Robert Herbert (7 February 1942 – 9 August 1999) was an English talent manager. He was the original manager of the Spice Girls.

Biography

Early life

Born in Brentford, England, Herbert qualified as an accountant and first got involved in the music industry in 1985. He took a liking to Matt and Luke Goss, twin friends of his son Chris when they were pupils together at Collingwood School in Camberley, Surrey. Although the twins were only 15, they had formed their own pop group called Gloss with the bassist Craig Logan. Realising the blond looks of Matt and Luke could be exploited to market a group that could be the Eighties' answer to the Bay City Rollers, Herbert offered Gloss advice and provided rehearsal space for them in his summer house. He introduced them to songwriters, financed their early demo tapes and plotted their route to success.

Spice Girls

By mid-1994, the Herberts and Murphy had auditioned 600 applicants, and whittled the line-up down to

Melanie Brown Melanie Janine Brown (born 29 May 1975), commonly known as Melanie B or Mel B, is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the girl group Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Sc ...

Geri Halliwell Geraldine Estelle Horner (née Halliwell; born 6 August 1972) is an English singer, songwriter, author, and actress. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as Ginger Spice, a member of the girl group the Spice Girls. With over 100 million records ...

, Victoria Adams, Lianne Morgan, quickly replaced by Melanie C and

Michelle Stephenson Michelle Stephenson (born 3 January 1977) is 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. Touch (Spice Girls) Alongside Melanie Brown ...

, quickly replaced by

Emma Bunton Emma Lee Bunton (born 21 January 1976) is an English singer, songwriter, actress, and media personality. She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the girl group Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Baby Spice. With over 100 million recor ...

. The Spice Girls were however first called Touch but Spice was considered much better. Therefore, the spice girls got their own names. Victoria was Posh, Mel C was Sporty, Mel B was Scary, Geri was Ginger and Emma was Baby. In 1997, the Herberts reverted to their original boy-band masterplan. "We decided to put an ad in ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...

'' newspaper, as we had done when we were auditioning for the Spice Girls," recalled Bob Herbert of

5ive Five (stylised as 5ive) are a British boy band from London consisting of members Sean Conlon, Ritchie Neville, and Scott Robinson. They were formed in 1997 by the same team that managed the Spice Girls before they launched their career. The ...

Personal life and death

Herbert was married to Ann and had one son,

Chris Herbert Chris Herbert (born 22 February 1971 in Hillingdon, Middlesex) is a British talent manager who has helped oversee the careers of the Spice Girls, Five, Stephen Gately and Hear'Say, B*Witched, The Honeyz, Ben's Brother. He is the son of talent man ...

and one daughter, Nicky. On 9 August 1999, Herbert was driving his red

MG F The MG F and MG TF are mid-engined, rear wheel drive roadster cars that were sold under the MG marque by three manufacturers between 1995 and 2011. The MG F was the first new model designed as an MG since the MGB that was produced from 196 ...

through

Windsor Great Park Windsor Great Park is a Royal Park of , including a deer park, to the south of the town of Windsor on the border of Berkshire and Surrey in England. It is adjacent to the private Home Park, which is nearer the castle. The park was, for man ...

in Berkshire. Suddenly, due to heavy rain, he lost control. The car spun and collided with another car, a silver Toyota Corolla. Herbert's car then collided with a wooden fence around the park. Herbert had to be cut from his car by fire and rescue teams, and was taken to

Wexham Park Hospital Wexham Park Hospital is a large National Health Service, NHS hospital in Slough, Berkshire. It has been managed by Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust since 2014. Andrew Valentine Morris, Sir Andrew Morris is the chief executive of Frimley Health ...

, Slough, by air ambulance, where he was pronounced

dead on arrival Dead on Scene ('' 'DOS' '') Found dead before first responders get on scene and no medical treatment was given. Dead on arrival (DOA), also dead in the field and brought in dead (BID), are terms which indicate that a patient was found to be ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Herbert, Bob 1942 births 1999 deaths English music managers People from Guildford Road incident deaths in England 20th-century English businesspeople