Ray of Lightning


Melanie Jayne Chisholm's first album was the soundtrack to the musical
Fame. She listened to it over and over and dreamt of being one of the kids
in the film. Fame. I want to live forever. I want to learn how to fly -
high. Some afternoons, she would dig through her mother's closet and dress
up in her clothes, pretending she was a rock star. "My mum's a singer and
I thought, 'when you grow up, that's what you do.' I wanted to be a
superstar"

There is a line down the block in front of Irving Plaza in downtown
Manhattan. Teens, tweens, and a few scattered adults carry flowers,
snapshots, and handmade posters. A die-hard Spice Girl fan with a British
flag painted across her face has been here since dawn. Steven Weinheimer,
an eleventh grader who cut school today, is doing cartwheels halfway down
the block. Scrawled across his shirtless chest: "I WANT YOU MEL C!"

Inside, 25-year-old Melanie Chisholm, a.k.a. "Sporty Spice," is examining
her wardrobe choice for her first American solo gig. Madonna is on the
guest list. So are Lenny Kravitz, and the budding pop star Vitamin C.
"What do you think?" she asks, holding up an, "I Love NY" t-shirt with the
sleeves cut off. "I want to win them over"
Trays of fruit and cases of water pack her dressing room. A handsome
bouquet of white and pale pink roses from William Orbit (Madonna's Ray Of
Light producer) blossoms on a nearby table. The master of ambient sound
recently co-wrote and produced "Go," the opening track of Mel's new
Northern Star. A pair of Helmut Lang paintspattered jeans, her favorite
new clothing item, lay strewn across a beat-up couch. Her once long brown
hair, pulled forever back into a high cheerleader ponytail, is now cut off
into a punkish boy's 'do, tips bleached and gelled at attention.
Lifting her shirt and lowering her waistline, Melanie exposes her two most
recent tattoos (she has six total). A multi-colored phoenix rises between
her shoulder blades. A scripted black V and lotus flower peer up from her
lower back. "Tibetan for grounded," she explains, in a thick Liverpool
accent. "The lotus symbolizes the earth." The eastern design was a
"collaborative effort" with new pal Anthony Kiedis, front man for The Red
Hot Chili Peppers.

In Spiceworld image is everything, and Mel's new look has people talking.
"In interviews, people have asked me, 'What are you going to do when you
have to get the ponytail back for the Spice Girls?' What a ridiculous
question," Melanie says. Widening her sparkling hazel eyes, she asserts,
"It's been five years now. Of course I am going to change a little bit."

There are schools of thought that believe we create our own destiny, that
single-mindedness and positive affirmations pave the road of success. Mel
C's life seems a perfect parable. This is the story of Down-to-Earth
Spice. The one who hates to wear makeup, dresses, and platforms, the one
who came up with the band's name with Geri "Ginger' Halliwell. This is
the story of the Spice Girl who can sing.

Chisholm was born January 12, 1974, in Widnes, England, just outside
Liverpool. Her father, Alan, was a travel agent. Her mother, Joan, was a
singer in a local rock band. (She and Melanie's stepfather, Den O'Neill, a
guitar player and cab driver, currently play with a Tina Turner tribute
band in Liverpool.) They separated when Melanie was 3. She had one
half-brother, two stepbrothers, and one half-sister. She always felt like
she was in the way and retreated into ballet, gymnastics, and images of
Madonna. At 16, Melanie went to the Doreen Bird dramatic arts college. She
studied ballet and music theory and graduated with teaching credentials.
While attempting to land a role in a West End musical, Melanie worked at a
chip shop (that's French fries, baby!), taught dance, and occasionally
auditioned for cruise ship entertainment, which she secretly hoped she
would never land. Money was tight and sometimes she and her friends would
steal food from the grocery store. But she never gave up hope. "I always
knew that it was going to be okay. I knew I was going to be famous." I'm
gonna make it to heaven. I'm gonna light up the sky. Fame. I see it coming
together People will see me and cry.

When Melanie was 19, the universe delivered. While at a cruise line
audition, Melanie noticed a flyer: "R.U. 18-23 with the ability to
sing/dance? R.U. street-wise, outgoing, ambitious, and dedicated? All
Female Act for Record Deal." Turning to a friend she enthused, "This is
it! This is the one!" And she was right.

Hundreds of girls answered the ad, and Melanie beat them all, with the
exception of four other equally ambitious girls: Melanie "Scary" Brown,
Victoria "Posh" Adams, Geri "Ginger" Halliwell, and Michelle Stevenson
(who would later be replaced by Emma "Baby" Bunton). This is the birth of
the Spice Girls - and of Melanie's realized dream.

