Melanie Brown is an English singer, dancer, songwriter, television personality and actress. Mel B, also nicknamed Scary Spice, rose to international fame in the 90s as a member of the famous British girl group Spice Girls. The group is considered one of the most successful girl groups of all time.
Mel B continued her solo career after the Spice Girls broke up in 2000, however, that was only a shadow of what she had with the Spice Girls. She went on to host several award shows and TV shows and was able to carve out a niche as a television personality. In 2007, she participated in season 5 of Dancing with the Stars and finished second alongside her dance partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy. The former Spice Girl also featured as a judge on the UK and Australian versions of The X Factor. She joined the judging panel for America’s Got Talent in June 2013.
In 2017, Mel B showed off her acting skills in the Broadway musical. Chicago and in the 2017 comedy film Chocolate City: Vegas Strip alongside Vivica Fox. She returned with the Spice Girls on a highly successful reunion tour in 2007. The group are set to reunite once again at Prince Harry’s royal wedding to Meghan Markle in May 2018.
Mel B Biography, Ethnicity and Age
Mel B was born Melanie Janine Brown on May 29, 1975 in Harehills, Leeds. Her mother, Andrea Brown (née Dixon), is English, while her father, Martin Brown, was from the Caribbean.
Melanie Brown was raised in Burley, a deprived area of Leeds. There she attended Intake High School where she studied performing arts. She started her music career at an early age with a band called ‘Touch’.
Way back in 1994, Mel B was one of hundreds of women who responded to an audition on Stage magazine. The audition took place in several locations across the UK and out of over 400 who responded only 4 were chosen, Mel B., Mel C., Geri Halliwell and Victoria Beckham. A fifth vocalist, Emma Burton, was added to form 90s girl group, Spice Girls.
Their debut album Spice released in 1996 was a worldwide sensation. The first single Wannabe was a monster hit, topping the charts in many countries around the world. The band released their second album Spiceworld in 1997 followed by their own film Spiceworld: The Movie and both made huge commercial successes. In 1998 the group was reduced to 4 due to Geri Halliwell’s decision to quit.
Although Mel B remained a member of the group, she continued to work on her solo career. She has hosted several award shows and TV shows. She also began working on her first solo album Hot which was released in November 2000, just a month before the Spice Girls disbanded.
Seeing that his debut album hadn’t done so well, Mel B decided to try other options in the early 2000s. His autobiography Catching a Fire was released in 2002. His previous acting roles were in the series BBC3 Burn It and the romantic comedy The Seat Filler.
In 2005, Mel B tried to revive his musical career with a second solo album. LA Mindset, however, the album did very poorly commercially. In 2007, she joined season 5 of Dancing with the Stars and managed to reach 2nd place alongside her dance partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy.
In 2007, the Spice Girls announced that they were getting back together. They worked on a reunion tour which was quite successful. The group also reunited for a performance at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Mel B joined the America’s Got Talent judging panel in 2013 and served for 4 seasons. Prior to that, she had been a judge on The X Factor Australia and UK. She is currently 42 years old, a few months away from her 43 years.
Husband and Family Life
Currently, Melanie Brown is unmarried. However, she has been married twice in the past. Her first marriage was to Dutch dancer Jimmy Gulzar in 1998. Gulzar was an auxiliary dancer in the music group Mel B, Spice Girls. They got engaged on May 13, 1998, and exactly three months later tied the knot. The couple separated in 2000 and the marriage was annulled the same year. Mel B was ordered to pay $2.8 million in child support settlement to Gulzar.
Her second marriage was to Hollywoodproducer Stephen Belafonte. The couple began their relationship in February 2007. They tied the knot in June 2007 in a secret ceremony in Las Vegas. The couple separated in December 2016 after 9 years of marriage. In March 2017, Mel B filed for divorce alleging emotional and physical abuse by Belafonte.
Mel B’s divorce from Belafonte was rather bitter and made very public. According to Mel B, Belafonte repeatedly assaulted her and also blackmailed her. She admitted the abuse was so extensive that she attempted suicide in December 2014.
Beyond Brown’s abuse allegations, she also fell into the temptation to divulge very private details about their sex life. In an effort to obtain a restraining order against her ex-husband, Brown informed the court of Belafonte’s extramarital affairs with their former nanny Lorraine Gilles. This led to a libel suit brought by the former nanny against Mel B and the revelation of more graphic details about the estranged couple. While Mel B insisted her ex-husband was having an affair with the former nanny, she admitted she and the couple had been involved in a threesome on several occasions. Their divorce was finalized on December 15, 2017.
During her divorce battle with Stephen Belafonte, Mel B lost her father to cancer. All of this stress, combined with her dwindling finances, hurt her. At one point, she poked fun at America’s Got Talent judge Simon Cowell and pulled out of the show because Cowell made a comment about her failed marriage.
See Also: Heidi Klum Biography, Children, Husband, Net Worth & Family Life
Kids
Melanie Brown currently has 3 children. She had her first child during her first marriage to Dutch dancer Jimmy Gulzar. She welcomed her daughter Phoenix Chi Gulzar on February 19, 1999.
In 2006, Mel B had a short-lived but highly publicized relationship with famous Hollywood actor Eddie Murphy. Their relationship led to the birth of Mel B’s second child. Four months after her relationship with Eddie Murphy ended, the British-born singer welcomed her second child, Angel Iris Murphy Brown, on April 3, 2007. He has It took a court-ordered DNA test in June 2007 to convince Eddie Murphy to accept paternity.
Mel B had her third child, a daughter named Madison Brown Belafonte, on September 1, 2011, during her marriage to Stephen Belafonte.
Net value
During her time as a member of the Spice Girls, Mel B acquired a massive fortune. The girl group has sold millions of albums worldwide with many sold-out concerts. Mel B reportedly earned an estimated $50m (£38.3m) during her time with Spice Girls.
However, it is unclear how much of this fortune remains abandoned due to her extravagant lifestyle and the series of legal battles she was embroiled in. One of his company’s accounts is said to currently have a balance of £961 and for a one-time multi-millionaire that’s an abysmal bank balance.
When Mel B divorced Jimmy Gulzar in 2000, she had to pay him a maintenance settlement of around $2.8m (£1.6m). During her divorce from Stephen Belafonte in 2017, it was revealed that Mel B had squandered her entire fortune due to her extravagant lifestyle. She also spent several thousand dollars in legal fees for herself and for Belafonte.
When her divorce from Belafonte was finalized, the former Spice Girl was ordered to pay her £6.5million over a three-year period. Belafonte could have gotten much more than that amount if not for the keen prenup.
In an effort to rebuild his diminished fortune, Mel B asked for a raise in order to remain a judge on America’s Got Talent. With the help of her co-judge Simon Cowell, she was able to secure an 18 per cent raise which would take her salary to £2.15m per season.
Height and body measurements
Height : 5’5″
Weight : 59kg
Bust Size : 38 inches
Waist : 26 inches
Hips : 36 inches
Dress size : 8 (US) or 10 (UK)
Size : 8.5 (US) or 6.5 (UK)