Geri Halliwell was born on the 6th August 1972 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, to a Spanish mother and half-Swedish father.

Geri has been a club dancer in Majorca, a TV presenter in Turkey, an aerobics instructor, a cleaner, a barmaid, a glamour model and of course, most famously the fifth member of the Spice Girls.

The Spice Girls were an English girl group, probably the most successful of the 90's. Being a worldwide hit, and amazingly breaking into the American market, which is how we judge the success of our bands over here in good old Blightly (England).

She was known as Ginger Spice due to her hair, along with:

Geri had the highest profile of any of the Spice Girls, famously stealing the show at the Brit Awards with her ultra-mini union jack dress, and was regularly voted in the top ten of "worlds most beautiful/sexy" polls throughout her time with the group.


Going Solo

In May 1998 and at the start of the Spice World tour, Geri shocked the world by leaving the most successful British group since the Beatles. It is thought that a challenge from Mel B to be the head of the band and a string of disagreements were behind this decision.

The first few months after the break up were her quietest for years, but gradually she began to carve out her own "post-Ginger" life. First was the charity work; she traveled to Uganda working for UK charity Comic Relief; then she was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations. Speaking on such subjects as birth control in African countries.

After nearly a year, Geri released her first solo album Schizophonic on Capitol Records. The album contained Geri's first single Look at Me,an instant hit which was followed with more from the same album Lift Me Up, and Opposite Sex. In 2001 she released It's Raining Men,a cover of the Weather Girls classic anthem, and part of the Bridget Jones Diary sound track, the single made number one, and Scream if you want to go faster and Mi Chico Latino were also successful.

The bad times

However, somewhere around this time, it all went tits up. Geri lost a huge amount of weight, and went from being a once curvy lass, to a tiny skinny little thing. Her people claimed this was due to an effective combination of healthy eating, exercise and Yoga (video now available in all good stores). However, she had in fact developed an eating disorder, namely Bulimia.

I know this because I was sitting in a community centre in the Kings Road, London, waiting for my girlfriend to come out of her Bulimia discussion group, of which Geri Halliwell was a participant.

When the meeting ended I watched as Geri walked past me out of the door and into her blacked out Jeep. She literally looked like an 11 year old girl. She was painfully thin and was not the toned specimen her people claimed she had become. I think it would have been better for her to come clean about her problem and draw attention to a huge issue amongst many girls in today’s society, rather then claim she was as healthy as could be.

What next?

At the moment it is all quiet on the Geri front, she is on our screens occasionally. I'm not sure if she still has problems with bulimia, maybe another big comeback is just around the corner, who knows.

Some final Geri facts:

  • She appeared in Spice World the movie
  • Credited with inventing Girl Power!
  • In Spain, during a news conference she called one of the journalists a queer, because he booed her.
  • She smokes.
  • She has a pierced belly button.
  • She has a black panther tattooed on her lower back.
  • At 17 she was convicted of theft, shoplifting and handling stolen goods.

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