Editing Spice Girls (section)

===1994–1995: Formation and early years===
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 |quote = WANTED: R.U. 18–23 with the ability to sing/dance? R.U. streetwise, outgoing, ambitious, and dedicated? Heart Management Ltd. are a widely successful music industry management consortium currently forming a choreographed, singing/dancing, all-female pop act for a recording deal. Open audition. Danceworks, 16 Balderton Street. Friday 4th March. 11.00am–5.30pm. Please bring sheet music or backing cassette.
 |source = – Advertisement placed in ''[[The Stage]]''<ref name="spice girls form">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/11/spice-girls-form|title=A history of pop music: Spice Girls form|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=11 June 2011|first=Caroline|last=Sullivan|access-date=19 February 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210216124416/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/11/spice-girls-form|archive-date=16 February 2021|url-status=live}}</ref>
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In the early 1990s, [[Bob Herbert (manager)|Bob Herbert]] and [[Chris Herbert]], the father-and-son duo of Heart Management, decided to create a girl group to compete with the [[boy band]]s who dominated UK pop music at the time.<ref>{{harvnb|McGibbon|1997b|pp=9–11}}</ref> With the financier Chic Murphy, they envisioned an act comprising "five strikingly different girls"<ref name="rolling stone interview"/> who would each appeal to a different audience. In February 1994, Heart Management placed an advertisement in the trade paper ''[[The Stage]]'' asking for singers to audition for an all-female pop band at [[London|London's]] Danceworks studios.<ref>{{harvnb|McGibbon|1997b|pp=13–15}}</ref> Approximately 400 women attended the audition on 4 March 1994. They were placed in groups of 10 and danced a routine to "[[Stay (Eternal song)|Stay]]" by [[Eternal (band)|Eternal]], followed by solo auditions in which they performed songs of their choice.<ref name=sinclair200838/>

After several weeks of deliberation, [[Victoria Beckham|Victoria Adams]], [[Mel B|Melanie Brown]], Melanie Coloma and [[Michelle Stephenson]] were among a dozen or so women who advanced to a second round of auditions in April. Suffering from a [[tonsillitis]],<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|2019|p=50}}</ref> [[Melanie C]]hisholm couldn't be present at the second round of auditions. However, after said auditions, Melanie Coloma was let go by the Herberts, who called Melanie C to replace her, after<ref name=sinclair200838>{{harvnb|Sinclair|2008|pp=3–8}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|McGibbon|1997b|pp=40–41, 57}}</ref> [[Geri Halliwell]] persuaded the Herberts to let her attend the next round of auditions.<ref>{{harvnb|Halliwell|1999|pp=146–147}}</ref> A week after the second audition, Adams, Brown, Halliwell and Stephenson were asked to attend a recall at Nomis Studios in [[Shepherd's Bush]], performing "[[Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours]]" on their own and as a group.<ref>{{harvnb|Halliwell|1999|pp=151–152}}</ref> Chisholm was also invited.<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|2019|pp=60–61}}</ref> The five women were selected for a band initially named Touch.<ref name="Sinclair2728"/>

The group moved into a three-bedroom house in [[Maidenhead]], [[Berkshire]], and spent most of 1994 practising songs written for them by Bob Herbert's long-time associates [[John Thirkell]] and Erwin Keiles.<ref>{{harvnb|McGibbon|1997a|p=52}}</ref> According to Stephenson, the songs were aimed at a very young audience, and none were later used by the Spice Girls.<ref name="Sinclair29">{{harvnb|Sinclair|2008|p=29}}</ref> During these first months, the group worked on [[Demo (music)|demos]] at South Hill Park Recording Studios in [[Bracknell, Berkshire|Bracknell]] with the producer and studio owner Michael Sparkes and the songwriter and arranger [[Tim Hawes]]. They were also tasked with choreographing their own dance routines, which they worked on at Trinity Studios in [[Knaphill]], near [[Woking]], [[Surrey]].<ref>{{harvnb|McGibbon|1997b|pp=58–61}}</ref> A few months into the training, Stephenson was fired for a perceived lack of commitment.{{refn|group=nb|According to Bob Herbert, she was fired because "she just wasn't fitting in... she would never have gelled with it and I had to tell her to go".<ref name=sinclair3031/> Stephenson later challenged Herbert's claim, stating that it was her decision to leave due to her mother being diagnosed with [[breast cancer]]. Adams later dismissed this claim, saying she "just couldn't be arsed" to put in the work the rest of the group was doing.<ref name=sinclair3031>{{harvnb|Sinclair|2004|pp=30–31}}</ref>}} Heart Management turned to the group's vocal coach, Pepi Lemer, to find a replacement. After Lemer's first recommendation declined the offer, Lemer recommended her former pupil [[Emma Bunton]], who auditioned for the Herberts and joined as the fifth member.<ref name=sinclair3031/>

