This Vintage Pop Stardom episode of 'Greatest Pop Stars' dives deep on the year of stateside Spicemania, with help from the acclaimed Austin singer-songwriter.
The Spice Girls at the 1997 Billboard Music Awards. From left to right: Melanie Chislom (Sporty), Geri Halliwell (Sexy), Victoria Addams (Posh), Melanie Brown (Scary) and Emma Lee Bunton (Baby).
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When the Spice Girls hit U.S. shores in 1997 — after having spent 1996 rocketing to era-defining superstardom in their U.K. home — they detonated on impact. Within six months of the stateside release of debut single “Wannabe” in January, they had a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, three top five hits on the Billboard Hot 100, music videos and commercials on TV every five minutes and plans already in the works for their own movie with its own accompanying soundtrack album, all out by calendar’s end. It was too phenomenal to last, but for one year, the girls known as Ginger, Scary, Sporty, Posh and Baby defined global pop music and pop culture, and transformed the entire sound and feel of the decade’s top 40 in the process.
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