Melanie C

This book was bought for the Cheltenham Festival signing that never happened, so I decided my tenner wasn't going to go completely to waste and I'd read it, even though I've little interest in The Spice Girls or Mel C.

Well, it was a pleasant surprise to actually enjoy it. Mel C is just a year younger than me so I could relate to a lot of the 80s and 90s nostalgia that gets mentioned in the book. Despite The Spice Girls not being a 'serious' music act that garners major respect in the industry, you have to hand it to them - like them or loathe them they did have phenomenal success between the number 1 singles and albums, huge $ earnings from merchandising and a fairly awful film that still grossed a lot of money at the box office. On that basis, it was therefore interesting to read her insider's account of what it was like to go from a normal working class girl to a world superstar and the highs and lows that came with that (and also afterwards, when a solo career was never likely to have the success that The Spice Girls did).

When someone's writing an autobiography you're conscious that they're always going to portray themselves in as positive a light as possible, but it's not too much of a stretch of the imagination to believe that she often felt quite overpowered by the dominant personalities of Mel B and Geri.

4 stars for pure reading enjoyment. It got a little annoying towards the end of the book with Mel C constantly reinforcing her solo success and that she's very proud of the albums that didn't do very well; one does wonder who it was she was really trying to convince, but good luck to her.… (mer)