This kinda struck me since Ice Spice has blown up (obviously not one of the Spice Girls) and there have been jokes/confusion about whether she is in any way related to them.

 

I didn't really follow the Spice Girls actively during their height of success, and I know they were also known by their real names (Mel B and Mel C I remember especially, and Geri - I don't recall Emma ever being called anything other than Baby Spice though and the same for Victoria as Posh, or Victoria Beckham after she got married), but they were also hugely known and marketed by their Spice nicknames.

 

With that in mind it seems kinda wild, unless I'm not aware or something, that none of them ever used the names the public knew them for for their solo releases.

 

Obviously Geri leaving first wanted to establish herself as Geri Halliwell the solo artist, but none of the others?

 

Did it seem weird to anyone at the time, was there any discussion about it, or did it all make perfect sense?

The last thing 1999 era Mel C was ever going to do was release her album under "Sporty Spice"

 

I think it's worth remembering that the names basically came about from a pop magazine at the time, so it wasn't anything they themselves picked out and probably never really felt that much affection towards.

hhhmmm music wise it was probably a good thing they didn't use their Spice names, for sure. In fact most of them tried to distance themselves from their Spice names when they went solo, which is sad!

 

But since then, pretty much all of them have tried to bring their names/spice personas into solo projects. Just look at Mel C's book, Mel B often uses 'Mel B of the Spice Girls' in her projects, etc, but it is always under their individual and proper names for sure.

 

Had they used their Spice names to front any solo project, they would have been even more trashed in the press..

Yeah there was no way post 1998 that any of them would use their monikers for anything other than promotion of solo endeavours.

 

Melanie C using “sporty” in the USA title of her book shows this as a striking example.

Given their reputation now it's easy to forget what a harsh media landscape they were often up against tbh!

I can't imagine they'd have been taken at all seriously if they tried this.

I don’t know about outside of the U.K. but in the U.K. they were just as well know by their real names as their spice monikers. Back then the only one who played up to it was Victoria really with the Beckingham Palace thing and the “posh” crisp.

I think Damon Dash said that he wanted/advised Victoria to be marketed with the name "Posh Spice Victoria Beckham" in the US. :thinking:

 

It's an interesting question because obviously they became very recognisable nicknames worldwide, and in theory they could have been viable stage names. There's a number of solo artists who don't use their real names as their artist name. However I agree that the UK press in particular and maybe the UK public would have likely given any of them a hard time for adopting those nicknames as their solo artist stage names.

 

On a different note, I sometimes wonder why Mel B didn't choose to go with "Mel B" as her artist name from 1998 onwards. Nowadays it feels and looks a bit strange that she ever went by Melanie B, it doesn't seem like she's ever called that anymore.

 

I can't remember if this was in an interview or her book, but I'm sure I read somewhere that Melanie C said that in her youth she'd practice signing autographs as "Melanie C", which struck me as a bit odd because I'm not sure why the thought to reduce her surname to C would have crossed her mind that early, pre-meeting Mel B when it became a necessity. Interesting that neither of them thought that they should go by Melanie Chisholm or Melanie Brown for their solo careers, to truly break the connection with the Spice Girls and each other (well, "Melanie Brown" was a thing for her 2005 album).

 

Wow, I rambled x

Also, who can forget "Melanie G"?

 

I don't think she was destined for a big career with great longevity or anything, but following up a #1 debut with that (and everything about it) really was a choice.

I think Damon Dash said that he wanted/advised Victoria to be marketed with the name "Posh Spice Victoria Beckham" in the US. :thinking:

 

It's an interesting question because obviously they became very recognisable nicknames worldwide, and in theory they could have been viable stage names. There's a number of solo artists who don't use their real names as their artist name. However I agree that the UK press in particular and maybe the UK public would have likely given any of them a hard time for adopting those nicknames as their solo artist stage names.

 

On a different note, I sometimes wonder why Mel B didn't choose to go with "Mel B" as her artist name from 1998 onwards. Nowadays it feels and looks a bit strange that she ever went by Melanie B, it doesn't seem like she's ever called that anymore.

 

I can't remember if this was in an interview or her book, but I'm sure I read somewhere that Melanie C said that in her youth she'd practice signing autographs as "Melanie C", which struck me as a bit odd because I'm not sure why the thought to reduce her surname to C would have crossed her mind that early, pre-meeting Mel B when it became a necessity. Interesting that neither of them thought that they should go by Melanie Chisholm or Melanie Brown for their solo careers, to truly break the connection with the Spice Girls and each other (well, "Melanie Brown" was a thing for her 2005 album).

 

Wow, I rambled x

 

Mel B was the logical choice back then, I agree <_< it would have cemented her better in the public's concisouness, I think!

 

Mel G was tragic, sorry :mellow: But it gave us the BOP that is Word Up :yahoo:

Oh yes it’s even weirder to think that she ever went by Melanie G / Mel G professionally :lol: As well as Word Up, the Forever Spice book has her as Melanie G too. It looks so strange!

Tbh comparing to kpop idols and the like it's almost surprising that they let two girls called Melanie into the group at all without asking one to adopt a stage name!

There actually would have been a little precedence for the Spices going by their nicknames as solo artists...and that precedence is TLC. They released some solo stuff as "T-Boz" and as "Lisa Left Eye Lopes". It made some business sense. In the US in the late 90s, if I started talking about Rozonda Thomas and Tionne Watkins, no one would know who I was referring to. T-Boz and Chilli, though...they would. The Spice Girls had a similar situation in the US where they were far better known as their nicknames in the 90s.

 

The inherent problem I see is unlike "T-Boz" and "Left Eye", the Spices' nicknames were somewhat limiting. How much of the girls' debut solo albums reflected their nicknames? I think you could say Victoria's was somewhat Posh Spice...and Geri's was somewhat Ginger Spice (though she quite obviously wasn't going to use that). But the others? I guess A World Without You/A Girl Like Me are a bit Baby Spice...and I Want You Back/Step Inside are a bit Scary Spice...but their albums as a whole were more reflective of their full character. For me, releasing What Took You So Long under the name Baby Spice seems...off. Releasing Goin Down under the name Sporty Spice seems...even more off.