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 A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

that would go on to become the

Spice Girls The Spice Girls are a British girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Melanie Brown, also known as Mel B ("Scary Spice"); Melanie Chisholm, or Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"); Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"); Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"); and Vict ...

Touch (Spice Girls)

Alongside

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 S ...

Victoria Beckham Victoria Caroline Beckham (; born 17 April 1974) is an English fashion designer, singer, and television personality. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as a member of the girl group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Posh Spice. Wi ...

Melanie Chisholm Melanie Jayne Chisholm (12 January 1974 - 25 December 2022), better known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer-songwriter and media personality. She is best known as one of the five members of the Spice Girls, during which time she was n ...

and

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 ...

, Stephenson completed the original 1994 line-up of Touch, a girl group that would later go on to become the

. Stephenson received the highest scores at the first audition, where she sang

Dina Carroll Geraldine Carroll (born 21 August 1968) is an English singer. She had a string of hits during the 1990s, including the UK top ten singles, " It's Too Late" (1991), " Don't Be a Stranger" (1993), "The Perfect Year", (1993), and "Escaping" (1996 ...

's song " Don't Be a Stranger". 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 Robert Herbert (born March 7, 1945) is an American journalist and former op-ed columnist for '' The New York Times''. His column was syndicated to other newspapers around the country. Herbert frequently writes on poverty, the Iraq War, racis ...

, 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". Stephenson later challenged Herbert's claim, stating that it was her decision to leave due to her mother being diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

. Beckham later dismissed this claim, saying she "just couldn't be arsed" to put in the work the rest of the group was doing. 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 A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, and that she did not share the same passion for the band as the others, even being found sunbathing during early rehearsals. Stephenson was 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 ...

. Stephenson has given several conflicting interviews about her time with the group, stating that she both does and does not regret leaving them. 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. 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. Stephenson's boldest claim was that the reason Beckham does not have any solo lines in the group's first song "

Wannabe "Wannabe" is the debut single by English girl group the Spice Girls. Written and composed by the group members in collaboration with Matt Rowe and Richard "Biff" Stannard during the group's first professional songwriting session, it was produ ...

" is due to the single being written with Stephenson as part of the group, Beckham subsequently refusing to take Stephenson's solo lines. However, many other accounts suggest that "Wannabe" was written after Stephenson had left the group, and that Beckham's absence from the track was due to a scheduling conflict during the writing sessions.

Presenting and music

Stephenson worked briefly as a television presenter for

LWT London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

Friendly TV Friendly TV was a British television channel, owned by Hi2 Limited. Much of the channel's output was made up of interactive programmes and games which allowed user participation by phone or mobile phone using SMS messaging. The channel was lau ...

, and

BSkyB Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

. 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 Enrique Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography spanning ...

and

Julio Iglesias Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva (; born 23 September 1943) is a Spanish singer, songwriter and former professional footballer. Iglesias is recognized as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top record ...

, 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

Albums

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

References

External links