Wannabe a Spice Girl? Now you can!
BBC plans talent show for amateur to join Scary, Ginger and Baby on stage (singing skills presumably optional)
TWENTY years after they first conquered the charts, the Spice Girls are recruiting a new member – using a BBC talent show.
Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton and Mel B have recently reformed the group, but without Victoria Beckham or Mel C. And with the latter the only one of the original quintet able to sing – at least according to the band’s harsher critics – it’s understandable that what the remaining trio really, really want is a newcomer with a strong voice.
Mel B, currently a judge on America’s Got Talent, has already spoken of her wish ‘to invite other people to sing with us’. So the three girls – nicknamed Ginger, Baby and Scary during their heyday – have approached the BBC with an idea for a talent show, in which they would act as judges for the wannabes.
The show could replicate the successes of How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? and Any Dream Will Do, which sought new stars for West End productions of The Sound Of Music and Joseph And His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Both were criticised for using licence payers’ money to promote Andrew Lloyd Webber’s shows, but it has not deterred the BBC, which last month confirmed that Gary Barlow will front a Saturday-night search for the cast of a new Take That musical.
The Spice Girls talent hunt will involve auditions and heats over five consecutive nights next April, culminating in a live final on BBC1.
The winner will join the band for a gig in Hyde Park next July to mark the 21st anniversary of their first No1 single, Wannabe.
Mail on Sunday columnist Piers Morgan, a former Britain’s Got Talent judge, said: ‘The Spice Girls weren’t great singers but they had great chutzpah and attitude.
‘Confidence, cheek and a good look will carry a candidate far more than a decent voice or dance ability. You’ve got to be able to get out there and strut your stuff in full Girl Power mode.
‘As the Spice Girls themselves said, if you have the attitude you can be whatever you wannabe.’ Sporty Spice Melanie Chisholm has said she didn’t want to rejoin the group after they reached a ‘peak’ by reuniting for an appearance at the 2012 London Olympics.
‘There’s a lot to be said for bowing out on a high,’ she said, adding: ‘Anything less than the full line-up just didn’t feel like we’d be doing justice to the band or the fans.’
Posh Spice Victoria Beckham has also declined to be part of any comeback as he pursues a career as a fashion designer.
Last week Mel B told chat show host James Corden that they were only reuniting as a trio – under their initials GEM – ‘because the other two b ***** s didn’t want to do it!’
But she swiftly added: ‘Let me correct that, my other two lovely ladies. Victoria is busy with her fashion range and Mel is recording a solo album, so they politely declined – but they gave us their blessing.
‘We’re Girl Power, we support each other, so us three went, “OK then, let’s just us three do it.”
‘I don’t think we could ever replace Sporty or Posh but I’d like to invite other people up to sing with us.’
The audition process will mirror how the Spice Girls themselves were originally selected.
Responding to an advert in Stage magazine in 1993, Mel B, Victoria and Melanie C passed an audition held in London’s Oxford Street.
Geri – now Geri Horner – missed the initial audition but talked her way into the band. Emma was recruited later when one of the original members dropped out.
Their debut album Spice sold more than 31 million copies, becoming the best-selling album by a female group in history. The group broke up in 2000 but reunited for a 2007 tour, and then for the closing ceremony at the 2012 London Games.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘BBC Entertainment has lots of ideas in development but we never comment on details.’