MelC Toronto Sun(CAN) Article - 10/26/99


Black Text = Jane Stevenson (Toronto Sun)
Blue Text = Melanie C
Melanie C, a.k.a. Sporty Spice, says she didn't set out to follow in the footsteps of one of her musical heroes, Madonna, on her just-released solo album, Northern Star.

It just kind of happened.

The 25-year-old Liverpool native ended up using four producers who have worked with The Material Girl, including William Orbit, the man who helmed Madonna's 1998 comeback album, Ray Of Light.

"I have listened to Madonna's work over the years -- especially her more recent stuff, which I'm a huge fan of," says the friendly but exhausted Mel C during a Toronto interview that followed her solo show at the Guvernment.

"And so of all of the people I've worked with, I just sort of did my homework and saw what I liked, and it just happened to be that they'd done a lot of stuff with Madonna."

In fact, Mel C almost used Orbit for her entire album, a mix of uptempo pop numbers, ballads and a few rockers.

"When I first started writing the album, I did want to go to William to produce the whole thing. But then I started writing more tracks and they were all taking different directions. I felt I wanted to use producers who'd be best suited to the styles of the songs. A lot of (record company) people were nervous that it was going to be too much all over the place. But I felt there's no rules in music."

Mel C recently dueted with Bryan Adams on the track When You're Gone, from his 1998 album, and would love to do the same with Madonna. But even though the two women have had dinner together in New York, she's afraid to ask.

"I'd like to, but I don't want to ask her in case she turns me down. I'll wait for her to approach me," she says, laughing.

Adams wrote two tunes destined for Northern Star, but they didn't make the final cut, although they will still surface. One song, Follow, may end up as a collaboration with an as yet unnamed artist, while You Taught Me will be released as a B-side for the next single, the album's title track.

"He's got a reputation in Britain for being boring," says Mel C of Adams. "Because I think he had that long hit that everybody hated, the Robin Hood thing. And he is one of the nicest people I've ever met. Considering he was very young when he became successful, (he's been in the music industry all his life,) he's probably the most down-to-earth musician that I've ever met."

For Mel C's current mini-tour around the world -- she's planning a bigger road trip next January and February --she had a British-based five-piece band that included the lead guitarist and drummer from the Spice Girls.

When she returns to England next week, she will resume recording the next Spice Girls album and will join in rehearsals for four shows in London and four shows in Manchester in December.

As for the new Spice Girls record, the group has recorded nine songs since September.

"It's a little more mature, but it's still fun, it's still pop, it's the Spice Girls," says Mel C. "It's still very much R&B-based pop. We've been working with Rodney Jerkins and Jam & Lewis, so maybe we'll have a little more of an American feel."

Mel C is quoted in Britain's Q Magazine about Geri Halliwell (formerly Ginger Spice), a solo artist with an album of her own, