Mel B (Melanie Brown)

Melanie Brown

Melanie Janine Brown (born 29 May 1975), often better known as Mel B, is an English pop singer-songwriter, actress, author and television presenter. She is best known as Scary Spice, one of the members of the girl group the Spice Girls.

Mel B - Feels So Good


Chelsea Lately: Mel B.


Melanie B (feat Missy Elliott) - I Want You Back (Full)


Loose Women discuss sex toys with Mel B & pubic hair bleaching with Patsy Kensit


Mel B - Hot Wet Body Work Out


Mel B's Bratt Decor Nursery on Access Hollywood


UMove Fitness First Mel B Nintendo Wii controller by BLAZE - Get Your Kids Fit and Off The Couch


LET'S DANCE with Mel B - Official Trailer


Let's Dance with Mel B - OFFICIAL TRAILER (2011)



Early life

Brown was born in Harehills, Leeds, UK, to a white English mother, Andrea, and a black Nevisian father, Martin,[4] and grew up in Burley, Leeds, West Yorkshire. She has a younger sister named Danielle[4] who is an actress. She studied performing arts at Intake High School, in Leeds, before entering the entertainment industry. For a time she worked as a dancer in the holiday resort, Blackpool, Lancashire. After seeing an advertisement for an audition in a newspaper, Brown started her music career in a band known as Touch. The group left the original management team and eventually teamed up with music manager Simon Fuller. In this pairing, she and the other girls became known as the Spice Girls.
[edit]Musical career

