Spice Girls’ world tour in MORE doubt after Mel C plans solo career
THE future of the Spice Girls was already in doubt because of Geri Horner's reluctance to continue, and now Melanie C could throw another spanner in the works.
I can reveal she has been hard at work on new solo music and is planning on returning this year with a single titled High Heels.
She has been playing the track while on Sink The Pink’s Pride world tour over the past weeks and wants to follow it up with a solo album.
It could be the closest fans get to new Spice Girls music as she has teamed up with Biff Stannard — the man behind Wannabe, Spice Up Your Life and 2 Become 1.
The decision to go solo again will cause a scheduling head-ache for any future Spice dates, with Mel B having teased that the girlband may take their Spice World tour to Australia in February.
She later backtracked. A music insider said: “Before the Spice Girls tour kicked off, Melanie had spent weeks in the studio making music for herself.
“She has worked with Biff as well as young singer-songwriter Rae Morris and pop singer Fryars, who previously wrote for Lily Allen.
“Melanie wants to start releasing her music after the summer and is really excited to show people what she has been working on, given there are no plans for new Spice Girls songs.”
The Sun told yesterday how Geri was poised to quit the reunion following their 13-date UK tour because she does not want to take the shows abroad.
The insider added: “Melanie knows the future of the Spice World tour is uncertain so she is ploughing on with her own work.”
She will be back on stage at East London’s Troxy for a Sink The Pink party this Saturday — three weeks after the group’s final show at Wembley.
Given it took three years for them to get around to doing the UK dates, she’s made a wise decision not to wait around.
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GEMMA Collins was out in central London last night at the launch of radio station Heart Dance, where her pal Toby Anstis is the breakfast DJ. The GC explained: “I had to come out and support Toby.”
Stormzy Ibiza brawl
STORMZY’s Glasto stab vest might have come in useful when violence erupted at his own festival in Ibiza.
A video shared online shows partygoers screaming as punches are thrown close to banners with the festival’s logo.
At one point a man appears to batter another around the head with a bottle.
One reveller at the Merky Festival, put together and headlined by grime MC Stormzy, said: “The violence I saw didn’t exactly fit in with the message Stormzy was selling at Glastonbury. Ibiza is famous for its chilled-out dance scene but grime fans brought the violence with them.
“It obviously wasn’t Stormzy’s fault but it got very ugly when a brawl broke out near the stage when a support act was on. The music stopped and people ran away screaming, then rumours of stabbings started spreading like wildfire.”
The two-day event at the Ibiza Rocks hotel is now in its third year. On the same day as the brawl, Stormzy, below, described it online as “the greatest party on earth”.
Despite rumours that 12 people had been stabbed, the Spanish police said no arrests had been made and no one taken to hospital.
The violence on Tuesday came days after Stormzy used his Friday night Glasto slot to rail against London’s knife crime epidemic – wearing a Banksy-designed stab vest, inset.
If he wants to make a real difference, he now needs to take a zero-tolerance attitude towards this latest trouble.
Pheobe's pressure point
PHOEBE Waller-Bridge found the price of fame almost too hot to handle.
The Bafta-winning writer of Killing Eve admitted she suffered a nervous breakdown – and was shaking while filming the second series of Fleabag.
Speaking on the Elizabeth Day podcast, Phoebe said: “During Killing Eve I actually had a physical reaction to the pressure I was under, I was shaking.
“I almost passed out and had to go to a doctor. I was also filming Star Wars and I should have said, ‘I need to take a week, because I can’t think straight because I’m so tired’.”
But she added: “I get scared that my most creative stuff comes when I'm that frazzled."
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QUENTIN Tarantino has said he will quit movies after the release of upcoming film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. He said: “When it comes to movies, I’ve come to the end of the road. I see myself writing film books and theatre.”
Eagles old the stage
SENT Bizarre Reporter Ellie Henman to watch the US legends in action . . .
Given lead singer Don Henley is 71, you’d be forgiven for thinking the Eagles would Take It Easy on their UK tour.
But when he took to the stage on Tuesday, Don proved he still has the magic which made the band one of the biggest acts of all time.
The late Glenn Frey's son Deacon wowed the audience by taking on his dad’s vocals in Already Gone and Peaceful Easy Feeling, while Joe Walsh, Timothy B Schmit and country legend Vince Gill all stunned with their outstanding guitar solos.
The staging was simple yet effective and the audience bellowed out the classics during the set, which saw the band singing for more two hours without a break.
The Eagles are proof that the oldies really are the goodies.
Greatest actor looks zensational
ZENDAYA is used to taking the plunge after playing trapeze artist Anne Wheeler in The Greatest Showman – and she is at it again.
The American actor and new face of Lancome wore this low-cut dress to unveil the brand’s Idole scent in Paris on Tuesday.
And she had another reason to celebrate as the hit movie’s soundtrack has been named the UK’s best-selling album of 2019 so far, shifting 381,000 copies.
It is well ahead of Lewis Capaldi's debut, Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent, at No2 with 229,000 sales – though Lewis only released his in May.
His single Someone You Loved has shifted 1.3million copies, making it the year’s best-seller.
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PRIYANKA Chopra is planning to move to England with hubby Nick Jonas. The actress pal of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex said: “Nick and I want a place in London. Every time I go there I feel con- nected to the city.”
Rumours Swiftly denied
TAYLOR Swift's team have hit back at claims she was given the chance to buy her “life’s work” from her old label before it was sold to music manager Scooter Braun.
Big Machine boss Scott Borchetta reckoned she had been given the opportunity to own her back catalogue.
But Taylor’s lawyer Donald Passman said: “Scott Borchetta never gave Taylor Swift an opportunity to purchase her masters, or the label, outright with a cheque in the way he is now apparently doing for others.”
At the weekend she branded Scooter a “bully” and said she was “grossed out” about him getting his hands on her old music.
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- IT’S nice that some of The Pussycast Dolls still have each other’s backs. Ashley Roberts got a standing ovation from Kimberly Wyatt at Tuesday’s press night for musical Waitress. Keith Lemon and Lee Mack were also in the audience at London’s Adelphi Theatre. Now when’s the next girlband reunion happening?
- PRIDE celebrations will happen across London on Saturday, including a Queer Carnival from club night Little Gay Brother at Flat Iron Square near London Bridge and a parade through Soho. Saara Aalsto, Four of Diamonds, Becky Hill, Surie and Sinitta will be among the performers on a stage in Leicester Square.
- DANNY Boyle and Richard Curtis musical rom-com Yesterday grossed £2.2million at the cinema in its opening weekend. The film, starring Himesh Patel and Ed Sheeran, about a world where The Beatles didn’t exist – is behind Toy Story 4, at No1 for for a second week with weekly takings of £8.3million.
- KISS frontman Gene Simmons insists he doesn’t live a wild rock ’n’ roll existence – and prefers cake to drink and drugs. He said: “The truth is that no one in the band even smokes cigarettes. Nobody drinks either. They’re just not interested. I have never been drunk. I like cake. I really do. On days off, I binge-watch Game Of Thrones.”
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