Hot, Rich and Very Spicy

Melanie Brown, our very own Leeds-born Spice Girl, has the whole world on a plate. Ayup gets out the condiments.

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Yorkshire people don't tend to make good celebrities. One measly tabloid journo on the doorstep and we go all awkward and shout obscenities through the letterbox. And the rest of us have little sympathy with the protests. "Fur Coat and no knickers.." "Toffee nosed bugger.." Out come the snide insults and the sarky comments. Like we're jealous or something.

With Mel B, things are different. She's a natural star. We knew it the moment she came bounding into view in the first Spice Girls video, "Wannabe". Five lasses getting lewd and lairy. Mob-handed, Saturday night style. All-girls-together pop stuff. Our Mel was the one with the tight bra-free green top. Strong nipped, wild-haired and big-grinned. Never mind that the whole girl-band thing was exhaustively auditioned and cast like some west-end musical. Something with spirit and energy was pouring out of the screen. It spoke volumes to everyone, with an appeal that was instant. Something was right.

What made the Spice Girls work was the sheer force of personality behind the band. Mel B was Scarey Spice, the in-yer-face lass from Leeds. An explosion of big hair and curvy outfits. She took some stick from black critics who were suspicious of all the leopardskin, but she laughed it off infectiously. The tongue-stud and skimpy gear was all part of a sexy wild-child attitude - and it looked good. In a world where every pop group looked like they'd grown up modelling knitting patterns, here was a gang of gals we all completely identified with and hung out with. Lasses revelling in their curves, their beauty, their womanhood. Listened to no-one but each other and bugger the rest. Slogans like Girl Power and Friends Forever hit the spot. Stars within seconds.

Mel quickly got singled out as the sexy one. With her tight fitting outfits and see-through tops she took this into the mainstream with nothing but encouragement and adoration. She walked out on-stage in next to nothing on the Spice Girls '98 tour and made it all seem totally natural. Elsewhere the lads mags were slavering over the bra-tops and made out that she was the sexiest woman on legs.

"I represent the mixed race community, which I think gets left out a lot. I always describe myself as being mixed race." TOUCH MAGAZINE _____________

Mel herself found this amusing, saying in a recent interview "Naaaah. I'm not a stereotypical beautiful girl. Yeah, I've got tits and a bit of a curve going on, but I don't think of myself as... aesthetically beautiful. Is that the word? The thing is, for me I think beauty comes from within. It's like when you're walking down the street and you see some gorgeous-looking girl with an ugly guy You think, that guy must have a real quality about him. A je ne sais quoi aura. That's what I've got, I reckon."

She initially stood out as the only black lass amongst four typical peaches-and-cream English girls. But it wasn't that simple. As the group had hit after hit around the globe it became clear that their appeal cut across national and racial boundaries. They looked for all the world like the five continents. Asia, Latin America, Europe and the States all fell for the girlie show and everyone had their favourite. The image was moulded into Barbie dolls and stuck on everything from cola cans to motor scooters. Wrapped up in commercial glitter that propelled them to enormous heights of fame.

The group grew up in public. They took lovers, had arguments, got married, had babies...Just like any gang of girlfriends. Mel B's whirlwind romance with Dutch dancer Jimmy Gulzar was a breathless affair that had us all glued to the gossip mags. She gushed girly enthusiasm for her new beau at every opportunity. Baby Pheonix Chi appeared. Again this struck a chord with a generation of young mums who struggled to keep a career and a boyfriend and a smile on the face. OK Magazine did the lavish wedding and the whole affair was splashed across the glossy pages. True love. Then within seconds there was the New Years Day row, the Max Beezley rumours, the £1.25 million divorce settlement.

Throughout all this Melanie has remained totally at ease. Totally in control. Still up for it. All the music business palaver, the tabloid lies, the screaming fans seem to have changed her not one jot. A straight talking Leeds lass through and through who takes the new-found fame as a God-given right. And the ease with which she deals with all the attention is breathtaking. This is why we love her.

Now, at last, there will be the solo career, when the Melanie Brown persona will really come to the fore. A collaboration with celebrated New York rapper Missy Elliot ("I Want You Back") was a revelation. But the album she's working on will be extraordinary. As a mixed race lass with a stable, loving upbringing she has a real appreciation of both parental cultures. An ambassador for the melting pot that Blue Mink sang about a quarter of a century ago.

This is bound to emerge in her music. She's already shown her ability to shine like an arclight as a singer and dancer, and it's clear she can graft. With more personally focussed work her personality will flood out and nothing will stop her. The message she's left on the Spice Girls website includes names like Jam and Lewis (Janet Jackson), Teddy Riley (Blackstreet) and Sisqo (Dru Hill), so it's going to have a hot RnB flava. And we like our Mel this way, don't we! Hot and spicy!

"The way that I live my life is on spontaneity. I live my life on self-belief and I live it partly on going with the flow. I live on my gut instinct. If my senses don't feel right then I don't do it." MELANIE BROWN __________

The picture above is from The Spice Girls 'Official' Website.
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