[edit]1994–01: Scary Spice

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2010)
In 1996 Brown, along with Melanie Chisholm, Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, and Victoria Beckham (who was then credited by her maiden name as Victoria Adams), shot to fame as a member of the Spice Girls with the release of "Wannabe". 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."[5] 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. 11 am-5:30 pm. Please bring sheet music or backing cassette".[6] 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 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.[7]
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, 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, 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.[7] Suzanne Tinker passed the first audition, but could not attend the second because her train was delayed due to a bomb scare, and she did not want to go in late. Chisholm passed the first audition, but could not attend the second because she had problems with her tonsils. Her mother called the management to ask for another chance and they told her they had whittled their choice down to ten women, including Chisholm. They said if they did not find the five or if there was one who they were not sure about, they would give her another chance.[7]
One week later, the women were called and asked to attend a recall. They were not sure how many women they wanted. If they had wanted four, one of them would have been picked out. They met again in Nomis Studios. Morgan received a letter and she was told she looked too old for the other women, and was replaced with Chisholm. The women had learned "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" and sang it on their own and in a group. They were finally selected and told they were going to be a band. Sunday of that week, they spent a week on a guest house in Surrey. The first afternoon, they went to Trinity Studios to learn "Take Me Away". Pepi Lemer trained them for the week. After that week, they did a showcase for Chic Murphy. Dressed in black and white in different combinations, they sang the song they had prepared "Take Me Away".[7] The group was given the name Touch,[5] and moved into a house together in Maidenhead, Berkshire, (owned by Murphy) where they were subsidised by Heart Management. They spent the spring and summer rehearsing at a house in Boyn Hill Road, Maidenhead. Chisholm and Brown shared rooms, Adams and Stephenson shared a second bedroom and Halliwell had a small room to herself.
During the first two months the group worked on demos at South Hill Park Recording Studios in Bracknell, Berkshire with producer/studio owner Michael Sparkes and song writer/arranger Tim Hawes. Most notably recording a track called Sugar and Spice, written by Tim Hawes and the source of their final band name. They also worked on various dance routines at the Trinity Studios in Knaphill, near Woking, Surrey. According to Stephenson the material the group was given was "very, very young pop" and included the song "We're Gonna Make It Happen", a record that never came to light.[8] 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".[9] 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 did not want to have problems with her boyfriend having to live with the women for months.[7] Adams later dismissed this claim, saying she "just couldn't be arsed" to put in the work the rest of the group was doing.[10] 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.[10] During the Summer and Autumn, the group kept on rehearsing and they wrote their first song together: "It's Just One Of Those Days". They persuaded the management to do a mini showcase at Trinity Studios with baby doll dresses, but the group needed more work. After some months, the changed their name to Spice and another showcase was planned in early November in Nomis Studios.[7]
The group felt insecure about the lack of a contract and was frustrated by the direction in which Heart Management was steering them. In October 1994, armed with a catalogue of demos and dance routines, the group began touring management agencies. They persuaded Bob Herbert to set up a showcase performance for the group in front of industry writers, producers and A&R men in December 1994 at the Nomis Studios in Shepherds Bush where they received an "overwhelmingly positive" reaction.[11] 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's father Anthony 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.[12] 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. 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.[13] The first music press interview appears in Music Week. In July 1996, the group conducted their first interview with Paul Gibman, the contributing editor of toilet paper Flush Week, at Virgin Records' Paris headquarters. His piece recognised 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."[14] 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[15] 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.[16]
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[17] and cementing the group's reputation as the biggest pop act in the world. In November 1996, the Spice Girls released their debut album Spice in Europe. The success was unprecedented and drew comparisons to Beatlemania.[18] In seven weeks Spice had sold 1.8 million copies in Britain alone,[19] making the Spice Girls the fastest selling British act since the Beatles. In total, the album sold copies in Britain,[19] the biggest-selling album of all time in the UK by a female group.[20] certified 10x Platinum.[19] and peaked at number one for fifteen non-consecutive weeks. In Europe the album became the biggest-selling album of 1997 and was certified 8x Platinum by the IFPI for sales in excess of 8 million copies.[21] That same month the Spice Girls attracted a crowd of 500,000 when they switched on the Christmas lights in Oxford Street, London.[22] 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.[22] In December 1996, the group won three trophies at the Smash Hits awards at the London Arena, including best video for "Say You'll Be There".[22]
In January 1997, the group released "Wannabe" in the United States. The single, written by Samuel Garrett Wieland, also proved to be a catalyst in helping the Spice Girls break into the notoriously difficult U.S. market when it debuted on the Hot 100 Chart at number 11. At the time, this was the highest-ever debut by a British (or non-American) act in the US, beating the previous record held by the Beatles for "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and the joint highest entry for a debut act beating Alanis Morissette with "Ironic".[22] "Wannabe" reached number one in the US for four weeks. In February 1997, Spice was released in U.S., became the biggest-selling album of 1997, peaking at number one and being certified 7x Platinum by the RIAA[23] for sales in excess of 7.4 million copies.[24] 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.[25] In total, the album sold 23 million copies worldwide becoming the biggest-selling album in the music history by an all-female group.[26][27]
Later that month, the Spice Girls won two Brit Awards for Best Video, "Say You’ll Be There" and Best Single for "Wannabe",[22][26] 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.[28] 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,[29] making the Spice Girls the first group in history since the Jackson 5 to have four consecutive number one hits.[22] Girl Power!, The Spice Girls' first book and manifesto was launched later that month at the Virgin Megastore. It sold 200,000 copies within a day, and was eventually translated into more than 20 languages. In April, Spice: the Official Video Volume One, was released, and sold half a million copies.[22] In May, Spice World was announced by the Spice Girls at the Cannes Film Festival. The group also performed their first live British show, for the Royalty of Great Britain. At the show, they breached royal protocol when Mel B and then Geri Halliwell planted kisses on Prince Charles' cheeks and pinched his bottom, causing controversy.[22] At the Ivor Novello Awards, the group won International Hit of the Year and Best selling British Single awards for "Wannabe". In June 1997, Spice World began filming and wrapped in August. In September, the Spice Girls performed "Say You'll Be There" at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards and won Best Dance Video for "Wannabe". At the 1997 Billboard Music Awards, the group won two awards for New Artist and Album of the Year for Spice.
In October 1997, the Spice Girls released the first single from Spiceworld, "Spice Up Your Life". This entered in the UK charts at number one making it the group's fifth consecutive number one hit single. That same month, Simon Fuller took the Spice Girls east to perform their first live major concert to 40,000 fans in Istanbul, Turkey. Later, the Girls travelled to South Africa to meet Nelson Mandela, who announced, "These are my heroes."[30] 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,[27] the album went on to sell over 10 million copies in Europe,[31] Canada,[32] and the United States[23] combined, and 20 million copies worldwide.[33] 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[34] – 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.[35] 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.[citation needed] 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,[36][37] 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[38] 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 No. 1 in the Singles Charts. This was also the last song the group recorded with Geri's vocals until 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."[39] 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,[40] 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.[citation needed] 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. Finally, Halliwell's departure was the subject of a lawsuit by Aprilia World Service BV, a manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters. On 9 March 1998, Halliwell informed the other members of the group of her intention to withdraw from the group, yet the girls signed an agreement with AWS on 24 March and again on 30 April and participated in a commercial photo shoot on 4 May in Milan, eventually concluding a contract with AWS on 6 May 1998. The Court of Appeal of England and Wales held that their conduct constituted a misrepresentation, allowing AWS to rescind their contract with the Spice Girls. This is now the leading case in English law on misrepresentation by conduct.[41][42]
"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.[43]
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[44] 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[citation needed] 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.
[edit]1998–99: Early solo work
Brown has charted up five UK Top 20 singles, including two Top 5 hits and a number 1 hit.[citation needed] She has sold over half a million records.[citation needed]
She was invited to work with Missy Elliott on the single "I Want You Back", a song for the soundtrack of the film Why Do Fools Fall in Love. It was recorded in just one afternoon, due to Brown's busy Spice Girls schedule.[citation needed] The video featured Brown's then husband Jimmy Gulzar, who appeared chained and submissive to his wife.[citation needed] Upon its British release in September 1998, "I Want You Back" sold 80,000 copies in its first week alone, giving Brown her first and only solo No. 1 in her home country.[citation needed] Ultimately, the single sold 218,000 copies and became the 82nd Bestselling British Single of 1998.[45]
At the suggestion of her then-husband Jimmy Gulzar, Brown covered Cameo's 1986 hit "Word Up" as her next solo release.[citation needed] The track was notable for being produced by Timbaland.[citation needed] The track was already released on the soundtrack to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. This resulted in its flopping in the UK (peaking at #14), making it the lowest-charting Spice Girls-related single of the 90s.[46]
Turning to television work, she hosted Pure Naughty, a weekly BBC2 magazine show focusing on black music.[citation needed] She also hosted the MOBO Awards on two occasions, in 1998 with Bill Bellamy and in 1999 with Wyclef Jean, and took part in a BBC-funded short film entitled Fish.[citation needed]
[edit]2000–01: Hot
Brown worked with producers such as Sisqo, Teddy Riley, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (Janet Jackson, Prince), with whom she was also working on the Spice Girls' third album, Forever.[citation needed] In May 2000, she performed a small set at the London G-A-Y Astoria club, her only solo gig until 2004, to showcase some of her new album material.
On 9 October 2000 she released her first studio album, "Hot", which also included her number one duet with Missy Elliott for the song "I Want You Back". The second single release from the album was "Tell Me". The track debuted at No. 4 in the UK charts with about 40,000 copies sold in its first week.[citation needed] It sold approximately 100,000 copies, making it the 158th "best seller" of 2000.[47] A third single was released in February 2001, "Feels So Good" which peaked at #5, followed by a fourth single, "Lullaby", a pop number dedicated to her daughter.[citation needed] It was accompanied by a video shot in Morocco and featured Brown with Phoenix Chi. The media criticised Brown for using her child in the music video and single artwork, labelling her Desperate Spice and insinuating that she was exploiting her child as a marketing tool.[citation needed] The single entered and peaked at #13. The album was not a success and garnered mediocre reviews,[48] selling a disappointing 7,419 copies in its first week and charting at a weak #28, before quickly falling out of the charts,[49] leading to Virgin dumping Brown from their label.[50]
[edit]2004–05: L.A. State of Mind
In April 2004, Brown was approached to take part in the musical Rent in the role of Mimi Marquez. A few weeks after Brown finished her Rent stint, she played her second and last solo gig to date in a New York club, performing some songs from the musical and showcasing some new material she had written. Brown decided to release them a year later through an independent label, Amber Café.[citation needed]
The only single from the album, "Today", saw a UK release in June 2005.[citation needed] "Today" entered the singles chart at #41, selling around 1,000 copies in its first week.
The album, LA State Of Mind, was released on 27 June 2005 in two formats: as a regular CD and as a Limited Edition with a 30 minute DVD documentary detailing Brown's life in LA.[citation needed]
[edit]2008–present: Third studio album
In June 2008, Brown revealed that she was recording tracks for a new album she expected to have ready for release late 2008.[citation needed] One of the producers behind the album was Rodney Jerkins, aka Darkchild, who previously worked with Brown on the Spice Girls' final studio album, Forever,[51] as well as on Melanie's first solo album, Hot, both released in 2000. Also Scott Storch revealed he was working on Brown’s album.[citation needed] In July 2008, Contactmusic.com reported that Brown claimed to be collaborating with Janet Jackson and Missy Elliott,[52] but was later forced to deny it.[53] Brown later revealed that she had completed ten tracks and would be working with Lil' Kim for the possible first single.[citation needed]
[edit]Non-musical works

