4th March 1994:  400 hopefulls turn up for auditions after seeing advertisements asking for the "streetwise, outgoing, ambitious and dedicated" who are interested in a record deal. Each were given 30 seconds to show what they could do, and Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm, Victoria Addams and Michelle Stephenson were subsequently selected at a Woking Primary School.

28th April 1994:  Geri Halliwell (who missed the initial auditions due to a modelling shoot) talks her way inot being given a chance. After being though to be too old for the job (she was born on 6/8/72), she apparently stated that "I'm as old or young as you want me to be. I can be a 10 year old with big tits if you want..." She was accepted.

August 1994:  Michelle dropped out of the group in order to continue her university education, and Emma Bunton was chosen to replace her. They five move in together to work out their ideas and to reherse (the best thing to do in that situation...)

November 1994:  Virgin spot the girls in Maidenhead, Kent, and they were offered a contract, which was accepted.

October 1995:  Wannabe sung in front of the statue of Red Rum at Kepton Park racetrack. Angry stewards break them up.

February 1996:  Wannabe given a trial run on the cable program The Box, and viewer reactions caused it to be played another 70 times in that week.

14th July 1996:  Wannabe goes straight into the UK Top 40 at Number 3.

21st July 1996:  Wannabe goes to Number One, making them the first all girl band to top the charts with their debut single.

27th July 1996:  The Spice Girls appear at the Radio One Roadshow '96 in my home town of Southend - on - Sea, Essex, and I was there to see them!

30th August 1996:  They approach Adidas for free clothes (probably just for Chisholm), but they are turned down.

30th September 1996:  Say You'll Be There, their second (and best) track goes straight into the UK Number One spot.

4th November 1996:  The album Spice releaaed, making Silver on advance orders alone. It goes straight into Number One and sells a further two million copies in the following two weeks. The album soon received Seven Platinum Awards.

7th November 1996:  They switch on London's West End Lights at Oxford Street.

25th November 1996:  The day after my birthday, the magazine New Talent gets its biggest ever sale, after printing genuine pornographic pictures of Geri. After this, just about all other labloids got hold of other pictures and subsequently published them nationally. All five girls were also offered £1million to strip on a late-night cable channel, but the offer is declined (damn!).

1st December 1996:  The Spice Girls are voted the Best British Group and Best New Group at the Smash Hits Awards, and Say You'll Be There wins Best Video. Three of my friends meet the Spice Girls there, and manage to get on the official video! Lucky B*****ds!

12th December 1996:  Geri: "We're true Thatcherites. Margaret Thatcher was the first Spice Girl, and pioneered our idealogy - Girlpower!" Guess who sends them a Christmas Card? They also told the right wing publication The Spectator that they were true Tory supporters.

22nd December 1996:  2 Become 1 released and sells over 450,000 copies in its first week, making it the fastest selling single of the year. It was therefore the Christmas Number One, along with the album, and left the charts in April 1997!

24th February 1997:  The Brit Awards 1997 see Say You'll Be There winning Best Video, and Wannabe winning Best Single.

4th March 1997:  In aid of Comic Relief 97, the Spice Girls release the double-A Track Mama/Who Do You Think You Are? giving all profits to the charity. The single(s?) went straight to Number One (quelle surprise) causing the girls to be the first British Group to top the charts with their first four singles.

5th March 1997:  Geri gets a false nail stuck in her ear and is rushed to hospital. The Sun run a competition to win the nail!

10th March 1997:  It is announced that the follow-up to the album Spice will be released in Autumn 1997 to coincide with their film. Their first UK Tour is also set to February 1998. Now how live will it really be?

11th March 1997:  Wannabe sells over four million copies in over 30 countries, and is declared the most successful debut single ever!

30th March 1997:  The Girls launch Britain's fifth free television channel, Channel 5, with a pretty dodgy tune. Good vid, though ;-) It's a shame most of the country still can't receive it...

16th May 1997:  The Cannes film festival announces that the film is to be filmed in June 1997, and is to follow the lives of the girls in a 'typical' week.

26th May 1997:  The Girls seemed to be on every Terrestrial British Television Channel, after Here and Now looked into Girl Power, Wannabe wins Best Single in the Red Nose Day Awards, and they perform live at the Prince's 21st Gala (they weren't actually that bad, although the 'real' instruments in the background were not really playing). You can't escape them now!

30th May 1997:  They present Europe's best chart show: Top of the Pops! I told you you cannot escape them!

7th July 1997:  The men behind the success of the Spice Girls featured article on Channel 5's Exclusive! programme.

This page is part of the Howlin' Homepages Unofficial Music Group Homepages,
which are all written and © Copyrighted by the teenage Marc Woolfson, 1996-98.