In 1998 the Spice Girls were on their first world tour; their album,
Spice, had already sold 5.3 million; and their follow-up, Spice World, had
debuted at number one in the U.K., and number eight in the U.S. They had a
feature film in the theaters, their own plane, and sponsorship deals with
Chupa Chups lollipops, Mercedes Benz, and Pepsi. Then, almost out of
nowhere, the artist formerly known as Ginger Spice announced she was
leaving the band. There were rumors that Scary had bullied the sexy Ginger
into leaving. That was never officially addressed. Instead, both parties
issued vague and equally pleasant statements thanking the fans for their
support and wishing continued success all around. In a move for
independence, Geri Halliwell auctioned her platform boots for charity. In
a move of Girl Power, the remaining "Spicies" soldiered on, selling out
Madison Square Garden in 13 minutes.
"I remember vividly the night before she left," recalls Melanie, who still
considers Halliwell a friend, even though the two haven't spoken since
Geri left the band. "We were on the plane coming back from Europe and we
were having a laugh. We stepped off the plane and she says to me, 'I'll
say goodbye now while I've got the chance.' I thought, 'That's a weird
thing to say.' The next morning I got a phone call saying she had left the
band."

Melanie is reaching for a pair of fruity blue Air Max sneakers. "Nike is
bankrupting me," she confesses. "I need every single color. It's an
obsession. I've got like 17 pairs." She is in no real fear of bankruptcy.
Despite a sneaker collection that would put Imelda Marcos to shame (over
400 pairs), her wealth was estimated recently at 31 million dollars. So
what's a Sporty Spice Girl to do with all her money? First off, homes for
mom and dad. Second, a sports car for her brother Paul. Third, a place to
settle down. Unlike her band mates, who all reside in mansions, Melanie
opted for two flats, one in Liverpool, near her family the other in London,
near her work. "It's quite plain," Melanie says of the London address,
where she spends most of her time. "It's just big enough for me. It's
quite minimalist. I don't like clutter."

Bounding about the room in her five-foot-six pure pixie body, lithe
without an ounce of fat - the result of daily workouts alternating kick
boxing, running, rollerblading, yoga, and recently, surfing - Melanie
proves that she is very, very sporty.
Talking to Chisholm there are times where you can't help but feel as if
you are being fed the Spice Girl party line. It's as if she has gone on
auto-pilot spewing: My life is so exciting, we are all very close, I'm so
flattered by our success. Conversely there are times when she speaks so
honestly she might unthinkingly offend. As well, there are times when she
appears to be in a little over her head, like on the topics of feminism or
women's rights. Admittedly she has never read any feminist literature.
"I just don't even read books at all. Sometimes I wish I could read more,
but I'm such an active person. I sit down and it's like, 'No, I gotta go
and do something."' She explains her band's enthusiasm for "Girl Power' (a
slogan that has recently been added to Roget's Thesaurus as a synonym for
"feminism") as a response to the British music press, who refused to give
the Girls coverage in the early days. "There weren't that many girl bands,
especially in Britain. [Sorry, Elastica.] And, they kept telling us,
'Girls don't sell magazines.' Which we thought was disgusting. We wanted
to prove them wrong." She says it was only later, while touring, that the
Girls became completely aware of the gross inequality women face globally.
"We just wanted to bring it to people's attention."

But who says pop stars need to be brainiacs? Who says everyone has to have
a sense of irony? Must everything have a deeper meaning? Maybe some of us
should learn to take things at face value and have fun. What's the matter
with preaching belief in one's self and equality among the sexes?
Apparently very little. The Spice Girls are currently at Abbey Road,
working away on their third album.
Last year, while two of her bandmates were off getting married and having
babies, Melanie, possibly inspired by Halliwell's departure, packed her
bags for Hollywood in hopes of recording her first solo album. Tinseltown
embraced her. She supped with Madonna, chatted with Courtney Love, jammed
with Steve Jones at the Viper Room, and befriended the Chili Peppers.
Thanks to her yoga instructor, she even developed an interest in Buddhism.
When Melanie heard the Dalai Lama would be in L.A. at the same time as her
upcoming show there, she joked about inviting him to the gig. "Could you
imagine that? His robes?" Eventually a slew of music business
heavyweights, including Orbit, producer Rick Rubin, songwriter Rick
Knowles (Madonna, 'N Sync, Sinead O'Connor), and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez,
were lending a hand in the studio, and her Northern Star took shape.

Los Angeles served another purpose - it was a welcomed retreat from the
constant pursuit of the British tabloid press. "Recently there have been
lots of reports questioning my sexuality. Because, now that I've got my
hair cut and got tattoos and muscles, and I've not had a boyfriend for a
long time, they automatically assume I'm gay. Which is very narrow minded
and quite offensive. I've never felt that way about a woman," Melanie
offers, regarding her sexual appetites. "A lot of my friends have had
experiences or whatever, but I never have."
Silly questions and invasions of privacy are all in a day's work for an
icon, but all this talk of a girl's sex life, or lack thereof, can give a
Spice Girl a complex. "It makes me start thinking, 'Oh my God, is there
something wrong with me?!' I would love to have a boyfriend, but I
haven't. I've had one serious relationship in my adulthood, but even then
I was 19."
Being the girl with the most cake simply means you need a very special
guy with some cake of his own. "I've had dates along the way, but I get
bored so easily. Because my life is so exciting, you know? I love my job!"
Leaning her head back on the armrest, she lays out the criteria. "I want
someone that is really ambitious. I want someone that. even though he is
not successful yet, he knows he is going to be. That's what I'm looking
for in a guy. That's what I want." In other words, Melanie wants a Spice
Boy. In the scheme of things, it doesn't seem too much to ask.·