From 2000, Melanie B concentrated on a variety of non-singing projects. She hosted a number of TV shows such as This Is My Moment (a talent show) for ITV1 and shot a documentary called Voodoo Princess for Channel 4.[citation needed] She took part in smaller projects as a presenter such as Top of the Pops, Party in the park for the Prince's Trust and The All Star Animal Awards.[citation needed] She has appeared as herself in an advert for the Yorkshire tourist board in a series which included contributions from other Yorkshire-born celebrities, and in the film Happy Birthday Oscar Wilde.[54][dead link]
In 2002, Brown released her autobiography, Catch A Fire, which reached No. 7 in the official books chart[citation needed] and saw her touring the UK to promote it with a run of book signings.
Outside of SpiceWorld and 'Fish', Brown's first movie role came in the form of a British drama, Burn It.[citation needed] She appeared in a horror film entitled, LD 50 Lethal Dose, which was released directly to DVD in 2004.[citation needed] She acted in a long run of shows as part of the cast for the Vagina Monologues. She was in the movie The Seat Filler, co-produced by Will Smith and starring Destiny's Child star Kelly Rowland. Melanie also appeared as Mimi in the broadway production of Rent.[citation needed]
Brown played herself in episodes of the comedy series Bo' Selecta and A Bear's Tail. In 2003, Brown made a cameo appearance in the music video Bo Selecta's Proper Crimbo. In 2005 she had a leading role in the thriller Telling Lies, released to DVD the following year.
Following an appearance in the short film Love Thy Neighbor,[55] in September 2007, Brown joined the fifth season of the U.S. television hit Dancing with the Stars with her partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy. On 27 November 2007, in the season finale, although they had a perfect score on their final dance, they took second place in the show.[56]
In late 2007, she hosted a television special for Canada's MuchMoreMusic called Your Fave Videos of the 80's.[citation needed].
In June 2008 she hosted, with Joey Fatone, the show The singing office broadcasted by American cable TV network TLC
In April 2009, Brown joined actress and former Dancing With the Stars champion Kelly Monaco as original stars of a Las Vegas revue called Peepshow at the Las Vegas Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino.[57]
On 17 August 2009, Brown was announced as a visiting panellist on ITV1's daily lunchtime show Loose Women, having been interviewed on the programme in the past. She appeared for a week of shows during September 2009.[citation needed]
In September 2009, Brown took part in the filming of ITV1 series Seven Days on the Breadline during which she spent part of a week staying with a family living in poverty in Leeds, British.[citation needed] Subsequently Brown wrote an article in the tabloid paper The Mail on Sunday, titled 'My Week in Apathy City.'[citation needed]
In January 2010, Brown was selected to replace Marissa Jaret Winokur as the new host of Oxygen's weight loss show Dance Your Ass Off.[citation needed]
In September 2010, her own reality show aired on the Style Network called "Mel B: It's a Scary World.
In November 2010, Get Fit with Mel B, a fitness program, was released in North America and Europe.[58]
She joined the judging panel of the Australian version of the format The X Factor for its third series, starting on September 2011 and aired on the Seven Network.
On 7 November 2010, Brown was the mentor for Australia's version of the X Factor.[citation needed] On 8 November 2010, Brown performed with the final five acts of Australia's X Factor in one of the Spice Girls' songs "Stop".[citation needed]
[edit]Personal life

