Source: Geri World

Bio

Leaving Ginger
In May 1998, a 25-year-old woman walked out of her job, and it made world news. "I was standing on this mountaintop, and I jumped, not knowing where I was going to fall," says Geri Halliwell of her abrupt departure from the Spice Girls. "Everyone was saying I was bonkers, but I had to go, get my feet back on the ground." Geri planned on leaving the Spice Girls in Sept 98 and had already told the others of her decision, as she felt she had achieved all she could within the group. In May Geri wanted to do a TV interview about her breast cancer scare, but when the Spice Girls schedule wouldn't allow it made her question her priorities. From nowhere to the pop phenomenon of the 90's in the space of one record, the Spice Girls had been on an extraordinary girl-powered journey. They had hits around the world, sold enormous numbers of records, made a movie, met Prince Charles & President Mandela. It all happened so fast there was scarcely time to sleep, let alone take in what had happened to them.For Geri, it was time to go, to find out who she was when she wasn’t Ginger Spice. "There was nothing contrived about the Spice Girls,Ginger is a part of me, but I’d been wearing platforms since I was 18, and it was natural to grow out of it.

Moving Ahead
The offers came flooding in: film roles, TV shows. One magazine offered half a million for her story, but Geri took her time. She stayed at George Michael's house for a while. She sold the trademark outfits she'd worn as Ginger Spice, raising £150,000 for Sargent Cancer Care for Children. She went to Uganda for Comic Relief. She was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador by the UN. She sang 'Happy Birthday' to the future king of England ("If you ever have constipation, just sing to Prince Charles - I went to the loo eleven times, I was so nervous.") And eventually, she made an album. A rather good album, in fact, which is called Schizophonic, which reflects her own contradictions. "I wanted it to be a very honest album, a blueprint of me. The manifesto, the brief I gave to the other writers I work with was that if I was to die at the end of this album, I wanted to know I’d taken each song to the max. There were no half-measures, it was a real reflection of my personality. It’s an emotional rollercoaster, a hormonal mood-swing. I poured everything into it, it was almost like therapy for me." The product of a Spanish mother and a Swedish-English father, who was 50 by the time she was born, the Watford girl describes herself as "a mongrel".

Geri Is Back
She grew up listening to Madonna, Michael Jackson and Abba, but was also influenced by the music and films her father loved: Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Shirley Bassey. All this came together to produce a record that it, she says, "A cross between Julie Andrews and Johnny Rotten." Camp, quirky, fun, heartfelt and shamelessly, gloriously pop-tastic. The album features a big ballad with a full orchestra, a Hindu choir on another song, and a nine-piece brass section playing New Orleans jazz in the middle of the first single ‘Look At Me’. It was produced by Bristol duo the Absolute Boys, "soulboys and soulmates" who had previously worked with the Spice Girls and always been close to Geri creatively. I’ve been licking my wounds. I’ve been in mourning, re-evaluating myself. But with ‘Look At Me’, I want to come back with a bang. I’m nervous, but also a great believer in facing down fear. I don’t want to be a granny later and think ‘If only I’d tried’. I’m 26 years old, I’m too young to retire!" When she left the Spice Girls, Geri released a statement, which ended with a promise to her fans: "I’ll be back". A year later, she’s kept her word with a record that’s a lot like herself: strong, warm and big-hearted with a touch of mischief. Some of you may be surprised that she has a voice. Some of you may be surprised she can write songs. But no-one who knew anything at all about the eldest Spice Girl will be surprised that she has plenty to say, and that she’s saying it loudly, passionately, with energy and gusto. "I want everything I do to be special, to be fun and wow! I could never be run-of-the-mill." Geri Halliwell is back.

But then, you always knew she would be.