Emma Bunton Biography

Emma Lee Bunton (born 21 January 1976) is an English pop singer, songwriter, and occasional actress, originally from the girl group Spice Girls, where she was known as "Baby Spice" for being the youngest member and often wearing "baby doll" dresses.

Personal

Bunton was born in Finchley and grew up in Woodside Park, both in Barnet, North London. Her parents, Pauline, a karate instructor, and Trevor, a milkman, split up when she was eleven, and she stayed with her mother.

She attended St Theresa's Roman Catholic Primary School in Finchley, and then went on to go to the Sylvia Young Theatre School in Marylebone, Westminster.

She has been linked with such stars as Nigel Harman, Justin Timberlake, and 911 lead singer Lee Brennan. Her eight-year boyfriend is former Damage and current CherryBlackStone lead singer Jade Jones; they were rumoured to be engaged and to marry in March 2007. This rumour was denied several days later.

In 1993, she appeared in the on-going ITV1's policial/drama series The Bill.

Music career

1994"2000: Spice Girls

She joined the Spice Girls (then still called Touch) in 1994 after the original fifth Touch member, Michelle Stephenson, left the group. The group became one of the most successful musical artists of the 1990s selling thirty million albums with the studio releases Spice, Spiceworld, and Forever. She was known as Baby Spice because she often wore baby doll dresses and had her blonde hair in pigtails. Their debut single "Wannabe" became the first of a string of number-ones in the United Kingdom (nine in total) and reached the top position in thirty-seven countries around the globe, including Australia, Canada, and the U.S. Other successful releases followed including "Say You'll Be There", "2 Become 1", "Mama", and "Who Do You Think You Are" from Spice; "Spice Up Your Life", "Too Much", "Stop", and "Viva Forever" from Spiceworld; and "Goodbye", "Holler", and "Let Love Lead the Way" from Forever. The Spice Girls stopped recording in 2000. Many rumours circulated about a reunion for the group's tenth anniversary, but nothing materialised.

2001"2002: A Girl Like Me

Her debut solo album entitled A Girl Like Me spawned the UK number-one hit "What Took You So Long?", as well as the top five hits "What I Am" (a cover of a 1988 song earlier recorded by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians) and "Take My Breath Away" (which was not a cover of Berlin's 1986 hit), and the top twenty hit "We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight". The album sold around 125,000 in the UK. During the beginning stages of work on her second album, Bunton felt she was better off at another label, and left Virgin. She also recorded the track "(Hey You) Free Up Your Mind" for the soundtrack to the 1999 film Pokémon: The First Movie.

2003-2005: Free Me

After she left Virgin, Bunton signed a contract with Spice Girls' manager Simon Fuller's 19 Management and a complex licensing deal with Polydor Records, which included TV work and releasing music. In the spring of 2003, she returned as Emma (losing the Bunton), with the top five hit "Free Me" and later that year released "Maybe", which also went top ten and outsold the previous single. In the spring of 2004, the single "I'll Be There" and the album Free Me were released. The album contained '60s-styled pop gems and went on to outsell her first album, something other solo Spice Girls haven't achieved yet.

In the run-up to the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest, rumours circulated that Emma was being lined up as a rare big-name representative for the UK, in an attempt to wipe away the national humiliation of the "nul points" achieved by the previous year's inexperienced entrants Jemini. This didn't materialise, but the fact that she ended up performing the interval act in the UK's Eurovision pre-selection show Making Your Mind Up suggested there may have been a glimmer of truth in the rumours at some stage. The performance gave her another outlet to indulge her passion for '60s pop " she started with a nostalgic burst of the UK's winning song from the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest, Sandie Shaw's "Puppet on a String", which then melted into her own hit "Maybe". A few months before, when appearing as a guest star in the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, Bubble (Jane Horrocks) told her that her PR agent, Edina (Jennifer Saunders), had entered her for Eurovision, which puts another slant on this rumour that she was up for Eurovision.

The album Free Me was released in the United States on January 25, 2005 but only managed to reach number one hundred and eighty-three on the U.S. Billboard 200 despite appearing on major U.S. talk shows to promote the album such as The View, Live with Regis and Kelly, and The Tony Danza Show. She also made a number of promotional appearances for album signings in the U.S., including the gay bar XL Lounge, in New York City. The first single in the U.S. is a dance remix of the title track, which reached the top five of both the Hot Dance Club Play chart and the Hot Dance Airplay chart. "Maybe" also followed "Free Me"'s success in the U.S. dance chart.

