Speculation has been rife as we approach the thirtieth anniversary of the advent of the Spice Girls. Mel B, Victoria Beckham, Emma Bunton, Melanie C, and Geri Halliwell launched into the public eye in September 1996 with the album Spice, which included the iconic single Wannabe. Three albums and as many tours later, they had established themselves as the girl group of the late 1990s, but in recent decades, they’ve rarely shared the stage. With the landmark date approaching, speculation grew that the full group would reunite for a Spice Girls concert, tour, or documentary. But according to Mel B, aka Scary Spice, those rumors are false.
“I can tell you it’s not happening,” Mel B tells Hello! “If it does, it’ll be a shock to me, let’s put it that way,” she continued.
The singer participated in a 20th anniversary reunion that Beckham and Melanie C skipped, and says that “When I look at that [tour] and at the feeling it gave me, I was in my element, but there comes a time…”
“I’m 50,” she added. “You can’t be nagging everyone to go on tour if they don’t want to. I laid that to rest when I turned 50.”
Mel B turns 51 in May, and is not particularly tempted by the idea of returning to the road, even if the other members were interested. “I’ve got fond memories, but I don’t know if I would want to go back up on stage,” she says. “I’ve got a lot of respect and love for those girls. I wouldn’t be sitting here if it wasn’t for me being part of the Spice Girls. They’ve done a lot for me as a person and in my life.”
“I can’t even begin to tell you what our bond is,” she continued. “It’s just something that will always be there. We’re like family; our umbilical cords are all tied together.”
The band also won’t be joining Beckham in the Netflix documentary space, though “I think we’ve all been asked and were all thinking about it at some point.”
“But it has to be done in the right way, and it has to be honest — and not everybody wants to be honest,” Mel B concluded.
Rumors of a Spice Girls comeback were fueled by Beckham in an interview last year. Speaking with Andy Cohen, the singer-turned-fashion designer said “It’s tempting, it would be tempting, but could I take on a world tour? No, I can’t, I have a job.”
“But the idea…oh my god, the Sphere is amazing,” she continued. “How good would the Spice Girls be at the Sphere?”
Originally published by Vanity Fair France
