Girl group
An advertisement for ‘England’s new girl band’ in a British newspaper, that’s all twenty-year-old Victoria Adams needed to go to London’s Dancework Studios in 1994. 400 candidates are considered, but she is selected to be part of a girl group that is soon baptized the Spice Girls. The debut single Wannabe from 1996 immediately led to an international breakthrough. In no time, the Spice Girls – in addition to Victoria, aka Posh Spice, are Melanie Brown (Scary), Geri Halliwell (Ginger), Melanie Chisholm (Sporty) and Emma Bunton (Baby) – have become the most popular girl group of all time and touring them around the world.
Uncomfortable
But Victoria is having a hard time. “I cried every day because I wanted to go home,” she wrote in her 1998 book Forever Spice. “I so missed seeing the steamed up windows when my mother would burn the food again.” It is also noticeable that Victoria hardly sings live. She feels too uncomfortable on stage, it turns out later. ‘My microphone used to always be turned off. There were also post-its everywhere with the message ‘Posh: don’t sing’.’ The British press in particular loves the timid Victoria. ‘They portrayed me as a moody person. People believed that, so I put on a suit of armor. I finally gave up the hope that they would present me as sympathetic and friendly.’ For a long time it seems that Victoria will leave the Spice Girls. Her insecurity bothers her too much, and according to rumors she also has a falling out with Mel C and Mel B. But it is Geri who suddenly calls it quits in 1998, in the middle of the Spice World tour. “I was so angry at her selfishness,” Victoria says of Geri’s exit. “The only good thing about her decision was that, for the first time ever, I got to sing Wannabe live.”
