Mel B

I couldn’t contain my excitement - an interview with Mel B! Brilliant! We’ve so much in common - both Yorkshire lasses, both trained dancers, both like leopard skin, and both of us are loud and brash! The only difference is, she went off to obtain international success as Scary Spice in one of the best-selling girl groups of all time, selling more than fifty-five million records world-wide. I caught up with Mel in London before she flew back to her home in LA, to find out if this lass is still scary, is her bark worse than her bite? I was to discover that this is a girl who has everything - including a cold!

Mel, you sound awful. Are you a bit under the weather?
I’m full of cold. I’ve been working like a dog. I’m flying back to the States later today.

Ironically, you’re over promoting International Fitness Week. How important is the campaign?
It’s a really nice and easy way into being introduced to getting into health and fitness. Visit their website www.internationalfitnessweek.com - there’s a wealth of helpful ideas to get back into fitness.

How do you keep motivated?
Well, I work out with friends. It’s more of a social thing, so I’m not doing it completely by myself. I work out every other day so it would get a little bit boring if it wasn’t for my pals - and you don’t want to let your friends down. If you’re doing it by yourself, it’s a lot harder.

Like myself, you’re a busy working mum. How do you manage to look so good? Are you the type that’s up at dawn and off for a two-mile run?
I have to be up early anyway to do the school run. After I’ve dropped the kids off, I make it my priority every other day to get myself to the gym. I leave myself an hour for a workout so it’s realistic and doesn’t take up the whole day.

Don’t you find the gym a bit soul-destroying? I find them cold places, completely uninspiring, with sweaty people stinking the place out…
You’re so funny (laughs)! I know what you mean, but I try and alternate between the gym and fitness classes.

Does that ‘set you up’ for the day?
Definitely. I’m in a really good place.

Do people in LA seem more body-obsessed than in the UK?
Well, I don’t like to talk in general. But, yes, people can be a bit over the top and paranoid out there - but I think I’d rather be a bit obsessed about working out and keeping fit and healthy than anything else, and I do it moderation, with a nice balance.

So give me your top tip on balancing a healthy diet
Once a week, I eat what I want. On Sunday, I’ll have my Sunday roast or chips or whatever I’ve been craving that week but, during the week, I eat healthily. Luckily for me, my husband’s a really good cook, so I get really spoilt. I don’t really eat much bread because, when I have wheat, my stomach explodes. I tend to have a bit of an allergic reaction to it. But everything with moderation is okay.

You recently stopped smoking. How did you do it?
I stopped when I had Angel. Before I got pregnant, I was an on and off smoker and then I had Angel and I had to get myself into back into fitness, as I hadn’t been in a gym for over two years. I then went on to devising my own workout and produced my own DVD Totally Fit. I would have been too knackered if I’d still been smoking.

How are your daughters, Phoenix and Angel?
Yeah, they’re well.

Do they show potential as mini Spices?
Phoenix is into her basketball - she’s a little bit of a Sporty Spice. And Angel, she’s only two years old - she’s into pink, and jumping up and down, a bit of a princess, so she’s more like Baby Spice at the moment.

Sounds like my daughter Ruby. They all want to be princesses.
I know! When they get to two, that’s all they want to do!

Do you still sport the infamous leopard skin when dropping the kids off at school?
No, not so much nowadays. They’d probably look at me funny and wonder what was going on. But I do have a lot of leopard print stuff in my wardrobe. I can’t help it.

You recently appeared in the TV documentary Seven Days on the Breadline and had to look after and manage a poor family in on the Harehills estate in Leeds. Was it a shock going back 20 years later and seeing the changes?
It was very shocking; I don’t think it’s the kids’ fault. It’s the environment. They’ve got nowhere to hang out. No youth group or community centre, as they’d been shut down, so it’s not really their fault. It’s what they’ve been born into. If you do not give people a way out, educate them, provide them with somewhere to live, and a community centre for them to visit and be stimulated, then how can you expect them to have the urge to get up and do anything with their lives?

So, Mel, who would you say you’re in awe of?
Well many people. From a single parent mum who has five kids and manages to keep her job, right through to Nelson Mandela, who’s gone through so much struggle. People on a daily basis inspire me.

Like myself you’re a Yorkshire lass?
Oh, aye - Leeds born and bred. Where are you from?

Keighley.
Oh, I know Keighley. I used to go to Intake School there.

Where’s your favorite place in the North?
I grew up in Burley, Leeds, so I’ve got lots of fond memories from there.

So you’re still a Yorkshire girl at heart, aren’t you?
Yeah, always.

Good on you girl! Now tell me about your new musical planned for next year.
Well, it’s going to be called Viva Forever. We’ve teamed up with Kim Fuller (the sister of former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller). It’s very early stages, but the girls (Spices) and I are all really excited. All five of us have agreed to do it, and it’s all our input and ideas so, hopefully, it’ll be great. It tells the rags-to-riches rise to fame of us all and we’re due to start on it in November.

So, do you still keep in touch with the Spices?
Always. We really support each other, no matter what we do. And, with the new musical, all five of us are completely involved in it. I think it’s a brilliant idea.

Girl Power, eh, Mel?
Oh yes (laughs)! It’s what I live my life by.

Interview from issue 30 April/May 2010. To order this issue go to the Northern Life online store.