EMMA BUNTON
Name: Emma Lee Bunton
Born: 21 January 1976 Finchley, London, England
Emma Lee Bunton (born 21 January 1976) is an English pop singer, songwriter, and
occasional actress. Bunton is best known for being a member of the successful '90s
girl group, the Spice Girls, in which she was known as "Baby Spice" as she was
the youngest member and often wore revealing "babydoll" dresses.
Bunton was born in Finchley and grew up in Woodside Park, both in the London
borough of Barnet. Her parents, Pauline, a karate instructor, and Trevor, a
milkman, split up when she was eleven; she stayed with her mother. She has a
younger brother, Paul James. Bunton started off at St. Theresa's Primary School
in Finchley Central. Then Bunton went to the Sylvia Young Theatre School in
Marylebone; in 1993 she appeared in the ITV1 police series The Bill and also
auditioned (although unsuccessfully) for the role of Bianca (played by Patsy
Palmer) in the BBC soap EastEnders; she had previously appeared briefly in the
soap in 1992, as a mugger who attacked the character Jules Tavernier, played by
Tommy Eytle.
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 acts of the 1990s, selling 35 million albums with
studio releases Spice in 1996, Spiceworld in 1997, and Forever in 2000. She was
known as Baby Spice because she often wore baby doll dresses and 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. As a songwriter, Bunton - as part of
the Spice Girls - set the record for the shortest time to achieve 6 #1 UK
singles, taking 1 year 5 months from Wannabe's first week at #1 to the ascent of
Too Much. This outpaced Lennon/McCartney, who took 1 year 6 months (From Me to
You through I Feel Fine). In 1999 she presented her own music show Emma on VH1.
She had also recorded the song "(Hey You) Free Up Your Mind" for the anime film
Pokemon: The First Movie. The Spice Girls stopped recording in 2000; many
rumours circulated about a reunion for the group's tenth anniversary but nothing
materialised until June 2007 when they reformed for a Spice Girls reunion tour
and Greatest Hits CD.
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 has nothing to do with Berlin's 1986 hit), and the top twenty hit "We're
Not Gonna Sleep Tonight". The album sold approximately 125,000 copies in the UK.
Due to the disappointing sales of the project, Bunton parted with Virgin in 2002.
Bunton's second album "Free Me" when released (2003/2004) also made the UK top
10. "Free Me" was released through 19/Universal. It sold marginally better than
her debut and contained four hit singles, "Free Me", "Maybe", "I'll be there"
and "Crickets Sing For Anamaria". After success in the American dance charts the
album was also released in North America. The American edition included bonus
remixes and a different cover to the UK edition.
In November 2006, Bunton released the official charity single for the BBC
Children in Need appeal, recording a cover of Petula Clark's '60s classic "Downtown".
It peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart and was followed by her third
studio album, Life in Mono, released on 4 December. The album entered the UK
Albums Chart at number sixty-five, selling approximately 13,000 copies in its
first week. To date, it has sold more than 45,000 copies in the UK. The second
single from it was "All I Need to Know", released on 12 February 2007, intended
for the Valentine's Day market. Bunton shot the video around Old Street in East
London, in the week before Christmas 2006.[2] Entering the UK Singles Chart at
number sixty, "All I Need to Know" became Bunton's lowest-charting single of her
solo career. It is unknown whether will she will return to music when the Spice
Girls tour ends on February 26th.
Name: Emma Lee Bunton
Born: 21 January 1976 Finchley, London, England
Emma Lee Bunton (born 21 January 1976) is an English pop singer, songwriter, and
occasional actress. Bunton is best known for being a member of the successful '90s
girl group, the Spice Girls, in which she was known as "Baby Spice" as she was
the youngest member and often wore revealing "babydoll" dresses.
Bunton was born in Finchley and grew up in Woodside Park, both in the London
borough of Barnet. Her parents, Pauline, a karate instructor, and Trevor, a
milkman, split up when she was eleven; she stayed with her mother. She has a
younger brother, Paul James. Bunton started off at St. Theresa's Primary School
in Finchley Central. Then Bunton went to the Sylvia Young Theatre School in
Marylebone; in 1993 she appeared in the ITV1 police series The Bill and also
auditioned (although unsuccessfully) for the role of Bianca (played by Patsy
Palmer) in the BBC soap EastEnders; she had previously appeared briefly in the
soap in 1992, as a mugger who attacked the character Jules Tavernier, played by
Tommy Eytle.
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 acts of the 1990s, selling 35 million albums with
studio releases Spice in 1996, Spiceworld in 1997, and Forever in 2000. She was
known as Baby Spice because she often wore baby doll dresses and 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. As a songwriter, Bunton - as part of
the Spice Girls - set the record for the shortest time to achieve 6 #1 UK
singles, taking 1 year 5 months from Wannabe's first week at #1 to the ascent of
Too Much. This outpaced Lennon/McCartney, who took 1 year 6 months (From Me to
You through I Feel Fine). In 1999 she presented her own music show Emma on VH1.
She had also recorded the song "(Hey You) Free Up Your Mind" for the anime film
Pokemon: The First Movie. The Spice Girls stopped recording in 2000; many
rumours circulated about a reunion for the group's tenth anniversary but nothing
materialised until June 2007 when they reformed for a Spice Girls reunion tour
and Greatest Hits CD.
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 has nothing to do with Berlin's 1986 hit), and the top twenty hit "We're
Not Gonna Sleep Tonight". The album sold approximately 125,000 copies in the UK.
Due to the disappointing sales of the project, Bunton parted with Virgin in 2002.
Bunton's second album "Free Me" when released (2003/2004) also made the UK top
10. "Free Me" was released through 19/Universal. It sold marginally better than
her debut and contained four hit singles, "Free Me", "Maybe", "I'll be there"
and "Crickets Sing For Anamaria". After success in the American dance charts the
album was also released in North America. The American edition included bonus
remixes and a different cover to the UK edition.
In November 2006, Bunton released the official charity single for the BBC
Children in Need appeal, recording a cover of Petula Clark's '60s classic "Downtown".
It peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart and was followed by her third
studio album, Life in Mono, released on 4 December. The album entered the UK
Albums Chart at number sixty-five, selling approximately 13,000 copies in its
first week. To date, it has sold more than 45,000 copies in the UK. The second
single from it was "All I Need to Know", released on 12 February 2007, intended
for the Valentine's Day market. Bunton shot the video around Old Street in East
London, in the week before Christmas 2006.[2] Entering the UK Singles Chart at
number sixty, "All I Need to Know" became Bunton's lowest-charting single of her
solo career. It is unknown whether will she will return to music when the Spice
Girls tour ends on February 26th.