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Artist info:
Also known asMelanie B and Melanie Brown
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Albums2
Songs29
AboutMelanie Janine Brown was born May 29th 1975 in Leeds. Her mother Andrea (check her out in the "Mama" clip) is white and her father is from the Carribean island of Nevis. In her childhood, she danced and played the drums (she still carries her drumsticks wherever she goes). She got in a lot of trouble because of her "in your face" attitude. She also thought people called her "Brown" because of her skin, but of course it was because of her last name.

Her first job was as a telemarketer. Then she moved to London to try to get a break in the entertainment business. She appeared on a show called "Coronation Street", and met Mel C. when they were both dancers for a music group. Like the other Spice Girls, she answered an add in a paper called "The Stage", went to the audition, and was selected because of her great voice and looks. What about her tongue? One day in 1996 she decided to pierce it and she had it done that same day!!!!!

From the opening lyrical assault of "Tell Me" to the bombastic "I Want You Back", it's clear that Melanie B's got a lot to say, and say it she does with total certainty and intensity! This is 100% Mel B - more than alive and more than well.

Melanie Brown has travelled a long way fast, from Leeds to London, from drama school to Wembley, from engagement to marriage to divorce, and most famously, from obscurity to Spice. Even though she was, by her own admission, a hyperactive child, no one could have predicted the exciting times that lay ahead for Melanie Brown way back in 80's Leeds. It's been 100 mph all the way, like some kind of action-packed movie on fast forward. This album is the culmination of all that pent-up energy, talent, drama, sexuality and sheer drive.

Music has always been the key ingredient for Melanie, right from the earliest of times when she listened to her mother and father's eighties faves such as Maxi Priest, the incomparable Bob Marley, Dire Straits, Aswad and Tracey Chapman. Right now she is into all kinds of music, from Jungle to vocalist Beverley Knight, British singer Lynden David Hall and the brilliant Macy Gray, whom she loves for "being freaky, outrageous and just getting on with it!". Whatever the style, Melanie was just born to sing and perform. "I'd have been performing at Speakers Corner or somewhere if all of this hadn't happened", Melanie laughs.

Her love of music has led to all kinds of adventures from French clubs where there is "a big African scene" to German dance hangouts, great bars in New York USA, the home of soul and dance, to London, where Mel reckons you can hear the best garage and jungle in the world.

There's no escaping the autobiographical nature of the lyrics, and nowhere is this more evident than on the opening song "Tell Me", which is a full-on questioning of someone's real motives for entering a relationship with her...she's already got the video going on in her mind's eye with 20 dancers, some from Leeds, lined up for the dance routines!

From there we move on to the gorgeous lilting Fred Jerkins "Lullaby", a folky ballad written about Phoenix Chi shortly after her birth. The serious undertones of the songs are never far from the surface and Melanie is the first to admit, "I've got a new lease of life now and in a way the split with (former husband) Jimmy was the best thing for all three of us emotionally that could have happened". "The album deals with real living, looking at myself and surroundings, telling a story and facing up to a marriage that went wrong" accepts Melanie, adding that she feels she "came out of it a better person - more balanced". The marriage she refers to was of course her short relationship with Spice dancer, Jimmy Gulzar. The couple were wed amid a blaze of publicity and cameras in 1998, only for the relationship to start hitting the rocks late in 1999, by which time the couple had a beautiful daughter, the exotically-named Phoenix Chi.

"Hotter" was produced by Sisquo, known for mixing 2 Pac, Mary J. Blige and Dru Hill, not to mention his own very successful career. "Hell No", a ballad with some surprisingly delicate guitar, is next up and again we are plunged into a raw emotional theme illustrated in the line "wanted to hate me when you found I lied" and talks about the "many nights I cried". Melanie remembers that he (Sisquo) "wanted quite an R&B sound from her and he had this in mind from the start".

"Step Inside" features a fast garage-type beat and a nursery rhyme opening, which was written with Max Beesley, who also produced and mixed the track. Max is an accomplished actor and musician in his own right, having worked with Paul Weller, Mica Paris, R.Kelly and Brand New Heavies. Melanie recalls that she "met Max about 3 years ago, and then again when he came to a Spice Girls show". After that they got to know each other. Working with him in the studio has been something of a revelation for Melanie and she even uses the "genius" word when describing his contribution to the record.

The soft and smoochy poppy smash hit-sounding "Feels So Good" positively leaps out of the record and begs to be played on the radio with its catchy chorus, sunny beats and positive vibes. It was produced by the legendary Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the team behind some incredible artists, including George Michael, Janet Jackson, Boyz II Men, Alexander O'Neill, Gladys Knight, Redman and Bobby Brown, to name but a few. Melanie recalls meeting them at their studio in Minneapolis. "They gave me a lot of confidence and were incredibly down to earth." Their techniques can be unconventional though, as in when Melanie ended up lying on the floor to get the "sexy vibe", ad libbing slow and sexy lyrics for "Feel Me Now" on the spot, so to speak.

A lot of the time during her sessions with Jam and Lewis, Melanie recalls that she "couldn't see them - it was just me in the vocal booth with a candle. They made me feel incredibly relaxed. There's even a massage chair in the studio to help vocalists relax." This was apparently instigated by Janet Jackson, who also left the earphones that Melanie used during the recording.


Fred Jerkins, whom Melanie had worked with on Spice, also shows up on the opener "Tell Me". Fred, who reportedly cancelled a Britney Spears session to work on "Tell Me", brings out a great vocal performance in Melanie.

As you would expect, nothing held back, nothing missing, nothing hidden and nothing short of great, her first solo album tells you everything about Melanie B! As she says, "it's an extension of my character", loud, proud and right upfront.

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Mel B - Greatest Love Of All

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