2006"present: Life in Mono

Emma released the official charity single for the BBC's 2006 Children in Need appeal, recording a cover of Petula Clark's '60s classic "Downtown". The single peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart and was followed by her third studio album, Life in Mono, released on 4 December.

Upon release, the album entered the UK Albums Chart at number sixty-five, selling around 13,000 copies in its first week. The low position proves how much sales differentiate in December. It sold close to 10,000 in its second week, when it fell to number seventy-five. To date, the album has sold more than 40,000 copies in the UK.

The second single to be released from the album will be "All I Need to Know" and is slated for 12 February 2007 intended for the Valentine's Day market. Emma shot the video on location at the start of 2007.

Other work

In August 2006, former Spice Girls' manager Simon Fuller announced that he was planning a television sitcom based around Emma Bunton.

Emma appeared as one of the celebrity contestants in the autumn 2006 series of the popular BBC programme Strictly Come Dancing. She was partnered with professional dancer Darren Bennett. Despite being the bookies' favorite to win the show for a while, she placed third overall, and was the final female contestant to be eliminated. Emma was a consistent favourite with the judges on the show, but much less so with the viewing public, as she found herself in the bottom two on multiple occasions.

She has also appeared in the fifth and final season of the show Absolutely Fabulous playing herself in a couple of episodes and guest presented the television programmes SM:TV Live and T4. In 1999, she presented her own music show entitled Emma on VH1.

In 2005, Bunton filmed guest roles in two Bollywood films: Pyaar Mein Twist and Chocolate.

Emma is due to make a cameo appearance as herself in the Australian soap opera Neighbours. The show is due to air in early 2007.

Emma is also starting a UK Radio tour at the end of January 2007. For more information go to Emma's website where you can get more details there.

Discography

Albums

Cover	Information
	A Girl Like Me Released: 16 April 2001 Chart positions: #4 UK, #79 FRA, #75 AUT, #1 THA UK certification: Gold
	Free Me Released: 9 February 2004 Chart positions: #7 UK, #183 U.S. UK certification: Gold
	Life in Mono Released: 4 December 2006 Chart positions: #65 UK UK certification:

Singles

Year	Single	Album	Chart positions						Audio
			UK	IRE	AUS	GER	SWI	U.S. dance
1999	"What I Am" (Tin Tin Out featuring Emma Bunton)	Eleven to Fly A Girl Like Me	2
2001	"What Took You So Long?"	A Girl Like Me	1 (2)	9	10	36	25
	"Take My Breath Away"		5	17	48		89
	"We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight"		20
2003	"Free Me"	Free Me	5					4
	"Maybe"		6	17	56	52	93	6
2004	"I'll Be There"		7
	"Crickets Sing for Anamaria"		15
2006	"Downtown"	Life in Mono	3	36
2007	"All I Need to Know"

DVDs

• 1999: Wicked Women / Um Concerto Pela Vida (DVD)
• 2001: Take My Breath Away (DVD single)
• 2001: We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight (DVD single)
• 2002: Party At The Palace (DVD)
• 2003: The Pepsi Silver Clef Concert (DVD)

B-sides

Year	Song	Appeared on
2001	"(Hey You) Free Up Your Mind"	Pokémon: The First Movie soundtrack / "What Took You So Long?"
	"I Don't Know" (Damage featuring Emma Bunton)	Since You've Been Gone
	"Merry-Go Round"	"What Took You So Long?"
	"Close Encounter"	"Take My Breath Away"
	"Let Your Baby Show You How to Move"	"We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight"
2003	"Who The Hell Are You"	"Free Me" CD 1 / Free Me
	"Tomorrow"	"Free Me" CD 2 / Free Me
	"Don't Tell Me You Love Me Anymore"	"Maybe"
2004	"Taking It Easy"	"I'll Be There" CD 1
	"So Long"	"I'll Be There" CD 2
	"Eso Beso"	"Crickets Sing for Anamaria" CD 2
	"So Nice (Summer Samba)"
2006	"Something Tells Me"	"Downtown" CD 2 / Life in Mono
	"Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps"

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Spiceworld	Herself
2001	Yes You Can	Pop Angel
2005	Pyaar Mein Twist		Guest appearance
	Chocolate	Anna

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	The Bill	Janice	"Missionary Work" (episode 22, season 9)
	To Play the King	Prostitute
2003	Absolutely Fabulous	Herself	"Cleanin'" (episode 1, season 5) "Huntin', Shootin', Fishin'" (episode 4, season 5)
2006	Strictly Come Dancing	Herself	Reality television series
	Absolutely Fabulous	Herself

See also

• List of number-one singles from the 2000s (UK)