|
|
Geraldine Estelle "Geri"
Halliwell (born 6th August, 1972) is an English pop
singer and songwriter, television personality, writer
and actress. Halliwell became famous (under the nickname
of "Ginger Spice") in the late 1990s as a
member of the girl group the Spice Girls. She was born
and grew up in Watford, in the county of Hertfordshire
to a Spanish-born mother (Ana María) and a father
(Lawrence) of Swedish, British and French descent. She
was brought up as a Jehovah's Witness.
Preceding fame: Before starting her music career
Geri had worked as a nightclub dancer in Mallorca, a
model and presenter on the Turkish version of Let's Make
A Deal, and as a nude model. Following her rise to fame
with the Spice Girls, nude photos of Halliwell were
re-published in a number of top-shelf magazines,
including Club International in the UK.
Musical biography, Original success: Halliwell
first found fame as one of the five members of the girl
group the Spice Girls and was dubbed Ginger Spice
because of her red hair with blonde highlights. She wore
sexy outfits and attracted much attention to herself and
the group, and she became renowned for her independent
and feminist attitude. The group joined the most
successful musical artists of the 1990s selling over
thirty-five million albums with the studio releases
Spice and Spiceworld.
Their debut single "Wannabe"
became the first of a string of number-ones in the
United Kingdom (nine in total) and reached the top
position in thirty-seven countries around the globe,
including Australia, Canada and the US Other successful
releases followed, including "Say You'll Be
There" and "2 Become 1" from Spice, and
"Spice Up Your Life", "Too Much" and
"Stop" from Spiceworld.
On 30th May 1998 Halliwell left the Spice Girls to
pursue a solo career. Her action aroused controversy,
her former band being due to embark on a North American
tour, which they eventually completed without her.
Although she had already left the group, the Spice Girls
released "Viva Forever", the final music video
to feature Halliwell.After she left, the other girls
wrote a few songs about her which appeared on their
album Forever, notably "Goodbye"(although it
is said that Geri had helped write this song before her
departure, but since the song was released after her
departure, most people see it as a tribute to Geri),
"Let Love Lead the Way" and "Tell Me
Why".
Solo career: Schizophonic: Shortly before
launching her solo career, Halliwell appeared in the fly
on the wall documentary Geri, a 90 minute piece for the
UK television channel Channel 4 by Molly Dineen.
In 1999 Halliwell released her debut solo album
Schizophonic, with lead single "Look at Me",
produced by co-writers and old friends, Absolute. The
single reached number two in the UK, just 700 copies
behind Boyzone's "You Needed Me". The single
would go on to sell over 1 million copies worldwide.
Further singles from the album, "Mi Chico
Latino" and "Lift Me Up", became UK
number ones with the latter outselling Halliwell's
former bandmate Emma Bunton.
The fourth single, "Bag It
Up", also reached number one. Demonstrating her
flair for outrageous promotion, Halliwell performed
"Bag It Up" during the BRIT Awards ceremony in
2000, emerging between giant inflatable legs, ripping
off her shirt and walking in stiletto heels over the
backs of topless pink-haired men whilst singing the
song.
"Look at Me" was released to radio in the USA
in late 1999, receiving limited airplay. Even more
surprisingly, with only a radio single, Schizophonic
debuted at number forty-two on The Billboard 200 before
dropping out within the next month. This is still the
highest charting by a solo Spice album in the USA; (Emma
Bunton's Free Me peaking at no. 183 and Melanie C's
Northern Star peaked at no. 208 on The Billboard 200).
The album was eventually certified gold,
distributing over 500,000 copies (however, actual sales
remain much lower).[citation needed] "Mi Chico
Latino" did not have a big impact on USA radio, and
no further singles from Schizophonic or LPs were
released in the USA. 'Schizophonic' would go on to sell
over 2 million copies, and the combined sales of its
singles were over 3 million.
Halliwell had a high-profile but short-lived
relationship with Chris Evans during this time. In the
USA Halliwell has also pursued a television career,
re-uniting with former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller
to appear as a judge on the flop reality show All
American Girl and as a guest reporter on celebrity-based
series such as Extra. She has also made appearances in
the television series Sex and the City and a film, Fat
Slags (2004), based on characters from Viz Magazine.
Second album: Scream If You Wanna Go Faster: In
2001 Halliwell followed up with her second album, Scream
If You Wanna Go Faster. It also included her cover
version of the Weather Girls' 1983 hit, "It's
Raining Men", used on the Bridget Jones's Diary
film soundtrack, and the video game, DDRMAX2: Dance
Dance Revolution 7thMIX. The song also won her the
International Song of the Year award at the 2002 NRJ
Music Awards.