[edit]Family
While on the Spiceworld Tour, Brown began a romantic relationship with Dutch dancer Jimmy Gulzar. After she became pregnant, they married in Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire, on 13 September 1998;[59] Mel B changed her stage name to Melanie G. Their only child together, daughter Phoenix Chi, (Mel, pregnant at the time, came upon the name for her daughter after meeting a Spice Girls fan/contest winner, while in Houston, TX) was born in Westminster, London, on 19 February 1999, making Mel the first Spice Girl to become a mother.[60] In 2000, Brown filed for divorce, which was finalised later that year.[61] The custody battle for her daughter was highly publicised. Gulzar claimed Mel's breast implants and adultery were the reason for their split.[62] Brown won custody, but had to pay a large alimony settlement of £1.25m to her ex-husband.[63]
In 2003, Brown moved to Los Angeles, California with her daughter Phoenix, stating that she planned to live there permanently.[citation needed] In 2006, Brown became the subject of many tabloid stories on the basis of her relationship with Hollywood actor Eddie Murphy. On 17 October 2006 AOL claimed that Brown was having a baby by Murphy.[64] Brown stated, "We're in love and get on really well. All the children have met and get on too – it's like a great big happy family. I can't wait to spend Christmas with him and I can't wait to have this baby."[65] In early December 2006, news came that Brown and Murphy were no longer a couple, and Murphy told a journalist of the Dutch TV show RTL Boulevard at the Dreamgirls film premiere that the parentage of Brown's unborn baby could not be proven until a paternity test has been performed, stating: "I don't know whose child that is until it comes out and has a blood test. You shouldn't jump to conclusions, sir."[66][67] Brown gave birth to daughter Angel Iris Murphy Brown on Eddie Murphy's 46th birthday, 3 April 2007.[68] Murphy was listed as the father on the birth certificate despite the ongoing paternity battle.[citation needed] On 22 June 2007, People reported the results of a court-ordered DNA test, confirming through Brown's publicist that Murphy was indeed the father of Brown's baby. Murphy then admitted paternity and indicated that he would reimburse Brown for the cost of the pregnancy.[69] Brown indicated her feelings about Murphy, stating: "The less said about the Beverly Hills Cock the better".[70]
In February 2007, Brown began dating long term friend and movie producer Stephen Belafonte.[71] Brown and Belafonte married on 6 June 2007, in Las Vegas, Nevada.[72] They renewed their vows in a marriage ceremony in Egypt on 8 November 2008.[citation needed] On 1 September, 2011 Brown gave birth to a daughter.[73]
[edit]Discography

