Emma Bunton

Emma Lee Bunton (born 21 January 1976) is an English singer, songwriter, media personality, and actress.

She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Baby Spice, reflecting the fact that she was the youngest member.

With over 100 million records sold worldwide, the Spice Girls are the best-selling female group of all time.

Bunton appeared briefly in the BBC soap opera EastEnders in 1992 as a mugger.

In 1993, she appeared in the ITV police drama The Bill, and made a brief appearance as a prostitute in the BBC drama series To Play the King.

In 1994, Melanie Chisholm, Melanie Brown, Geri Halliwell, and Victoria Adams responded to an advertisement in The Stage.

Around 400 women who answered the ad went to Dance Works studios.

Halliwell, Chisholm, Adams, and Brown were originally chosen as the members of the group, along with Michelle Stephenson, who due to her lack of commitment was replaced with Abigail Kis, then Bunton.

The group felt insecure about the lack of a contract and were frustrated by the direction in which Heart Management was steering them.

In October 1994, armed with a catalogue of demos and dance routines, the group began touring management agencies.

They persuaded Bob Herbert to set up a showcase performance for the group in front of industry writers, producers and A&R men in December 1994 at the Nomis Studios in Shepherd's Bush where they received an "overwhelmingly positive" reaction.

Due to the large interest in the group, the Herberts quickly set about creating a binding contract for the group.

Encouraged by the reaction they had received at the Nomis showcase, all five members delayed signing contracts on the legal advice from, amongst others, Adams' father Anthony Adams.

In March 1995, because of the group's frustration at their management's unwillingness to listen to their visions and ideas, they parted with Heart Management.

Bunton was the youngest member of the group.

The group began a relationship with Simon Fuller of 19 Entertainment and finally signed with him in March 1995.

During the summer of that year the group toured record labels in London and Los Angeles with Fuller and finally signed a deal with Virgin Records in September 1995.

From this point on, up to the summer of 1996, the group continued to write and record tracks for their debut album while extensively touring the west coast of the United States, where they had signed a publishing deal with Windswept Pacific.

On 8 July 1996, the Spice Girls released their debut single "Wannabe" in the United Kingdom.

In the weeks leading up to the release, the video for "Wannabe", got a trial airing on The Box music channel.

"Wannabe" proved to be a major hit, topping the UK Singles Chart for seven weeks and also topping the charts in a further 34 countries, including Australia, Denmark, France, Germany and the United States.

and becoming the all-time biggest-selling single by an all-female group.

Bunton also appeared in a 2000 public information film for the British government concerning firework safety.

During the Spice Girls hiatus, Bunton released her debut solo album, A Girl Like Me (2001), which debuted at number four on the UK Albums Chart, and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry for sales in excess of 100,000 copies.

The album spawned the successful singles "What Took You So Long?", "What I Am" and "Take My Breath Away".

Bunton had a recurring role on the BBC One comedy series Absolutely Fabulous (2003-2012).

Her second album, Free Me (2004), included the top five single "Free Me", and the top ten singles "Maybe" and "I'll Be There".

Following the release of her third studio album, Life in Mono (2006), which included the successful single "Downtown", Bunton reunited with the Spice Girls in 2007 for a one-off international tour and greatest hits album.

She competed on the fourth series of the BBC dancing show Strictly Come Dancing in 2006.

Bunton has also served as a judge on television talent shows, including Dancing on Ice (2010–2011), Your Face Sounds Familiar (2013), and Boy Band (2017).

From 2013 to 2018, Bunton was a co-presenter on the Heart Breakfast radio show in London with Jamie Theakston.

She currently presents her own show for Heart Radio on Sunday evenings.

Bunton was born in Finchley, Barnet, London.

Her parents, Pauline, a karate instructor, and Trevor Bunton, a milkman, split when she was 11, after which she stayed with her mother.

She has a younger brother, Paul James.

As stated in a TV interview with Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford on This Morning during August 2016, Bunton's maternal family originate from County Wexford, Ireland.

Bunton went to St Theresa's Roman Catholic Primary School in Finchley.

She enrolled in the Sylvia Young Theatre School.

At the SYTS, she became friendly with Keeley Hawes; they lived and travelled together for six months.

In 2019, she released her fourth studio album, My Happy Place, and reunited with the Spice Girls for a tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland.