Selling over 75 million records and scoring nine UK Number 1 singles, the Spice
Girls were Europe's biggest pop phenomenon of the 1990s. After their initial
breakup in 2000, it was the group's high-kicking, tracksuit-clad Sporty Spice —
aka Melanie C, born Melanie Jayne Chisholm in Whiston, Lancashire, on January
12, 1974 — who underwent the biggest change, teaming up with Bryan Adams for the
hit duet "When You're Gone" and embracing a rock-influenced sound with her first
solo single, "Goin' Down." Although her debut album, 1999's Northern Star,
failed to sell well in America, it...