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| Birth Name(s) : Melanie Janine Brown |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
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| Profession:
Singer, songwriter, actress, TV presenter, author |
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Full Melanie Brown Biography
Melanie Janine Brown (born 29 May 1975), professionally known as Melanie Brown and Mel B, is an English pop singer and songwriter turned actress and television personality best known as one of the members of the girl group the Spice Girls, one of the most successful female groups of all time. She was given the nickname "Scary Spice" by the British media because of her outrageous, "in-your-face" attitude, 'loud' Leeds accent, throaty laugh, manner of dress (which often consisted of leopard-print outfits), and her voluminously curly hair.
Brown was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire to a white English mother, Andrea, and a black Nevisian father, Martin. She has a younger sister named Danielle who is an actress. She studied performing arts at the now famous Intake High School, in Leeds, before entering the entertainment industry. For a time she worked as a dancer in the holiday resort, Blackpool, Lancashire.
At the suggestion of her then-husband Jimmy Gulzar, Brown covered Cameo's 1986 hit Word Up as her next solo release. The track was notable for being produced by Timbaland. 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. The European video was a surreal animation, directed by Jimmy. A further video was shot which featured the mini me character from Austin Powers. The track was not included on Brown's UK version of her debut solo album, and speaking at the time of her album release she stated that she "didn't really like 'Word Up'".
Following the disappointing performance of Word Up , Brown stopped releasing records for a while, but worked quietly on tracks for her debut solo album and the third Spice Girls album. Turning to television work, she hosted Pure Naughty, a weekly BBC2 magazine show focusing on black music. 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.
As a way of dealing with the problems of her marriage, Brown continued working on her debut solo album. She 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.
In 2002, Brown released her hit autobiography, Catch A Fire, which reached #7 in the official books chart and saw her touring the UK to promote it with a run of book signings.
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. The album fared even worse than its lead single, selling just 670 copies in its first week. LA State Of Mind charted at #453 (Banana), but it was a hit in some other small countries like Croatia, where it went to #5.
During the promotion of the LA State Of Mind project, Brown hinted in an interview that a reunion of the Spice Girls could be forthcoming for a Greatest Hits album. Rumours started circulating that the band might reunite for the upcoming Live 8 concert on 2 July 2005 in London's Hyde Park. The girls were all approached by Sir Bob Geldof who was seriously interested in reuniting the band, but Brown was the only one who refused due to "other commitments".
It was known afterwards that Brown's "commitment" she couldn't postpone was the current writing of a new sitcom, as yet unsold.
Tabloids began reporting in late 2005 that Brown is carefully considering a come-back in 2008 with new music, more movie roles and TV projects. Brown has confirmed she has several projects in the works and has told fans to "watch this space".
Following her rise to fame, Brown had a long relationship with Icelandic Fjolnir Thorgeirsson, and a short relationship with Australian singer Peter Andre.
While on the Spiceworld Tour, Brown began a romantic relationship with Dutch dancer Jimmy Gulzar. They married on the 13 September 1998, following which Brown was professionally known as 'Melanie G'. Their only child together, daughter Phoenix Chi, was born on 19 February 1999. Marriage problems ensued, including allegations of abusive and inattentive behaviour by Gulzar, and the marriage collapsed by the end of 1999. In 2000 Brown filed for divorce, which was finalized later that year. The custody battle for her daughter was highly publicised; Brown won custody, but had to pay a large alimony settlement of £1.25M to her ex-husband.
In 2003 Brown moved to Los Angeles, CA with her daughter Phoenix Chi, stating that she planned to live there permanently. In 2006, Brown became the subject of many tabloid stories, on the basis of her relationship with Hollywood actor Eddie Murphy. Unconfirmed stories quickly came that the pair had tattoos of each other's names, were planning a wedding, and had introduced each other to their respective families. On 17 October 2006 AOL claimed that Brown was in fact having a baby by Murphy. Brown was quoted as saying: "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."
In February 2007, Brown began dating long term friend and movie producer Stephen Belafonte. Brown and Belafonte quietly married on 6 June 2007, in Las Vegas, Nevada. |
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