Monday, February 9, 2009

Geri Halliwel

Born on 6 August 1972, Watford, Hertfordshire
Geraldine Estelle "Geri" Halliwell is an English pop singer-songwriter, children's author, actress and Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund. Halliwell first became famous in the late 1990s as a member of the girl group the Spice Girls, which became one of the most successful girl groups of all time, selling in excess of 55 million records worldwide. As a solo artist, she has received four Brit Award nominations, released four number-one singles in the UK and sold over 4 million albums as a solo artist worldwide.


"I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm damn well gonna do it!" -Geri Halliwell

Even though she always tried to be sexy when she was with the Spice Girls, she seems even sexier now because she has toned down her outrageous
personality to a more sophisticated one.

Geri Halliwell achieved incredible success with the Spice Girls. Her solo career has not quite blasted off (except in England where she reached No.1 on the charts), but she hasn't exactly fallen on her face either.

Before starting her music career, Halliwell had worked as a nightclub dancer in Majorca (Spain), a model and presenter on the Turkish version of Let's Make a Deal and as a glamour model. Following her rise to fame with the Spice Girls, nude photos of Halliwell were re-published in a number of top-shelf magazines in the UK. During the documentary Spice Girls: Giving You Everything broadcast on UK television on 31 December 2007, Halliwell repeated her claim to have only done 'harmless, topless shots', despite extensive evidence to the contrary, including pictures in her own autobiography.

Geri first found fame as one of the five members of the girl group the Spice Girls, and was dubbed Ginger Spice for her "liveliness, zest and flaming red hair". She wore many over-the-top outfits, the most recognized being for her famous Union Jack dress that she wore for the 1997 Brit Awards.

Halliwell became renowned for her independent and feminist attitude. The group joined the most successful musical artists of the 1990s, selling over thirty-five million albums with the studio releases Spice and Spiceworld. Their debut single "Wannabe" became the first of a string of number-ones in the United Kingdom (nine in total) and reached the top position in 41 countries around the globe, including Australia, Canada and the United States. Other successful releases followed, including "Say You'll Be There" and "2 Become 1" from Spice, and "Spice Up Your Life", "Too Much" and "Stop" from Spiceworld. As a songwriter, Geri - as part of the Spice Girls - set the record for the shortest time to achieve 6 no. 1 UK singles, taking 1 year 5 months from Wannabe's first week at no. 1 to the ascent of Too Much. This outpaced Lennon/McCartney, who took 1 year 6 months (From Me to You through I Feel Fine).

On May 30, 1998 Halliwell left the Spice Girls due to depression and differences between the group. The first official confirmation was an announcement to the media by her solicitor on 31 May. Her action aroused controversy, her former band being due to embark on a North American tour, which they eventually completed without her. Although she had already left the group, the Spice Girls released "Viva Forever", the final music video to feature Halliwell's likeness. After she left, the other girls wrote a few songs about her which appeared on their album Forever, notably "Goodbye" (although it is said that Geri had helped write this song before her departure, but since the song was released after her departure, most people see it as a tribute to Geri) and "Let Love Lead the Way."

In 1999, after having left the Spice Girls, Geri Halliwell became a representative for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). As a goodwill ambassador, Halliwell toured the Philippines on a fact-finding trip. She visited with staff and clients of family planning clinics, women's groups in slum areas, and college students.

In 2000, Geri Halliwell appeared in the two part documentary series Geri's World Walkabout for the BBC which followed her work with the UN and other travels. Geri met with kids in Rio de Janeiro and visited child piano-prodigies in the United States, among other things. Alyssa Wheeler of Atchison, Ks.

Halliwell attended the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London on July 7, 2007 and introduced Duran Duran to the crowd.

In 2008, Geri Halliwell also pledged her support to the Kentish Times Christmas Toy Appeal, which aimed to collect second hand toys as Christmas presents for paitents in Child Wards in Bromley, Bexley, Woolwich and Dartford. Halliwell not only gave publicity to the campaign, but also donated toys from her own daughter's collection

On June 28, 2007, Halliwell announced she was joining her former band-mates for "The Return of the Spice Girls", a concert tour that would see all five original members of the Spice Girls together on stage for the first time since Halliwell walked out mid-tour in 1998. Part of the setlist of the reunion tour features Halliwell performing solo, singing her hit single It's Raining Men. It was announced on 1 February that the end of the tour would actually take place in Toronto, on 26 February 2008

Halliwell was also a judge on the UK version of the Popstars series, entitled Popstars: The Rivals. She appeared along with Louis Walsh and Pete Waterman. This series created the successful girl band Girls Aloud, formerly managed by Walsh.

Birth name :-Geraldine Estelle Halliwell
Also known as :- Ginger Spice, Ginger
Genre(s) :-Pop, dance pop, pop rock
Occupation(s) :-Singer, songwriter, actress, author, philanthropist
Label(s) :-Virgin (1996–1998)
Associated acts :-Spice Girls

Filmography
  • 1997: Spice World - Herself (Ginger Spice)
  • 2001: Fat Slags - Paige Stonach
  • 2003: Sex and the City - Phoebe Moore (1 Episode)
  • 2009: Crank 2 - Debbie Spellman
  • 2010: Exposed - Valerie Chessler

Solo awards
  • 2000 - Capital FM Awards - Best British Female Singer
  • 2001 - Comet Awards - Best international Female Singer
  • 2002 - NRJ Music Awards - International Song of the Year ("It's Raining Men")


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