In the spring of 1997, Spice Girls mania ruled as the British vocal quintet rose to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with its debut album, Spice.
The group’s members -- Victoria Adams (now Mrs. David Beckham), then 23; Melanie Brown, 21; Emma Bunton, 21; Melanie Chisholm, 23; and Geri Halliwell, 24 -- promoted a unified front of “girl power” and friendship among strikingly different personalities. Their adoption of nicknames that distilled their personas into marketing-friendly alter-egos also helped them appeal to the masses: Brown became known as “Scary Spice,” for example, a nod to her brashness and outrageous style, while the ponytail-and-tracksuit-wearing Chisholm was dubbed “Sporty Spice.”
Released in February 1997, Spice would go on to sell 7.5 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen Music; spend 105 weeks on the chart; score the 1997 Billboard Music Award for album of the year; and spawn massive singles, including the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Wannabe.” Spice Girls dolls, body spray and other merch flooded the market, and a second top 10 album, Spice World, was released just nine months later (followed by an eponymous movie in January 1998).
A media backlash over the girls’ surfeit of sponsorship deals ensued, and the group lost some of its mojo when Halliwell — aka Ginger Spice — departed in 1998. The remaining four released Forever in 2000, but soon went on hiatus. The quintet reunited for a successful 2007 tour.
Though the Spice Girls had a relatively short recording career as a group, each has released her own solo singles and albums to varying degrees of success, and Beckham is now a fashion mogul. All five artists most recently reunited in December 2012 for the premiere of the London stage musical Viva Forever — a show based on the Spice Girls’ music.