| Emma Bunton |
Emma
Bunton
|
| Background information |
| Birth name |
Emma Lee Bunton |
| Also known as |
Baby Spice |
| Born |
January 21, 1976 (1976-01-21) (age 31) |
| Origin |
 Finchley, London, England |
| Genre(s) |
Pop, Adult contemporary, Motown
Sound, World,
Soul, Groove |
| Occupation(s) |
Singer, songwriter, actress |
| Years active |
1994–present |
| Label(s) |
Virgin, 19/Universal |
Associated
acts |
Spice
Girls |
| Website |
EmmaBuntonOfficial.co.uk |
Emma Lee Bunton (born 21 January
1976) is an English pop singer, songwriter,
and occasional actress.
Emma is best known for being a member of the successful '90s girl
group, Spice Girls. Emma was known as
"Baby Spice", in the group, as she was the youngest member, had an
"innocent" demeanour, and often wore "baby doll" dresses.
|
Contents
- 1 Biography
- 2 Music
career
- 3 Television
and film
- 4 Personal
life
- 5 Discography
- 5.1 Albums
- 5.2 Singles
- 5.3 B-sides
- 6 Filmography
- 7 See
also
- 8 References
- 9 External
links
|
Biography
Bunton was born in Finchley and grew up in Woodside
Park, both in Barnet, London. Her
parents, Pauline, a karate
instructor, and Trevor, a milkman, split up when she was eleven, and
she stayed with her mother. She has a younger brother, Paul James. She
attended St Theresa's Roman Catholic Primary School in Finchley, and
then went on to go to the Sylvia Young Theatre
School in Marylebone,
Westminster. In 1993, she
appeared in the on-going ITV1's police drama series The Bill,
and also auditioned (although unsuccessfully) for the role of Bianca,
later to be played by Patsy Palmer, in the BBC's soap opera EastEnders.
Music career
She joined the Spice Girls (then still called
Touch) in 1994 after the original fifth Touch member, Michelle
Stephenson, left the group. The group became one of the most successful
musical artists of the 1990s selling thirty-five million albums with
the studio releases Spice (1996), Spiceworld
(1997), and Forever
(2000). She was known as Baby Spice because she often wore baby doll
dresses and had her blonde
hair in pigtails.
Their debut single "Wannabe" became the first of a string
of number ones in the United Kingdom (nine in total) and
reached the top position in thirty-seven countries around the globe,
including Australia,
Canada, Ireland, and the
U.S.
In 1999, she presented her own music show entitled Emma
on VH1. The
Spice Girls stopped recording in 2000. Many rumours circulated about a
reunion for the group's tenth anniversary, but nothing materialised
until June 2007, when they reformed for a Spice Girls reunion tour and
Best Hits CD.
Her debut solo album entitled A Girl Like Me
spawned the UK number-one hit "What Took You So Long?" as
well as the top five hits "What I Am" (a cover
of a 1988 song earlier recorded by Edie Brickell
& New Bohemians) and "Take My
Breath Away" (which has nothing to do with Berlin's
1986 hit), and the top twenty
hit "We're Not Gonna Sleep
Tonight". The album sold approximately 125,000 copies in the UK. Due to
the disappointing sales of the project, Bunton parted with Virgin
in 2002.
Bunton then signed a contract with Spice Girls' manager Simon
Fuller's 19 Management and a complex
licensing deal with Polydor Records, which included TV
work and releasing music. In the spring of 2003, she returned as Emma
(losing the Bunton), with the top five hit "Free
Me" and later that year released "Maybe", which also went top
ten. In the spring of 2004, the single "I'll Be There" and
the album Free Me were
released. The album contained '60s-style pop gems and outsold her first
album. Free Me was released in the United States on
25
January 2005,
but it didn't manage to chart on the U.S. Billboard
200 despite her appearances on major U.S. talk shows such as The View,
Live with Regis and Kelly,
and The Tony Danza Show
to promote the album. She also made a number of promotional appearances
for album signings in the U.S., including the gay bar XL
Lounge, in New York City. Her first single
released in the U.S. was a dance remix of the album's title track, which
reached the top five of both the Hot
Dance Club Play and the Hot Dance Airplay. "Maybe" also
followed the success of "Free Me" on the U.S. dance chart.
In November 2006, Bunton released the official charity
single for the BBC Children in Need appeal, recording
a cover of Petula Clark's '60s classic "Downtown". It peaked at number three
on the UK Singles Chart and was followed
by her third studio album, Life in Mono,
released on 4
December. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number
sixty-five, selling approximately 13,000 copies in its first week. To
date, it has sold more than 45,000 copies in the UK. The second single
from it was "All I Need to Know", released on 12
February 2007,
intended for the Valentine's Day market. Bunton shot
the video around Old Street in East
London, in the week before Christmas 2006.
Entering the UK Singles Chart at number sixty, "All I Need to Know"
became Bunton's lowest-charting single of her solo career.
Recently, Emma Bunton is back with the Spice Girls when an
announcement was made on June 28 2007.
Television and film
In October 2006, Bunton appeared as one of the celebrity
contestants in the autumn 2006 series of the popular BBC programme Strictly
Come Dancing and was partnered with
professional dancer Darren Bennett. Despite
being the bookies' favourite, she was placed third overall, and was the
final female contestant to be eliminated.
She has also appeared in other roles in recent years, most
notably in the fifth and final season of Absolutely
Fabulous playing herself in a couple of
episodes. She has also guest-presented the television programmes SM:TV
Live, T4
and hosted her own show Emma for VH1. In August 2006,
former Spice Girls' manager Simon Fuller announced that he was planning
a television sitcom based around Bunton.
In 2005, Bunton filmed guest roles in two Bollywood
films: Pyaar Mein Twist and Chocolate.
