When Nelson Mandela declared that the greatest moment in his life was meeting his heroines the Spice Girls, the band knew they had reached the pinnacle of their popularity.
Flanked by Prince Charles, who said that it was “the second greatest moment of his life”, the band couldn’t have received a better endorsement.
Yet days after meeting the Prince and the South African president last November in Pretoria, it became clear that their steep rise was about to be followed by an equally precipitous fall.
Four days later they sacked “Svengali Spice”, their manager, Simon Fuller, and a week after that they were booed off stage by an audience at an awards ceremony in Barcelona. The Mirror even ran a “wannaboo” telephone line, where readers could listen to the jeering.
Only 700,000 of the 1.2m copies of the album Spiceworld had been sold in the run-up to Christmas, although it went on to sell nine million copies worldwide.
They faced further humiliation when the readers of Smash Hits, the pop magazine for teenagers, voted them Worst Group and went on to decide that Ginger Spice, Geri Halliwell, was the Worst-Dressed and Least Fanciable.
The band refused to be written off even though their first feature-length film, Spiceworld The Movie, released on Boxing Day, was dismissed by the critics as being boring, unoriginal and a “dry, tasteless turkey”.
The Spice Girls were the ultimate in manufactured pop groups who could barely sing a note when they got together four years ago, but that didn’t stop Ginger, Baby, Sporty, Scary and Posh yearning for success.
Ginger once earned a living as a topless model and a game-show hostess on Turkish television, and became the band’s natural leader with her feisty character and repeated declaration of the mantra: “Girl power”.
It was not surprising that she was the first one to quit the band, for she was the one who led the revolt against their manager.
Geri, aged 25, the oldest band member, also attended high-powered business meetings with executives and lawyers and cheekily pinched Prince Charles’s bottom when he met the girls.
For many she epitomised the Spice Girls, with her outrageously tight outfits, platform shoes, thick make-up and bright red hair.
In their official book Girl Power! Posh Spice revealed who was in charge: “Geri always tells us what we’re doing every day. She gets the whip out and makes sure we work properly.” Sporty added: “Geri has always been a bossy big mouth.”
She certainly left the other girls fuming on Wednesday night when she pulled out of the BBC’s National Lottery draw, just before it went on air.
The mystery about her whereabouts deepened when she refused to fly to Norway for performances with the band last Thursday and Friday night and the whispers that she was leaving became louder and louder.
Band officials claimed she was suffering from a stomach bug and was exhausted, but it soon became apparent that she was just sick of being a Spice Girl after a series of rows with the other girls. She broke the news to them in a phone call on Thursday morning.
Geri has been hiding somewhere on mainland Europe since quitting the band.
The band was manufactured by Bob Herbert in 1994. After interviewing 400 star-struck wannabes, he narrowed it down to five girls who formed Touch - later emerging as the Spice Girls.
The group consisted of Halliwell, Sporty - Melanie Chisholm, from Cheshire, Baby, aka Emma Bunton, from Finchley, north London, Scary, aka Melanie Brown, from Leeds, and Posh, aka Victoria Adams, from Hertfordshire.
After a year of fine-tuning their vocal and choreographic talent, with the help of Fuller, the band signed to Virgin in 1995.
They had their first British number one a year later with Wannabe, followed by the hugely successful album Spice, which earned them £30m.
The group received a clutch of awards - more than Oasis - including Brits and Ivor Novellos. They also endorsed a range of products from deodorants to soft drinks, dolls and clothing.
But November 1997 was a real turning point in the band.
In an interview last year, Geri said: “My best and worst bits of the year were probably the same thing. The week of November 5 1997. Because it was the most frightening and exhilarating thing we did.”
It also signalled the beginning of the end for the Spice Girls.
Geri Halliwell’s statement:
This is a message to the fans.
Sadly I would like to confirm that I have left the Spice Girls. This is because of differences between us. I’m sure the group will continue to be successful and I wish them all the best. I have no immediate plans. I wish to apologise to all the fans and to thank them and everyone who’s been there.
Lots of love, Geri.
PS, I’ll be back.
Spice Girls’ statement:
We are upset and saddened by Geri’s departure but we are very supportive in whatever she wants to do. The Spice Girls are here to stay - see you at the stadiums!
We are sorry to all our fans for having to go through all of this.
All our love, Victoria, Emma, Mel C, Mel B.
Friendship never ends!
