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Michelle Stephenson

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This article is about the British musician. For the Haitian filmmaker, see Michèle Stephenson.
Michelle Stephenson
Birth nameMichelle Stephenson
Born (1977-01-03) 3 January 1977 (age 47)
Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England
Genres
Occupations
  • Singer
  • presenter
Years active1990s

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

Touch (Spice Girls)

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Alongside Melanie Brown, Victoria Adams (later Beckham), 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. Michelle and Beckham just never got on the verbal matches between them was unreal”. He also commented that she would just up and leave during rehearsals sometimes to sunbathe. [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] Beckham later dismissed this claim, saying she "just couldn't be arsed" to put in the work the rest of the group was doing and would walk out during dance rehearsals informing the girls she needed the loo and not return. Brown later also commented “Michelle was a funny one we would all be singing and dancing when she would say I’m just popping to the toilet. We would later find her out in the garden lapping up the sun saying she had a tummy ache so could not carry on for the day”. Brown also claimed that Michelle had been given a number of warnings for being caught sunbathing but she was never took these serious. [2]: 31  Chisholm stated in her 2022 memoir, Who I Am: My Story, that Michelle was undecided if she wanted to remain in the band or attend university, and that she did not share the same passion for the band as the others, even being found sunbathing during early rehearsals, noting that getting a tan was always Michelle’s number one goal over rehearsals. Chisholm also shared that Michelle always tried to delay rehearsals by hours and even joked that if the sun was out there was no way Michelle was turning up for the day, or when she’d say “I’m popping to the loo” she wouldn’t be seen for the rest of the day. It became a joke between the other girls to pray for a bit of rain just so they could get on with rehearsals. [4] Stephenson was replaced by Emma Bunton.[2][5]

Stephenson has given several conflicting interviews about her time with the group, stating that she both does and does not regret leaving them.[6][7] 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. (The nicknames were given by Top of the Pops magazine after launch.)[8] 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 Beckham did not always see eye to eye. Michelle also claimed that Beckham would sunbathe with her but no one commented on this. Beckham has always denied this claim whilst Michelle has claimed that Beckham was always jealous of her tan.

Stephenson's boldest claim is that the reason Beckham 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, with Beckham subsequently refusing to take Stephenson's solo lines. This is something the band has always stated is not true and that Michelle did not write any songs with them. Stephenson also claimed she came up with the bands second single whilst out sunbathing which the band has always said is not true. [9] Many other accounts suggest that "Wannabe" was written after Stephenson had left the group, and Beckham's absence from the track was due to a scheduling conflict during the writing sessions.[10] Since leaving the band, Michelle has always tried to claim she was part of the band’s first album and should have writers’ credits however, Michelle was long gone before any music was ever written or recorded, but Michelle claims there is a whole Spice Girls album recorded with her taking lead vocals.

Michelle has openly accepted she did use to go out sunbathing but claims Beckham would join her. This has also been denied by Beckham. Michelle later reflected “maybe I could have limited the sunbathing but I was having the time of my life and it was a lovely summer”. Michelle claims she was only ever given one warning. Michelle claims she wrote a song for the band titled ‘Sun Burnt’ but this has been locked in a vault never to be heard. She states it carries her vocals, and Emma’s vocals are not present as she was not in the band at the time.

Presenting and music

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Stephenson worked briefly as a television presenter for LWT,[9] 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

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Year Title Role Notes
2001 London Weekend Television Presenter 5 episodes[11]
2001 Raw Spice Herself Documentary[12]
2008 E! True Hollywood Story Herself Documentary'[12]

Albums

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

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Vanoli, Lisa (27 February 1997). "News: Now it's time for the Spice Boys!". The Stage.
  2. ^ a b c d 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. ^ C., Melanie (2022). Who I am. London. ISBN 978-1-80279-335-2. OCLC 1338652042.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ^ "Timeline: Spice Girls". Entertainment. BBC. 28 June 2007.
  6. ^ Vincent, Alice (3 July 2021). "How the Spice Girls made Wannabe: here's the story from A to Z". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  7. ^ "'No regrets' about leaving Spice Girls". News24. 22 March 2001.
  8. ^ Barrett, Christopher (10 November 2007). "Spice Girls: From Wannabes to World Beaters". Music Week. p. 13. ISSN 0265-1548. Retrieved 23 February 2021 – via ProQuest.
  9. ^ a b Kempster, Doug (4 March 2001). "Forgotten Spice Girl; What happened to the one who turned her back on". Sunday Mirror – via Find Articles.
  10. ^ Vincent, Alice (3 July 2021). "How the Spice Girls made Wannabe: here's the story from A to Z". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  11. ^ "Michelle Stephenson". British Film Institute.
  12. ^ a b IMDB. "Michelle Stephenson".
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