Michelle Stephenson

Michelle Stephenson (born 3 January 1977) is a British singer and television presenter. At the age of 17, she was briefly a member of the English girl group that would go on to become the Spice Girls.[1]

Michelle Stephenson
Birth nameMichelle Stephenson
Born (1977-01-03) 3 January 1977
Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • presenter
Years active1990s
LabelsUnsigned
Associated actsSpice Girls

Touch (Spice Girls)

Alongside Melanie Brown, Victoria Adams, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell, Stephenson completed the original 1994 line-up of Touch, a girl group that would later go on to become the Spice Girls. Stephenson received the highest scores at the first audition, where she sang Dina Carroll's song "Don't Be a Stranger".[2] Stephenson was a member of the group for only a short period before commitment issues prompted Heart Management to remove her. According to Bob Herbert, she was fired because "she just wasn't fitting in... she would never have gelled with it and I had to tell her to go".[2]: 30  Stephenson later challenged Herbert's claim, stating that it was her decision to leave due to her mother being diagnosed with breast cancer.[3] Adams later dismissed this claim, saying she "just couldn't be arsed" to put in the work the rest of the group was doing.[2]: 31  Stephenson was replaced by Emma Bunton.[2][4]

Stephenson has given several interviews about her time with the group, stating that she does not regret leaving them. She has also joked she would have been known as Mel S and it would have been confusing if the band also had a Mel C and a Mel B, and has also asserted she was going to be known as Sexy Spice. Stephenson claims she was very close with Geri whilst in the band and wishes they had remained friends, but noted in an interview that she and Posh did not always see eye to eye. Stephenson's boldest claim was that the reason Posh does not have any solo lines in the group's first song 'Wannabe' is due to the single being written with Stephenson as part of the group, Posh subsequently refusing to take Stephenson's solo lines [5][6]

Presenting and music

Stephenson worked briefly as a television presenter for LWT,[6] ITV, Friendly TV, and BSkyB. She also filmed a television show in Malta called Wild Games before forming a songwriting partnership with Ben Hackett and Mike Edwards (under the name SHEsongs). She has also worked as a session singer for various record companies. She performed backing vocals for singers like Ricky Martin and Julio Iglesias, while working on her own songs as well. In November 2003, Stephenson recorded and released an EP entitled SHESongs, featuring six songs called "In Control", "Fall Over", "Hey Sugar", "Dirty Music", "Boom, Boom", and "Happens for a Reason".

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
2001 London Weekend Television Presenter 5 episodes[7]
2001 Raw Spice Herself Documentary[8]
2008 E! True Hollywood Story' Herself Documentary'[8]

Albums
  • 1997: Spice Girls – Old Spice the Early Years (Interview)
  • 2003: SHEsongs (EP)

See also

References
  1. Vanoli, Lisa (27 February 1997). "News: Now it's time for the Spice Boys!". The Stage.
  2. Sinclair, David (2004). Wannabe: How the Spice Girls Reinvented Pop Fame. Omnibus Press. pp. 27–31. ISBN 978-0-7119-8643-5.
  3. "Meet the 'Raw' Spice Girl". Entertainment. People. 24 April 1998.
  4. "Timeline: Spice Girls". Entertainment. BBC. 28 June 2007.
  5. "'No regrets' about leaving Spice Girls". News24. 22 March 2001.
  6. Kempster, Doug (4 March 2001). "Forgotten Spice Girl; What happened to the one who turned her back on". Sunday Mirror – via Find Articles.
  7. "Michelle Stephenson". British Film Institute.
  8. IMDB. "Michelle Stephenson".
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