The song became a huge hit, selling close to 4 million
copies worldwide, in the United World Chart it hit no. 2
(behind "Lady Marmalade" by Christina
Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya & Pink) based on Sales,
Airplay and Votes, it become the second best selling
single of 2001. The song had been added to the album at
the last minute; another song, "Feels Like
Sex", had already been slated as the lead single.
(This song remained an album-only track. "Circles
Round the Moon" was rumoured to be a single as
Halliwell performed it on CD:UK and 12" Vinyl
Promos were sent to clubs, but it was never released.)
The follow-up singles were "Scream If You Wanna Go
Faster" (number eight) and "Calling"
(number seven), the latter, stated by Halliwell was her
favourite co-written track on the album. She even
released a special French edition of the single,
entitled "Calling (Au Nom de L'amour)". The
album sold more than 1.7 million copies across the world
(this album wasn't released in the USA)[12][13]. But in
2003, she came ninth in the Channel 4 poll of the 100
Worst Britons.
Geri has released two autobiographies in If Only (1999)
and Just for the Record (2002), detailing her rise to
fame and her turbulent celebrity lifestyle. She has also
released two Yoga DVDs Geri Yoga and Geri Body Yoga.
In 2002, Halliwell was featured alongside Pete Waterman
and Louis Walsh as a judge on the television series
Popstars: The rivals which created Girls Aloud.
Third album: Passion: In 2004, Halliwell began a
period of collaboration with channel Five, as was one of
the hosts of the Party in the park event for the
Prince's Trust, the presenter of the Tickled Pink Girls'
night in Live! event and an appearance in a documentary
There's something about Geri.
In late 2004, Halliwell made a return to music with the
single "Ride It", which reached no. 4 on the
UK charts and no. 1 on the dance charts. The single was
not promoted abroad, but still sold well throughout
continental European countries reaching high positions,
such as no. 3 in Spain. This was the first single from
her third album, Passion which was at that stage slated
for a spring release after a second single. However,
several months elapsed before another single was
released, during which time she was apparently ordered
to record some new tracks for the as-yet unreleased
album by her record company, which was unhappy with the
setlist.
Halliwell was planning her first solo tour around the UK
and Ireland, but a bad management and tour schedule plus
the label's pressure to record more songs and low ticket
sales made her cancel the tour. "Desire"
reached no. 22 in the UK. Released shortly after,
Passion similarly received little attention from the
public or critics, and stalled at no. 41 in the UK
charts. It was rumoured that "Love Never Loved
Me" would be released as the third single from
Passion, but it was not. To this day, Passion has only
sold 10,000 copies in the UK and around 40,000
worldwide. In 2005, Halliwell guest-presented the music
show Popworld.
Since 2003, Halliwell has been in contact with the rest
of the Spice Girls, and a reunion has been rumoured,
especially since all five members have now had singles
success of some degree. Rumours indicated that they
might perform together again in 2005, at the Live 8
concert in Hyde Park, London. Initially organisers axed
the idea, but after the publicity surrounding the cut,
Bob Geldof stated that they would reconsider their
possible attendance. However, in the end the Spice Girls
were not present for the Live 8 show, as Melanie Brown
had claimed prior work commitments.
Political affiliations: Halliwell has joined a
long list of figures in the public eye to affiliate
themselves to a British political party. In the run-up
to the 1997 UK General Election, Geri declared: "I
saw a lot of what Mrs Thatcher did. She was definitely
the original Spice Girl rising from the greengrocer's
daughter to Prime Minister.
She was a real role model of a strong
woman". She also claimed that her background was
deeply-rooted in support for the Conservative Party and
that Thatcher was the pioneer of 'Girl Power' and the
spiritual sixth member of the Spice Girls. She claimed
in 1996 that Tony Blair was "not a safe pair of
hands for the economy".
Fast forward to the next election in 2001 and Halliwell
appears in the first Party Political Broadcast on behalf
of the Labour Party of the campaign. The reason for her
defection was "the good example set by Mr Blair and
his wife as parents" and that she "genuinely
admires and believes in Tony Blair". Political
commentators, however, were quick to ridicule
Halliwell's speedy change of support and mock the Labour
Party for its reliance on high-profile fans to inspire
the electorate.
Personal life: In October 2005, after Passion was
a failure and the Spice Girls reunion never
materialized, Geri sacked her managers, the husband and
wife team Paul and Katie Conroy, and went to Los
Angeles, USA, to work on unnamed projects. Soon after,
she was photographed by the paparazzi, having put on
weight and looking exhausted. The tabloids reported that
Halliwell was pregnant, which was subsequently
confirmed.
