceremony in 2000, emerging between giant inflatable legs, ripping off her shirt and walking in stiletto heels over the backs of topless pink-haired men whilst performing the song.^{[citation needed]}

"Look at Me" was released to radio in the United States in late 1999, receiving limited airplay. With only a radio single, Schizophonic debuted at number forty-two on the Billboard 200 before dropping out within the next month. The album was eventually certified Gold, distributing over 500,000 copies.^[3] "Mi Chico Latino" did not have a big impact on American radio, and no further singles from Schizophonic or albums were released in the United States.^{[citation needed]} In 1999, she wrote an autobiography If Only, in which described her life as a Spice Girl.^[4]

2001–04: Scream If You Wanna Go Faster

In 2001, Halliwell followed up with her second album, Scream If You Wanna Go Faster. It also included her cover version of The Weather Girls' 1983 hit, "It's Raining Men", used on the Bridget Jones's Diary film soundtrack, and the video game, DDRMAX2 Dance Dance Revolution 7thMix. The song also won her the International Song of the Year award at the 2002 NRJ Music Awards.^{[citation needed]} The song has been added to the album at the last minute, and another song "Feels Like Sex" had already been slated as the lead single.^{[citation needed]} The singles that followed, "Scream If You Wanna Go Faster" and "Calling", reached, respectively, number eight and number seven in the United Kingdom.^{[citation needed]} Halliwell released a special French edition of the single, entitled "Au Nom de L'amour".^{[citation needed]} Scream If You Wanna Go Faster was not released in the United States.^{[citation needed]}

In 2002, Halliwell was featured alongside Pete Waterman and Louis Walsh as a judge on the television series Popstars: The rivals which created Girls Aloud.^[4] The following year, she released her second autobiography, Just for the Record, detailing her rise to fame and her turbulent celebrity lifestyle.^[4] She has also released two Yoga DVDs with her yoga teacher Katy Appleton, Geri Yoga and Geri Body Yoga.^[14] In the United States, Halliwell appeared as a judge on the reality programme All American Girl and as a guest reporter on celebrity-based series Extra. She has also made appearances in the television series Sex and the City and in the 2004 film Fat Slags, based on characters from Viz Magazine. In 2004, Halliwell appeared on channel Five as one of the hosts of the Party in the Park event for The Prince's Trust, the presenter and main performer of the Tickled Pink Girls' night in Live! event and an appearance in a documentary There's Something About Geri.^[4]

2005–06: Passion

In late 2004, Halliwell made a return to music with the single "Ride It", which reached number four in the United Kingdom and number one on the dance charts.^{[citation needed]} However, several months elapsed before another single was released, during which time she was apparently instructed to record some new tracks for the as yet unreleased album by her record company, which was unhappy with the setlist.^[15] Halliwell planned her first solo tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland, but due to lack of ticket sales, compounded by the label's pressure on Halliwell to record additional songs, led to the cancellation of the tour.^{[citation needed]} Eventually a new single, "Desire", was released on 30 May 2005, reaching number 22 in the UK Singles Chart and number one on the UK Dance Charts.^{[citation needed]} Released shortly after, the album Passion similarly received little attention from the public or critics, and stalled at number 41 in the UK charts.^{[citation needed]} Halliwell's recording contract with EMI was subsequently not renewed, and in recent interviews Halliwell has stated that she is not interested in recording another album at the moment and was content with writing children's books and being a mother.^{[citation needed]}

2007–09: Spice Girls re-union and Ugenia Lavender

Halliwell at a book signing in 2008.

Halliwell (centre of photo) performing live with the Spice Girls in Canada

On 28 June 2007, Halliwell announced she was joining her former group-mates for a concert tour "Return of the Spice Girls".^{[citation needed]} Part of the setlist of the reunion tour features Halliwell performing solo, singing her cover of It's Raining Men. It was announced on 1 February that the tour would end early, on 26 February 2008.^[16]

On 12 April 2007, it was announced that Halliwell had signed a six-book deal with Macmillan Children's Books.^[17] The books follow the adventures of nine-year-old Ugenia, a character based on Halliwell,^[18] alongside her friends Bronte, Rudy and Trevor.^[1] Other characters are said by Halliwell to be loosely based on Gordon Ramsay,^[19] George Michael,^[20] Marilyn Monroe,^[21] Vincent van Gogh,^[21] Wayne Rooney^[22] and the character Justin Suarez from the TV series Ugly Betty.^[22] The character Princess Posh Vattoria, a caricature of Halliwell's bandmate Victoria Beckham, was featured in early drafts but has not appeared in the book series.^[23]

Halliwell appeared in the film Crank: High Voltage alongside friend, actor, John Damon and on the BBC 1's The One Show on 7 May 2009.^[24] On 24 May 2009, she spoke to the Speed TV reporter Peter Windsor in the pit lane just prior to the start of the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix. In interviews to promote the book series Ugenia Lavender, Halliwell said she had no plans to return to a solo musical career in the near future.^[25]

2010–present: fourth solo album

In March 2010, vocal coach and singer Carrie Grant announced on ITV1's The Alan Titchmarsh Show that Halliwell would be making a return to music. The following month, Halliwell announced through her official website that she was back in the studio and recording.^[26] In 2010, Halliwell stood in as a guest judge on The X Factor for Dannii Minogue at the Glasgow auditions.^[27] Halliwell is to release her own range of bikini's through retailer Next in January 2011.^[28] On Christmas Day 2010 she played a cameo in the mockumentary Come Fly with Me. In July 2011 Halliwell confirmed the album was ready.^[29]

Personal and media life

On 14 May 2006, Halliwell gave birth to her daughter, Bluebell Madonna, by caesarean section at London's Portland Hospital.^[30] Sacha Gervasi is reported to be the child's father, but Halliwell has never publicly confirmed that.^[31]

Charity work

In 1999, Halliwell became a representative for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).^{[citation needed]} In 2000, Halliwell appeared in the two part documentary series Geri's World Walkabout for the BBC, which followed her work with the UN and other travels. Halliwell picked up further UN work in 2006, by visiting Zambia from 14–16 November, to promote greater international awareness of the urgent need to reduce maternal death and halt the spread of HIV/AIDS.^{[citation needed]}

Political affiliations

In the run-up to the 1997 UK General Election, Halliwell declared: "I saw a lot of what Mrs Thatcher did. She was definitely the original Spice Girl rising from the greengrocer's daughter to Prime Minister." For this, Lauren Laverne called her "Tory scum".^[32] She claimed that her background was deeply-rooted in support for the Conservative Party and that Thatcher was the pioneer of 'Girl Power' and the spiritual sixth member of the Spice Girls. She claimed in 1996 that Tony Blair was "not a safe pair of hands for the economy".^[33] By the 2001 General Election Halliwell had switched her support to Tony Blair and the Labour Party, making a cameo appearance in one of their party election broadcasts.^[34]

Discography

• 1999: Schizophonic
• 2001: Scream If You Wanna Go Faster
• 2005: Passion
• 2012: New album

Filmography

Television

Films

Bibliography

• 1999 – If Only (autobiography)
• 2002 – Just for the Record
• 2008 – Ugenia Lavender

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Official website
• Geri Halliwell at the Internet Movie Database
• Geri Halliwell at TV.com