Spice Girls. Sean Smith

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PART ONE

1

       Irrepressible

      The five young women who would become the Spice Girls didn’t need to be outstanding singers. Nor was proven dancing ability essential. They didn’t have to possess supermodel looks or have the wit of a stand-up comedian. They needed to be ordinary girls with a sparkle that could turn them into something extraordinary. They were not easy to find.

      Melanie Brown, an irrepressible eighteen-year-old from Leeds, was the first name on the Spice Girls team sheet. She had a spark and exuberance that could poke your eye out. She had no idea that she had the ideal profile to become a member of a new five-piece girl group when she left her parents’ house in Kirkstall at the crack of dawn to catch the early coach to London.

      She had seen the ad for a ‘female pop group’ in the Stage newspaper – or, at least, her mother Andrea had – but she was just as interested that day in trying out for a spell as a cruise-ship dancer. That job was for the summer months so there would be sun and sea for starters, as well as a regular wage. Still, she had never come across an advertisement for a girl band before so it was worth taking a look at that as well, especially as it was in the same building off Oxford Street.

This was traditionally the time of year when stage-school wannabes would try to secure work for the summer – seaside shows or cruises were the most popular so this was something different. The advertisement didn’t mention that one of the places would ideally be filled by a young black girl.

      Her colour had seldom been an advantage for Melanie, growing up in some of the tougher areas of Leeds. She was mixed race – not black – an important distinction. The locals were confused by her heritage, not sure whether she was black or white, but that didn’t stop her being the innocent target of prejudice and bullying – even being called the N-word. Fortunately, the insults didn’t curb her natural high spirits.

      While such treatment was upsetting, it didn’t signal an unhappy childhood – far from it. She had a loving and supportive family, as well as a best friend, Sherrell Russell, who lived round the corner on the council estate in the Hyde Park area of Leeds where Melanie spent her first few years. The modest family home was a mile from the famous Headingley cricket ground. Sherrell was also mixed race and the two girls became inseparable, forging a lifelong bond. It helped that their mothers were also best friends.

      Melanie’s parents always encouraged her to fight her own battles, fully aware of the hurdles she would face. Life had been much more difficult for them in facing the full wrath of ignorant discrimination. Her father, Martin Wingrove Brown, was from Nevis, an island in the Caribbean renowned for its beautiful beaches and its reputation as a safe tax haven. As a baby, Martin was left behind to live on a small farm with his grandmother while his parents formed part of the Windrush generation of the 1950s seeking a better life in Britain.

Martin grew up playing cricket on the beach while his parents had to cope with the rampant racism of Britain during the post-war era when a commonplace sign in the windows of guesthouses would read, ‘No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs’. It was a huge cultural change for Martin when his parents decided the time was right for him to join them in the middle of a northern winter. He had just turned nine. His new home was in the depressed and depressing area of Chapeltown in Leeds, where the Yorkshire Ripper committed so many grisly murders in the mid- to late seventies.

      Melanie describes her handsome father as a ‘cool, charismatic dude’. On a Christmas Eve night out in Chapeltown, Martin, aged nineteen, met seventeen-year-old bubbly blonde Andrea Dixon. The attraction was mutual. She lived in the district of Seacroft, an area on the east side of the city, where the black population was practically non-existent at the time and skinhead gangs were thriving – which Melanie found particularly upsetting as she grew up.

      They had been going out for more than two years, as well as taking the daring step of moving in together, before Melanie Janine Brown was born on 29 May 1975 at the Maternity Hospital in Leeds. They married three months later at the city’s register office, which was the first time their families had met.

      Melanie still recalls being told of bus journeys when, as a baby, she would be handed to Martin to protect him, not her, as he was less likely to attract trouble when he was holding a tiny girl. Fortunately, in time, Martin and baby Melanie were properly accepted by Andrea’s family – and she by his, although everyone understood the difficulties they would face.

      For much of her childhood, Melanie shared a room with her sister Danielle, who was five years younger. They got on about as well as sisters normally do – Melanie would be mean to her sibling who would run off and tell Dad.

Nobody could fault Martin’s work ethic. For most of his adult life he worked as a welder at the Yorkshire Imperial Metals factory in Stourton, a five-mile ride on his bicycle. Melanie proudly declared, ‘He worked his backside off to raise his family, never missing a shift.’ He would often work double the hours to make sure he could afford the annual summer camping holiday in the seaside resort of Abersoch in west Wales. Many of Melanie’s extended family would make the trip, which was the highlight of her year.

      Andrea had left school at fifteen and took a number of low-paid jobs to do her bit for the family’s finances. She worked at the local C&A clothing store for eighteen years, as well as cleaning in an old people’s home. Her earnings would be invaluable when they discovered that their high-spirited daughter had a passion for dancing, which proved to be a good way of channelling her boundless energy. It was the one pursuit guaranteed to tire her out.

      Melanie, aged nine, enrolled at the Jean Pearce School of Dance in Horsforth, a ten-minute bus ride up the road from the new family home in Kirkstall, Leeds. Jean was the doyenne of dance in the city. She had set up the school in 1945 and over the years had choreographed many amateur productions and pantos in the north of England.

      Jean had also been responsible for the dancing in the popular Yorkshire TV series Young Showtime, which helped launch the careers of Joe Longthorne, Bonnie Langford and the Emmerdale favourite Malandra Burrows.

She worked wonders with Melanie, barking at her to point her toes and helping her develop the priceless skill for a professional dancer of being able to pick up routines quickly, having been shown the steps just once. She was also anxious to broaden her young pupils’ experiences and arranged school trips to see touring productions of Miss Saigon and Cats. Another valuable contribution СКАЧАТЬ