Spice Girls. Sean Smith

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СКАЧАТЬ in Jubilee Road was filled with the sounds of Frank Sinatra and Benny Goodman. Geri observed, ‘It’s probably something to do with having an older father. I’ve always been different from my age group in liking that kind of music.’ He would often be mistaken for her grandfather when they were out and about.

      Although she was devoted to her dad, her mum remained her role model, constantly displaying a determination to get things done. She was quite strict with Geri, which led to some mother-daughter tensions while Geri was growing up. Ana Maria didn’t support her plan to sign with a child agent, for instance, telling her she needed to think more sensibly about her future and plan a solid career.

      Her parents eventually split when Geri was nine and she went to stay with her half-sister, Karen, who was Laurence’s grown-up daughter from his first marriage. After everything was sorted, she moved back to Jubilee Road while her dad settled into a grotty flat in a high-rise council block in a rougher area of the town, close to the M1. Once a week, Geri would go round to clean the place and make sure there was some milk in the fridge.

      After she and Laurence divorced, Ana Maria found a new long-term boyfriend but she was always there to support Geri, if asked. Over the years she realised that trying to rein in her headstrong daughter was a thankless task. Those who came across her, when Geri had fulfilled her dream of fame, remarked that she had no airs and graces. Her future manager, Jon Fowler, observed, ‘Her mum was absolutely terrific. She was very respectful and modest – and always smiling.’

Not all her contemporaries at the Walter de Merton Junior School in Gammon Lane warmed to Geraldine, as her mother always called her, or Jez, as she liked to call herself for a while. One classmate described her as a ‘show-off with a big mouth’. Another threatened to throw her over the railway line until a teacher intervened. Others, though, found her sociable and fun – a natural leader who would bring out the best in everyone.

      One of her close friends at the school, Sarah Gorman, recalled that they would go round to each other’s houses for tea and used to play kiss-chase with the boys in the playground.

      Despite her small stature, Geri was a demon on the netball court and used to play centre because she was so nimble and nippy. She retained a strong affection for her junior school and returned there in 2008 to read to pupils from the first of her Ugenia Lavender books for children: ‘I felt more nervous reading than I ever did performing as the Spice Girls.’ She even included one of her favourite teachers, Mrs Flitt, as a character in the book.

      Even though Walter de Merton had become Beechfield School, it still retained a strong link with its famous former pupil and one of the houses is called Halliwell House.

      Before she left junior school, Geri went to her first concert when she joined Natalie to see Wham! on the Big Tour at the NEC, Birmingham, in December 1984. George Michael was performing the number-one single ‘Freedom’ and when he got to the last line, he pointed at Geri and sang, ‘Girl, all I want right now is you.’ She fell in love and decided on the spot that they were going to get married. Every night she would give a poster of him on her bedroom wall a goodnight kiss before getting into bed. Many of her classmates fancied Andrew Ridgeley and would gather outside his parents’ house a couple of miles away in Bushey but Geri’s heart always belonged to George.

Her devotion to George also coincided with her discovery of Madonna, whose flamboyant image would be a considerable influence on her. Even as a young teenager she could identify with the artist who had become the most famous woman in pop, even though she was by no means the best singer or dancer. Instead she had a fantastic image.

      After Walter de Merton, Geri was expected to follow her brother and sister to the nearby Leggatts Way Secondary Modern but she had other ideas. She asked her mum if she could try for a place at Watford Grammar School for Girls and surprised everyone by being accepted. It was an early indication that Geraldine Halliwell was someone who could make things happen.

      The one drawback was that she lost touch with most of her primary-school classmates, but Geri’s lack of shyness ensured she made friends easily. The new school also gave her the opportunity to discover drama. Growing up, there had been no money for dance classes or music lessons so the highlight of her performance career to date was pretending to be Sandy from Grease and singing ‘Summer Nights’ in assembly at junior school.

      Now, she was being encouraged to appreciate Shakespeare, and a trip to watch A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park was one of the highlights of her time at Watford Grammar. The school was one of the best in the area: founded in 1704 as a charity school, it had an excellent academic reputation.

      Geri passed an impressive eight GCSEs, without particularly applying herself. She had no desire to continue a formal education by going on to study for A-levels, Instead she decided to follow her sister Natalie and go to the local Casio College in Langley Road, Watford, which Andrew Ridgeley had attended a few years before. If she had been a bit older Geri might have seen him and George Michael perform there with their original band, the Executive.

Geri studied a curious mixture of finance, travel and tourism, which didn’t suit her. She decided that she was just wasting precious time, promptly left and started dancing. She had no proper training so would just improvise and hope for the best. She had developed a curvaceous figure and was soon noticed around the London clubs. She was paid £40 for dancing on a Saturday night – and Sunday morning – at the Crazy Club and the house-music extravaganzas held at the Astoria in Charing Cross Road.

      Geri moved out of Jubilee Road, staying for a while in a terraced house owned by her half-sister Karen and her husband in the Watford suburb of South Oxhey. She had to leave after she had invited everyone in the Game Bird pub to a party at the house. Word got round: two hundred people turned up and wrecked the place. Shamefaced, Geri moved into a squat on a nearby council estate.

      Newly independent, Geri had to buy her own food. This was not necessarily a good thing because she was worrying for the first time about her weight. As a result, she did something she later claimed was ‘the biggest mistake of my life’ – she went on a diet. The trigger had been a throwaway remark by one of her fellow dancers about her being a bit plump. She had been a fussy eater as a child – avoiding vegetables if she could – but at least then her mum, who could be quite strict, could keep an eye on her. Left to her own devices she wasn’t eating properly at all.

At least she was saving money. She much preferred to spend what little she had on going out. These were carefree times in the late eighties and Geri became an enthusiastic embracer of the ‘Second Summer of Love’. This was the acid-house culture that had sprung up during 1988 and ballooned into the giant illegal rave events around the M25. Watford was the perfect starting point for dressing up, piling into cars and vans and heading off to the next party location. The Game Bird in Hartspring Lane was close to the M1 and the best kicking-off point in the area – no wonder Geri’s party was mobbed.

      Geri was sixteen when she went to her first rave and at seventeen was an old hand. But her cavalier outlook on life took a temporary knock when she discovered a small lump in her right breast and needed an emergency operation to have it removed. Fortunately, it was benign but Geri always felt she was one of the lucky ones and, in the future, would strongly encourage young women to be mindful of breast cancer and make sure they checked their breasts regularly.

      She found out that she could earn more money abroad so decided to try her luck in the fashionable Mediterranean clubs. At nineteen, she was a dancer at the world-famous BCM Planet Dance club in Magaluf. ‘Dancing’ is a loose term because in effect she was writhing around in a cage ten feet or so above the dance floor. To begin with, she was given a week’s trial by the manager but soon proved to be one of the most popular dancers, dressed in a variety of wigs, bra tops and leather shorts. Geri, it seemed, had mastered the art of flirtation. As one of her close friends observed, СКАЧАТЬ