Michelle Stephenson

Michelle Stephenson
Birth name	Michelle Stephenson
Born	3 January 1977 (1977-01-03) (age 34) Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England
Origin	England
Genres	Pop
Occupations	Singer, presenter, reporter, TV Presenter
Instruments	Vocals
Labels	Unsigned
Associated acts	Spice Girls

Michelle Stephenson (born 3 January 1977, Abingdon, Oxfordshire) is a British singer and TV presenter. At the age of 17 she was briefly a member of the English vocal girl group that would go on to become the Spice Girls. Alongside Melanie Brown, Victoria Adams, Lianne Morgan (later replaced by Melanie Chisholm) and Suzanne Tinker soon replaced with Geri Halliwell, Stephenson completed the original 1994 line-up of Touch receiving the highest scores at the audition. Stephenson was a member of the group for only a short period before commitment issues prompted Heart Management to remove her. Stephenson says that she left because her mother was suffering from breast cancer. "To say I was turfed out of the group when I left because I wanted to be with my sick mother – well, what kind of person does that?"^[1] She was replaced by a girl called Abigail Kis, but only for a short period, and then finally by Emma Bunton after 6 months as the fifth member.^[2]

Stephenson worked briefly as a TV presenter for LWT, ITV, Friendly TV and Sky. She also filmed a TV show in Malta called "Wild Games" before forming a songwriting partnership with Ben Hackett and Mike Edwards (under the name SHEsongs). She has also worked as a session singer for various record companies. She performed backing vocals for singers like Ricky Martin and Julio Iglesias, while working on her own songs as well. At the audition, she sang Dina Carroll's song "Don't Be A Stranger."

In November 2003, Stephenson recorded and released 6 solo songs for SHEsongs called "In Control", "Fall Over", "Hey Sugar", "Dirty Music", "Boom, Boom" and "Happens for a Reason."

In March 2001 Stephenson stated in a newspaper interview, "Of course I regret I'm not a multi-millionaire like them. But at the time I left the group I knew I was doing the right thing – and I still think it was the right thing." She also joked that if she had been in the group that her name would have been Mel S.^[3]

In 2007 after The Spice Girls reformed the documentary of Spice Girls return Victoria Beckham stated that Stephenson never fit into the group. The documentary aired Boxing Day 2007. Today Stephenson is married, lives in London, United Kingdom, and still works in the music industry.

Albums

• 2003 – SHEsongs EP

References

1. ^ "Posh is so bitchy, says the sixth Spice Girl", Alison BoshoffDaily Mail 16 September 2001
2. ^ "Timeline: Spice Girls". Entertainment (BBC). 28 June 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6251176.stm. 
3. ^ Also, in March 2001 she stated that if she was a Spice name that she would have wanted Sexy Spice Kempster, Doug (4 March 2001). "Forgotten Spice Girl; What happened to the one who turned her back on". Sunday Mirror (Findarticles.com). http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20010304/ai_n14522441. 

External links

• http://www.myspace.com/mchellestephenson Official Michelle Stephenson's Myspace
• http://www.flingflang.co.uk/shesongs.html
• http://www.purevolume.com/michellestephenson

Persondata
Name	Stephenson, Michelle
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	3 January 1977
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death