British scriptwriter and former drummer
with the band Bush, Sacha Gervasi, is reported to be the
child's father: he made a statement saying he wished
Halliwell and child the best shortly after the rumours
came out. On 7th March 2006, Hello! magazine published
an interview with Halliwell which did not confirm the
father's identity. Geri stated, "It is tacky to
kiss and tell, I would never deprive a child of the
right to know its father."
On 14th May 2006, Halliwell gave birth to a daughter,
Bluebell Madonna, by caesarean section at London's
Portland Hospital with her sister by her side.
Explaining her name choice, she said, "What really
clinched it for me was my mother telling me that the
bluebell is increasingly rare – so it's a precious
flower, which seems just right for my daughter."
Her daughter's middle name came from two of Geri's's
heroines, singer Madonna and the Virgin Madonna.
In April 2007 it was revealed that Halliwell invited all
four of her former Spice Girl colleagues to be
godmothers at the christening of her baby. Victoria
Beckham had already phoned her to thank her and accept
the invitation. Former bandmate Emma Bunton was
photographed going to Halliwell's baby shower as well as
Melanie C. Melanie B was not present due to having just
given birth to her own baby.
The future: It has been reported that Halliwell
plans to release a new 'tell all' book about her time in
the USA and her plans to succeed as an actress. She may
also return to the recording studio, hoping to add four
new tracks to a 'greatest hits' album. "I really
plan to tour at some point this year," Halliwell
was quoted. "Not an arena tour but somewhere small
and intimate, as a thank you to fans who have stuck by
me. Being a mother has made me even more focused and I
like the idea of creating a whole new sound. I still
have a record deal, you know."
However, in a November 2006 interview with Britain's OK!
magazine, Halliwell said she had no musical ambitions
and no desire to record another solo album. "As far
as music is concerned, I feel like I've given it my
best. When I see how desperate people are for that
chance, I realize I've had my turn, and now I have to
let it go." Although with Geri saying that, this
doesn't mean she has cancelled all her plans to return
to music. Halliwell has stated that the Spice Girls
would have reunited for the 2005 Live 8 concert, but
that bandmate Melanie B pulled out. "We were all
ready, apart from Mel B," Halliwell said.
It is now doubtful whether a reunion
will ever happen, she added. "Victoria said maybe
it's time to move on, and I think she's got a
point," she said. "Maybe it's better to keep
the Spice Girls as a memory, but never say never. A taxi
driver said to me we could still do a reunion even if
one of us didn't want.", It has recently been
announced that Halliwell is to present a new reality TV
programme for the ITV network in 2007, it will
apparently involve surprising normal people who are down
on their luck with visits from their favourite
celebrities.
In March of 2007, Geri was photographed leaving a
recording studio with a demo CD clutched in her hand.
Speculation begun that Halliwell was working on new
tracks and would indeed return to the music business. On
13th March Geri was again spotted at a studio, this time
with a platinum record for 'Schizophonic'.
On April 12th 2007, it was announced that Halliwell has
signed a six book deal with Macmillan Childrens' Books.
The books are set to feature nine year old Ugenia
Lavender, Halliwell's own creation. In the stories,
Ugenia will be accompanied by characters loosely based
on Halliwell's celebrity friends, including Victoria
Beckham and Gordon Ramsey. A new song has been recorded
to accompany the book series, which could explain the
recent sightings of Halliwell in recording studios.
Further, an official website was set up.
Non-musical accomplishments: In 1999, after
having left the Spice Girls, Geri Halliwell became a
representative for the United Nations Population Fund
(UNFPA). As a goodwill ambassador, Halliwell toured the
Philippines on a fact-finding trip. She visited with
staff and clients of family planning clinics, women’s
groups in slum areas, and college students.
In 2000, Geri Halliwell appeared in the two part
documentary series Geri's World Walkabout for the BBC
which followed her work with the UN and other travels.
Geri met with kids in Rio de Janeiro and visited child
piano-prodigies in the United States, among other
things.
Halliwell picked up UN work again in 2006, by visiting
Zambia from November 14th to 16th, to promote greater
international awareness of the urgent need to reduce
maternal death and halt the spread of HIV/AIDS. Both
aims are contained in the Millennium Development Goals
adopted by the world’s leaders in September 2000. She
attended the first 2007 BBC4 Reith Lecture and can be
heard asking questions on women's rights in the
recording. |
Snoron Celebrities and Models Wallpapers 
