Geri Halliwell

Geraldine Estelle Halliwell-Horner (née Halliwell; born 6 August 1972) is an English singer, songwriter, television personality, author, and actress.

She was a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Ginger Spice.

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

Geraldine Estelle Halliwell was born on 6 August 1972 at Watford General Hospital in Watford, Hertfordshire, the daughter of Ana María (née Hidalgo) and Laurence Francis Halliwell (1922–1993).

Her mother is Spanish, hailing from Huesca, while her father was of Swedish, Finnish, English and a "bit of French" descent.

Halliwell's paternal grandfather was a Swedish-speaking Finn Mathias Karlson Sjövik, born in Korsnäs, Finland, who emigrated to Sweden.

Halliwell grew up on a council estate in North Watford.

She was educated at Watford Grammar School for Girls and Camden School for Girls.

Before starting her music career, Halliwell had worked as a nightclub dancer in Majorca, a presenter on the Turkish version of Let's Make a Deal, and a glamour model.

At the age of 19, she appeared as a Page 3 girl in The Sun.

In 1994, Halliwell, along with Melanie C, Mel B and Victoria Beckham, responded to an advertisement in The Stage magazine seeking members for a new all-girl pop group.

Around 400 women responded and auditioned.

After a couple of line-up changes, Halliwell, Melanie C, Mel B and Beckham became the members of the group called "Touch", and were later joined by Emma Bunton.

In March 1995, the group broke with their original management, Heart Management.

In the months that followed, they teamed up with music manager Simon Fuller, signed a deal with Virgin Records, and changed the group name to Spice Girls.

In 1996, the group released their debut album, Spice, which became a worldwide commercial success.

The album peaked at number one in more than 17 countries and was certified multi-platinum in 27 countries.

The group's massive and sudden popularity was compared to Beatlemania.

The album sold 30 million copies worldwide, became the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group, and is one of the most successful albums of all time.

The album's first single, "Wannabe", reached number one in 37 countries and all of the subsequent singles from the album – "Say You'll Be There", "2 Become 1", "Who Do You Think You Are" and "Mama" – also peaked at number one in United Kingdom.

Shortly after the release of "Wannabe", each member of the group received a nickname from Top of the Pops magazine; the use of these nicknames later became widespread.

Because of her red hair, Halliwell was named "Ginger Spice".

Although regularly uttered by all five Spice Girls, the phrase "girl power" was most closely associated with Halliwell and was often accompanied with a V sign.

In a Christmas 1996 interview with The Spectator magazine, Halliwell controversially spoke of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as being an inspiration for their girl power ideology.

Their slogan "girl power" was most closely associated with Halliwell and her Union Jack dress from the 1997 Brit Awards also became an enduring symbol.

She has also appeared in films, including Spice World (1997), Crank: High Voltage (2009), and Gran Turismo (2023).

In 1997, the group released their second album, Spiceworld.

The album's first two singles "Spice Up Your Life" and "Too Much" reached number one in the UK, marking seven consecutive number one singles, an all-time record for a musical group.

Halliwell left the Spice Girls in 1998, citing exhaustion and creative differences, but rejoined when they reunited in 2007.

Following her rise to fame, nude photos of Halliwell were republished in a number of magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse in 1998.

In 1999, Halliwell released her debut solo album, Schizophonic, which produced the UK number-one singles "Mi Chico Latino", "Lift Me Up" and "Bag It Up"; the lead single, "Look at Me", reached number two.

Halliwell is also an author and has released two autobiographies, If Only (1999) and Just for the Record (2002), as well as a series of children's novels titled Ugenia Lavender (2008).

Her latest children’s book, Rosie Frost and the Falcon Queen, was published in 2023.

In 2001, she released her second album, Scream If You Wanna Go Faster; the lead single, "It's Raining Men", reached number one in the UK.

"Scream If You Wanna Go Faster" and "Calling" were also top-ten singles.

In 2002, Halliwell was a judge on the television talent show Popstars: The Rivals.

Halliwell's third album, Passion, was released in 2005 and produced the top five single "Ride It".

In 2010 and 2012, she was a guest judge on the seventh and ninth series of the television singing competition The X Factor UK, and in 2013, she was a judge on the seventh series of the television talent show Australia's Got Talent.

In September 2013, it was announced that Halliwell would return to the music industry in Australia with the release of her first solo single in eight years, "Half of Me".

In a 2019 interview with Harper's Bazaar, she said, "For me, if you look it up, it means equalisation between the sexes. It means everybody, whether you're a man, woman or something in between. Forget about labels, it's about embracing everyone's individuality and giving them the opportunity and gender equality and pushing that forward."