They have sold over million records worldwide, [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] making them the best-selling girl group of all time. The Spice Girls were formed by Heart Management, who held auditions to create a girl group to compete with the British boy bands popular at the time. They released their debut single, " Wannabe ", in , which reached number one on the charts of 37 countries. Their second album, Spiceworld , sold more than 14 million copies worldwide.
Both albums encapsulated the group's dance-pop style and message of female empowerment, with vocal and songwriting contributions shared equally by the members. In , the Spice Girls made their live concert debut and released a feature film, Spice World , both to commercial success. In , the group embarked on the Spiceworld Tour , which was attended by an estimated 2. Since then, they have reunited for a performance at the Summer Olympics closing ceremony [ 22 ] [ 23 ] and for two concert tours: the Return of the Spice Girls from to as a five-piece and the Spice World — UK Tour , without Beckham.
Both tours won the Billboard Live Music Award for highest-grossing engagements, making the Spice Girls the top touring all-female group from to In , they became the youngest recipients of the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. Heart Management Ltd. Open audition. Danceworks, 16 Balderton Street. Friday 4th March. Please bring sheet music or backing cassette. In the early s, Bob Herbert and Chris Herbert , the father-and-son duo of Heart Management, decided to create a girl group to compete with the boy bands who dominated UK pop music at the time.
In February , Heart Management placed an advertisement in the trade paper The Stage asking for singers to audition for an all-female pop band at London's Danceworks studios. They were placed in groups of 10 and danced a routine to " Stay " by Eternal , followed by solo auditions in which they performed songs of their choice. After several weeks of deliberation, Victoria Adams , Melanie Brown , Melanie Coloma and Michelle Stephenson were among a dozen or so women who advanced to a second round of auditions in April.
Suffering from a tonsillitis , [ 37 ] Melanie Chisholm couldn't be present at the second round of auditions. However, after said auditions, Melanie Coloma was let go by the Herberts, who called Melanie C to replace her, after [ 36 ] [ 38 ] Geri Halliwell persuaded the Herberts to let her attend the next round of auditions. The group moved into a three-bedroom house in Maidenhead , Berkshire , and spent most of practising songs written for them by Bob Herbert's long-time associates John Thirkell and Erwin Keiles.