Emma has won the lead female role of The
Pink Panther 2 and will be filming in Fall 2007
for release in 2008. Bunton has been tapped to replace Beyoncé
Knowles as the female lead in The Pink Panther 2.
Bunton has recently been seen in a high-profile television
commercial for the supermarket chain Tesco. She also had a cameo role on the
Australian soap opera Neighbours as
herself on the episode titled "What's a Spice Girl Like You...?", aired
on 19
March 2007
in Australia, and on 25 May 2007 in the UK. Bunton returned to US screens
with a nationwide commercial for Prego in May of 2007.
Personal life
She has been linked with such stars as actor Nigel
Harman,
pop singer Justin Timberlake,
and 911
lead singer Lee Brennan.
Her boyfriend of eight years is former Damage
and current CherryBlackStone lead
singer Jade
Jones. In October 2006, there were rumours that the couple were
engaged, with plans to marry in March 2007.
This rumour was denied several days later.
After being diagnosed with endometriosis,
a condition which can reduce fertility, Bunton and Jones announced in
January 2007 that they were expecting their first child together
(rumored to be a Girl), due sometime in the summer.
It was rumoured that Prince William was to be one
of the baby's godparents.
However, Bunton appeared as a guest on the 11
February episode of Loose Women,
where she denied that this was the case, stating that, yes, she and
William were friends, and "exchanged X-mas cards", but that he would
not be one of the baby's godparents.
Discography
Albums
| Title |
Released |
UK Charts |
| Peak |
Certification |
| A Girl Like Me |
April
16, 2001 |
4
|
Gold
|
| Free Me |
February 9, 2004 |
7
|
Gold
|
| Life in Mono |
December 4, 2006 |
65
|
|
Singles
| Year |
Single |
Album |
Chart positions |
Audio |
| UK |
IRE |
AUS |
NZ |
GER |
SWI |
SWE |
FRA |
U.S.
dance |
| 1999 |
"What I Am"
(Tin Tin Out featuring Emma
Bunton) |
Eleven to Fly
A Girl Like Me |
2 |
14 |
65 |
48 |
81 |
— |
52 |
75 |
— |
. (help·
B-sides
| Year |
Song |
Appeared on |
| 2001 |
"(Hey You) Free Up Your Mind" |
Pokémon: The First Movie
soundtrack / "What Took You So Long?" |
| "I Don't Know" (Damage
featuring Emma Bunton) |
Since You've Been
Gone |
| "Merry-Go Round" |
"What Took You So Long?" |
| "Close Encounter" |
"Take My
Breath Away" |
| "Invincible" |
| "Let Your Baby Show You How
to Move" |
"We're Not Gonna Sleep
Tonight" |
| 2003 |
"Who the Hell Are You" |
"Free
Me" CD 1 / Free Me |
| "Tomorrow" |
"Free Me" CD 2 / Free
Me |
| "Don't Tell Me You Love Me
Anymore" |
"Maybe" |
| 2004 |
"Taking It Easy" |
"I'll Be There" CD 1 |
| "So Long" |
"I'll Be There" CD 2 |
| "Eso Beso" |
"Crickets Sing for
Anamaria" CD 2 |
| "So
Nice (Summer Samba)" |
| 2006 |
"Something Tells Me" |
"Downtown" CD 2 / Life
in Mono |
| "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" |
| 2007 |
"Midnight and Martinis" |
"All
I Need to Know" |
Filmography
Films
| Year |
Title |
Role |
Notes |
| 1997 |
Spiceworld |
Herself |
|
| 2001 |
Yes You Can |
Pop Angel |
|
| 2005 |
Pyaar Mein Twist |
|
Guest appearance |
| Chocolate |
Anna |
|
| 2008 |
The Pink Panther 2 |
Mylie Baxter |
|
Television
| Year |
Title |
Role |
Notes |
| 1993 |
The Bill |
Janice |
"Missionary Work" (episode 22, season 9) |
| To Play the King |
Prostitute |
|
| 2003 |
Absolutely
Fabulous |
Herself |
"Cleanin'" (episode 1, season 5)
"Huntin', Shootin', Fishin'" (episode 4, season 5) |
| 2006 |
Strictly
Come Dancing |
Herself |
Reality television series(finished third) |
| 2007 |
Neighbours |
Herself |
"What's a Spice Girl Like You...?" (episode 5171,
season 23) |
See also
- List
of number-one singles from the 2000s (UK)
References
External links
Studio albums: A Girl Like Me
(2001) • Free
Me (2004) • Life
in Mono (2006)
Singles: "What I Am" •
"What Took You So Long?" • "Take My
Breath Away" • "We're Not Gonna Sleep
Tonight" • "Free Me" • "Maybe" • "I'll Be There" • "Crickets Sing for
Anamaria" • "Downtown" • "All
I Need to Know"
Related articles: Spice
Girls • 19 Entertainment • Discography
Victoria Beckham • Melanie
Brown • Emma Bunton
• Melanie Chisholm • Geri
Halliwell
Albums: Spice
(1996) ·
Spiceworld (1997) ·
Forever
(2000) ·
Greatest Hits
(2007)
Singles: "Wannabe" ·
"Say You'll Be There" ·
"2
Become 1" ·
"Who Do You Think You Are" /
"Mama"
"Spice Up Your Life" ·
"Too Much" ·
"Stop" ·
"Viva
Forever" ·
"Goodbye" ·
"Holler"
/ "Let Love Lead the Way"
Tours: Spiceworld
Tour ·
The Return of the
Spice Girls
Related articles: Discography ·
Girl Power! Live in
Istanbul ·
Awards ·
Merchandise
Spiceworld movie ·
Girl
Power ·
Virgin Records ·
Simon
Fuller ·
Michelle Stephenson
|
