HEADLINE: EXCLUSIVE SPICE GIRLS IN
THEIR WORDS: GERI;
I DIDN'T GET PRESENTS FOR CHRISTMAS OR BIRTHDAYS..INSTEAD MY MUM
WOULD PREACH ABOUT THE WORLD COMING TO AN END;
SPICE GIRLS TELL THEIR OWN STORIES: GERI
BODY:
They came from nowhere in their platform trainers, bra tops, leopard- skin Lycra and thigh-high mini-skirts.
Today, the Spice Girls are the most successful all female band ever andtheir brand of Girl Power has made all five millionaires. But pre-Spice, Geri, Emma, Melanie, Victoria and Mel B were just ordinary girls - each with very different backgrounds and personalities.
Three of them were from broken homes, and all except Victoria grew up infamilies where money was tight.
It was their shared dreams of stardom that drew them to that first audition for the Spice Girls. But what are the five really like? In their new book* Real Life: Real Spice, serialised in The Mirror this week, they provide their most revealing insights yet.
Every day, a Spice Girl will for the first time expose the real life behind the fairy-tale. Today, Ginger Spice, Geri Halliwell, tells how her strict religious upbringing turned her into a wild-child rebel who dreamt of a different life.
Born on August 6 1972, she grew up in Watford, Herts, with her Spanishmother Anne Marie, elder sister Natalie and brother Max. Her father Laurencesplit from Geri's mother when Geri was nine. He died four years ago. Geri was a club dancer, glamour model and Turkish TV game show host before she joined the Spice Girls. This is her story.
AS A child, sometimes I was sure I was adopted and my real mother was aprincess who would come and get me one day. Once, I saw a picture of a model in C&A and thought: "Yes, that's my realmother.
I thought everyone was better off than me. I imagined they were all living a fantasy life with a perfect family. My mum was a Jehovah's Witness, so we didn't celebrate birthdays orChristmas. I was the oddball - I was different. I don't really remember my birthdays. I didn't start getting presents until I was about 14, when my mother left the church. I loved other people's birthday parties - playing pass-the-parcel and getting a goody bag when you went home. I felt I was missing out.My mum used to take me from door to door, saying: "The end is near". That's what Jehovah's Witnesses do, and it was a bit embarrassing.We also had to sit quietly during hours of preaching sessions in KingdomHall, and that was murderous.
My dad didn't work. He was a dreamer and a jack-of-all-trades. It was only my mother who was working, so we didn't have much money.I used to get up early and go with my mum to the library where she was acleaner before I went to school. While she was Hoovering, I'd stand on one ofthe huge oak tables and sing into a big mirror.
I got called "spoilt brat" all the time. I was the youngest, and I suppose I was indulged much more.I shared a room with my elder sister, Natalie. She's naturally quite introvert but likes a giggle, and I'm very extrovert, so we were good partners in crime. We hung out together when my mum was at work. We'd sing into our hairbrushes and pretend to be Abba and Wham!. I was Natalie's little shadow. She was always very protective of me, andstill is. When she started getting Saturday jobs I'd follow her everywhere she worked. She worked in Chelsea Girl and I'd be in there all day.I even did half her paper round for her. She used to get pounds 1.25 - she kept the pounds 1 and I had 25p, even though I did as much as she did.
I WAS always very cheeky and upfront. I was quite a domineering character, which sometimes got me into trouble. When I was about 14, I kept lying to my mum about where I was going. I'dsay I was going round a friend's house, but really we'd be hanging out in apark. One time, I wasn't allowed out, so I sneaked out of the window. But when my friend dropped me off later, the car engine was roaring so loudly that my mum heard me as I came back in. As I was sneaking through the window, she grabbed me by the hair. It wasterrible!
There was a boys' grammar near our school and we'd have discos together. All my friends were getting snogs, but I was so underdeveloped that the boys were just my friends. I left home at 16 because I wanted my independence. I really didn't know what I wanted to do.
I'd had dreams of becoming famous, but nothing had really fuelled them and they'd gone out of my head. I flitted from one college course to the next, got into the acid housescene, then took on a job. I didn't know what I was doing, and nothing feltright.
I went back to college again to do an A-level in English literature. It was during one class that I found out my dad had died. My parents had divorced when I was nine, but I was gutted. It was terrible, because I was just developing a really close friendship with him. He believed in me and I was really Daddy's little girl. It was so instant, and I felt I'd never had the chance to say goodbye. When he died, I bottled it all up, but it did affect me later. I only wish he'd lived to see all this now.
I went on a party binge for six months and started club dancing at theAstoria, which led me into this career. Then I was picked to dance for a season at BCM Mallorca, the biggest club in Europe. I bought The Stage every single week. It was my one link to the chances Iwas looking for. I missed the first Spice Girls audition because I'd sunburnt my face skiing, but I'd ripped the advert out and kept it. I rang the management out of the blue to ask if they'd filled all the spaces and they told me to come down. So I jumped the queue into the last 12.
When the Spice Girls started out, I didn't say much to my family. I justthought it would be better to see where it went. But I really did believe in it. I moved straight down to Maidenhead, Berks, where we were to live together and rehearse.
It felt so good when we got the deal with Virgin. We had a really goodfeeling about the band. Virgin had a day out at the races to introduce us to everybody. It wasfunny, because it was all stiff-upper-lip, and we were just our normal selvesand being quite mad. WE JUMPED on the statue of that old horse, Red Rum. I've got a great photo of us on it. You can see the security guards running towards us.
We were in Japan when we heard Wannabe had gone to No 1 and I felt a realsense of triumph. Everything on my cosmic shopping list of dreams had come true.
Fame has changed me a little bit. I'm still hyper-hyper-hyper andenthusiastic, but I've mellowed.I feel comfortable now, but I still have that drive, that little naggingthing, a burning restlessness inside.I've been running since the day I left home, trying to get far. I haven't arrived yet, but you have to enjoy every moment of your journey on the way, because it's just as good as reaching that point of achievement.
Real Life: Real Spice, The Official Story, by the Spice Girls, published by Zone-Chameleon, on sale Thursday, pounds 12.99