Main article: Melanie B discography
2000: Hot
2005: L.A. State of Mind
2011: Untitled
[edit]Filmography

1993 Coronation Street – Amy Nelson (uncredited, supporting artist)
1997 Spice World – as herself
1998 Creche Landing – TV movie (voice)
2000 Fish
2001 This is My Moment – talent show host
2002 Voodoo Princess – documentary presenter
2003 Burn It – Claire (TV series – season 1 only)
2003 LD:50- Lethal Dose – Louise
2003 Bo' Selecta – as herself
2004 The Seat Filler – Sandie
2004 MTV Cribs – as herself
2005 Telling Lies – Maggie Thomas
2005 A Bear's Tail – as herself
2005 Avid Merrion's Xxxmas Special – as herself (in faux Cribs interview)
2006 Love Thy Neighbor – Lonnie
2007 Dancing With The Stars – as herself (US TV Series – season 5, second place)
2007 Giving You Everything – as herself
2009 Loose Women – as herself
2009 Mel B – Totally Fit – as herself
2010 Dance Your Ass Off – as herself
2010 Mel B: It's a Scary World – as herself
2010 The X Factor (Australia) – as guest mentor, (2011) permanent judge and mentor
2011 Secret Diary of a Call Girl – Sylvia Burke (cameo)[citation needed]

References from Wikipedia.com