As their training continued, the group performed small showcases for a few of Heart Management's associates. In one performance, they added a rap section they had written to one of Thirkell and Keiles' songs. Keiles was furious with the changes and insisted they learn to write songs properly. The group began professional [[Songwriter|songwriting]] lessons;<ref>{{harvnb|McGibbon|1997b|pp=86–90}}</ref> during one session, they wrote a song called "Sugar and Spice" with Hawes, which inspired them to change their name to Spice.<ref name=mcgibbon9798>{{harvnb|McGibbon|1997b|pp=97–98}}</ref>

==== Signing with Virgin Records ====
By late 1994, the group felt insecure, as they still did not have an official contract with Heart Management and were frustrated with the management team's direction. They persuaded Herbert to set up a showcase performance in front of industry writers, producers and [[Artists and repertoire|A&R]] men in December 1994 at the Nomis Studios, where they received an "overwhelmingly positive" reaction.<ref name="sinclair20083334" /> The Herberts quickly set about creating a binding contract for them. Encouraged by the reaction they had received at the Nomis showcase, all five members refused to sign the contracts on legal advice from, among others, Adams's father.<ref name="sinclair20083334">{{harvnb|Sinclair|2008|pp=33–34}}</ref> In January, the group began songwriting sessions with [[Biffco|Richard Stannard]], whom they had impressed at the showcase, and his partner Matt Rowe. During these sessions the songs "[[Wannabe]]" and "[[2 Become 1]]" were written.<ref name="sinclair4049" />

In March 1995, the group left Heart Management, feeling Heart was unwilling to listen to their ideas. To ensure they kept control of their work, they allegedly stole the master recordings of their discography from the management offices.<ref>{{harvnb|Sinclair|2004|p=34}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|According to Tim Hawes, Halliwell had tricked him into giving her the master tapes, claiming the group needed them for rehearsals. Upon obtaining the tapes, the group walked out on Heart Management and Hawes never saw them again.<ref>{{harvnb|McGibbon|1997b|pp=100–102}}</ref> After signing them to his company a few months later, Simon Fuller paid off a £50,000 settlement with the Herberts to ensure the group would not face legal problems with their previous managers.<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|2019|p=114}}</ref>}} The next day, the group tracked down the [[Sheffield]]-based songwriter [[Eliot Kennedy]], who had been present at the Nomis showcase, and persuaded him to work with them. Through contacts they had made at the showcase, they were also introduced to the [[Absolute (production team)|Absolute]] production team. With Kennedy and Absolute's help, the group spent the next several weeks writing and recording demos for the majority of the songs that would be released on their debut album, including "[[Say You'll Be There]]" and "[[Who Do You Think You Are (Spice Girls song)|Who Do You Think You Are]]".<ref name="sinclair4049">{{harvnb|Sinclair|2008|pp=40–49}}</ref> Their demos caught the attention of [[Simon Fuller]] of [[19 Entertainment]], who signed them to his management company in May 1995.<ref>{{harvnb|Sinclair|2008|pp=66–68}}</ref>

By this point, industry buzz around Spice had grown and major record labels in London and Los Angeles were keen to sign them. After a bidding war, they signed a five-album deal with [[Virgin Records]] in July 1995.<ref>{{harvnb|Sinclair|2008|pp=69–70}}</ref> Fuller took them on an extensive promotional tour in Los Angeles, where they met with studio executives in the hopes of securing film and television opportunities.<ref>{{harvnb|Halliwell|1999|pp=194, 197–198}}</ref> Their name was changed to the Spice Girls as a rapper was already using the name Spice. The new name was chosen as industry people often referred to them derisively as "the Spice girls".<ref>{{harnvb|Sinclair|2008|p=77}}</ref><ref name="sggen" /> They continued to write and record tracks for their debut album.<ref name="cripps141">{{harvnb|Spice Girls|Cripps|Peachey|1997|p=141}}</ref>