Melanie Jayne Chisholm, known professionally as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer and songwriter. She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Sporty Spice. With over 100 million records sold worldwide, the Spice Girls are the best-selling female group of all time. The group went on an indefinite hiatus in 2000, before reuniting for a greatest hits album (2007) and two concert tours: the Return of the Spice Girls (2007–2008) and Spice World (2019). She is known for her unique and distinctive tone.
Chisholm began a solo career in late 1998 on the single "When You're Gone" with Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams. In 1999, she signed with Virgin Records as a solo artist; her debut solo album Northern Star was released in October of that year. The album reached number 1 in Sweden and number 4 on the UK Albums Chart. In 2003, Chisholm released her second album, Reason, and the following year, she departed from Virgin Records and founded her own record company, Red Girl Records. In 2005, she released her third album, Beautiful Intentions, which spent 9 weeks at number one in Portugal and spawned international hit singles. Her fourth album, This Time, was released in 2007, which spawned three number one singles in Portugal. She continued to release albums in the following years, including The Sea (2011), Stages (2012), Version of Me (2016), and Melanie C (2020).
Chisholm is the recipient of numerous accolades, including three World Music Awards, five Brit Awards, three American Music Awards, four Billboard Music Awards, eight Billboard special awards, three MTV Europe Music Awards, one MTV Video Music Award, ten ASCAP awards, and one Juno Award. As a solo artist, she has sold more than 30 million records worldwide and is the female artist with most songs at number one in the UK ranking history. She has earned over 335 worldwide certifications, including 44 silver, gold, and platinum certifications as a solo artist.
In 2009, Chisholm made her stage debut in the West End musical Blood Brothers, for which she was nominated for an Laurence Olivier Award. Her autobiography, Who I Am: My Story, was released in 2022.
