''Passion'' is the third studio album by English singer

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 ...

. It was released on 6 June 2005 by

Innocent Records Innocent Records was a pop record label created to cater to for EMI's Virgin Records more pop oriented acts. Following the success of the Spice Girls, Virgin Records decided to delve into the pop market. In doing so they poached Hugh Goldsmi ...

. Two singles were released from the album: " Ride It", was commercially successful. It peaked at number two in Russia, number four in UK, reaching number three on the Belgium, Spain and Scotland Charts, and reached number one in Ukraine. "

Desire Desires are states of mind that are expressed by terms like "wanting", "wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires. They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of aff ...

", charted at number 22 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. Although the album was praised for Halliwell's improved voice the album was a commercial disappointment, peaking at number 41 with only 5,432 copies sold and charting for only one week on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

. After one year of release sales reach 10,000 sold in UK.

Background

Halliwell wrote many songs between 2001 and 2004 with a number of

producers Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

. Songs recorded during this period that did not appear on the final album include "Set Me Off", "Turn It On", "Putting on the Bling", "Disco Sister", and a cover version of " 100% Pure Love". Halliwell also wanted to record the track "

Some Girls ''Some Girls'' is the 14th UK and 16th US album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 9 June 1978 by Rolling Stones Records. It was recorded in sessions held between October 1977 and February 1978 at Pathé Marconi Studios in ...

" (written by

Richard X Richard Philips, better known by his stage name Richard X, is a British songwriter and music producer. Gaining attention as a pioneer of the bootleg craze, Richard X has earned success as a producer and remixer. He has helmed hit singles for arti ...

and

Hannah Robinson Hannah Robinson (born in Derbyshire) is a British songwriter. Her best-known compositions include Rachel Stevens's UK No. 2 hit "Some Girls", Ladyhawke's "My Delirium" and Annie's "Chewing Gum". Robinson began her career as a vocalist and in 2 ...

) for the album, but the track was instead given to

Rachel Stevens Rachel Lauren Stevens (born 9 April 1978) is an English singer, television personality, actress and businesswoman. She was a member of the pop group S Club 7 between 1999 and 2003. She released her solo debut studio album ''Funky Dory'' in Sep ...

. At the end of 2004,

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

and Halliwell came to a mutual agreement and changed the focus of the album and the title to ''Passion'', replacing some of the dance songs with

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, and

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

songs, including the newly recorded songs "Passion", "Desire", "Surrender Your Groove", "So I Give Up on Love", and the B-side "True Love Never Dies". Halliwell described the album as "a journey through a range of extreme emotions from passion and love through to fear and hope". According to her, ''Passion'' can be seen to chart her development as both a vocalist and songwriter. For the singer it has been a matter of "finding out who I am not as much as I what I am. I think this album catches me at a real transitional point as a songwriter".

Promotion

A documentary promoting ''Passion'', titled ''There's Something About Geri'', was premiered by Channel 5 on 15 May 2005. It covered her life and career and following her from Moscow to Milan and Britain as she prepares for a relaunch of her singing career. The documentary attracted an audience of 1.1 million viewers, garnering above-average Sunday ratings for the network. Despite rating success, it was criticised by the media for showing a "self-obsessed, painfully vain little girl in need of constant mollycoddling". She regretted doing the documentary film, commenting, "I shouldn't have done it! Even thinking about it makes me cringe!" A tour had been planned in order to promote the album, but was cancelled.

Singles

" Ride It" was released on 22 November 2004 by

as the first single from the album. "Ride It" was commercially successful. It peaked at number two in Russia, number four in UK, reaching number three on the Belgium, Spain and Scotland Charts. The single reached number one in Ukraine. The song "

" was released on 30 May 2005 as the album's second and final single. It peaked at number 22 on the

, becoming the lowest-peaking single of Halliwell's solo career to date. To promote the single, Halliwell performed the song on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'', ''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

'', '' CD:UK'', '' The Footy Show'', ''

Ministry of Mayhem ''Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown'' (previously titled ''Ministry of Mayhem'' and ''MoM'') was a British children's entertainment programme, which was broadcast on ITV (later CITV) from 10 January 2004 to 1 July 2006. Overview ''Ministry ...

'', ''

Popworld ''Popworld'' is a British television programme that was broadcast on Channel 4 as part of the T4 strand, featuring pop news, trivia, gossip, interviews and music videos, as well as musical performances from contemporary artists. The show began ...

'' and ''

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''.

Track listing

Personnel

*Geri Halliwell – vocals *Anders Hedlund – drums *

Peter-John Vettese Peter-John Vettese (born 15 August 1956 in Scotland), also known as Peter Vettese, is a Scottish keyboardist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. Vettese is perhaps best known for being the keyboardist for progressive rock band Jethro Tul ...

– guitar, backing vocals, drums *

Phil Spalding Philip Spalding (born 19 November 1957, London, England) is an English bass player. He is best known as a session musician and player of Fender Precision Bass guitars. He has played and appeared with performing artists such as Mick Jagger, Sea ...

– bass guitar *Magnus Lind – accordion *

Putter Smith Patrick Verne "Putter" Smith (born January 19, 1941) is an American jazz bassist, music teacher, author, and actor. Early life Smith was born in Bell, California, and began playing the bass at the age of eight, inspired by his older brother, ja ...

- double bass *Andy Duncan – drum programming *Mitch Dalton – acoustic guitar *Joe Holweger – electric guitar, bass guitar *Dave Bishop – baritone saxophone *John Themis – guitar *Matthew Vaughan – keyboards, programming *Damon Wilson – bass guitar *Tim Van Der Kuil – guitar *

Guy Chambers Guy Antony Chambers (born 12 January 1963) is an English songwriter, musician and record producer, best known for his work with Robbie Williams. Education Chambers attended Quarry Bank Comprehensive School sixth form in Liverpool. From 18, h ...

– acoustic guitar, baritone guitar, bass guitar *

Frank Ricotti Frank Ricotti (born 31 January 1949) is an English jazz vibraphonist and percussionist. Early life and education Ricotti was born in London, England. His father was a drummer. Bill Ashton, founder of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NY ...

– percussion *Sam Dixon – bass guitar *

Phil Palmer Philip John Palmer (born 9 September 1952) is a rock sideman and session guitarist who has toured, recorded, and worked with numerous artists. He is best known for his work with Eric Clapton and Dire Straits. Biography Palmer grew up in nort ...

– acoustic guitar *Richard Robson – programming *Phil Todd – alto saxophone, flute *Dave Arch – piano *Chris Davis – tenor saxophone, flute *Emma Holmgren – backing vocals *Andy Caine – backing vocals *Hannah Robinson – backing vocals *Mitch Stevens – backing vocals *

Tracy Ackerman Tracy Ackerman is a British singer and songwriter. She works with several other British songwriters including Andy Watkins and Paul Wilson of Absolute and Mark Taylor. Ackerman has written for artists including Geri Halliwell, Cher, Boyzone, Tina ...

– backing vocals *Claire Worrall – backing vocals *Gary Nuttall – backing vocals

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Passion (Geri Halliwell Album) 2005 albums EMI Records albums Geri Halliwell albums Innocent Records albums