Despite comparisons ranging from a British Menudo to a girlie bastardization of New Kids on the Block, the Spice Girls leapt into superstardom, grabbing both the adoration and defamation that comes with overnight worldwide fame. The five gals — now down to four — who go by the names Geri ("Ginger Spice"), Mel B ("Scary Spice"), Emma ("Baby Spice"), Victoria ("Posh Spice"), and Mel C ("Sporty Spice") took the world by storm with their saucy sexuality, adolescent antics, hum able harmonies, and innumerable shouts of "Girl Power!" Hailing from Watford, near London, Geri Halliwell (born Aug. 6, 1972) was the most loquacious Spice Girl, frequently leading the "Girl Power!" chant. Before becoming the Girls' resident rapper, she was a model (nude photos abound on the Internet), a barmaid, an aerobics instructor, and a presenter on Turkish television. On May 31, 1998, citing personal differences, she left the group. Mel B, a.k.a. Melanie Brown (born May 29, 1975) and — following her shotgun wedding to the group's Spiceworld tour backup dancer Jimmy Gulzar in September 1998 — currently calling herself Mel G, is a hip-hop lover from the northern English city of Leeds, and a frequent open-mouthed exhibitor of her pierced tongue. She played drums at a music college, danced, did telephone sales, and had a brief stint on the British TV soap Coronation Street. 

Upon Ginger's exit, the media dubbed her the new leader of the pack. On February 19, 1999, she became the leader of an altogether different pack — a family — when she gave birth to her daughter, Phoenix Chi. Fair-haired Emma Bunton (born Jan. 21, 1976) is the group's youngest member and token Blondie, often wearing her golden locks in pigtails or bunches. Baby Spice was a child model in her early days, and many of her childhood advertising photos have made their way onto the Internet. Rumors of an affair between Baby and the band's then-manager Simon Fuller swirled for a spell, but soon faded in the glow of her innocent smile. Emma, in fact, is the Spice Girl least in the press, managing to retain a relatively low profile when away from the band. You won't catch London native Victoria Adams (born April 7, 1975) baring her teeth in any group photos — supposedly she hates the way she looks when she smiles. Lastly, donning a never-ending supply of Adidas track suits, is Mel C, a.k.a. Melanie Chisholm (born Jan. 12, 1974). A soccer fanatic and all-around athlete from Liverpool, Sporty Spice sports on her right arm a tattoo of two Japanese symbols: woman and strength (read: girl power). 

In March 1994, four of them (Emma excluded) answered the following advertisement for an all-girl group in The Stage, a British periodical for star wannabes: In their native U.K., the Spice Girls' first single, "Wannabe," reigned at No. 1 on the pop charts for seven weeks in 1996, and topped the charts in 22 other countries. Both the album and "Wannabe" reached No. 1 in America in early 1997, Posh Spice, Ginger Spice, Scary Spice, Baby Spice, and Sporty Spice were fast becoming household names. Strange thing is, neither the Spice Girls nor anyone associated with them made up the silly aliases that became part of their trademark. British teen magazine Top of the Pops invented the names during an editorial meeting and published them with an illustration of the cheeky gals and a spice rack — the names caught on and will probably never go away. 

At the end of 1997, the Girls released their second album, Spiceworld, as well as a feature film by the same name. In early 1998, shortly after they fired manager Simon Fuller (electing to represent themselves instead), they were recognized as the top-selling group in the U.S. for the previous year, having sold more than 5.3 million copies of Spice alone. Girl Power worked its maternal magic, and the quartet continued its chart-topping ways. Their first Ginger-less single, "Viva Forever," hit No. 1 in the U.K. in July. November found the foursome accepting awards for Best Group and Best New Pop Album at the MTV Europe Music Video Awards. The very next month, the Spice Girls released the single "Goodbye," which they insist was not in reference to the departed Halliwell. In their homeland, "Goodbye" earned them a record previously matched only by the Beatles — a No. 1 single three holiday seasons in a row. The Girls got more good news at the end of the year, when they learned that their tour was one of the highest grossing concert draws of 1998, raking in a whopping $20.9 million. Not only that, but the album Spiceworld, released Nov. 4, 1997, was the No. 10 selling album of 1998, with 3.3 million copies snatched up by the public.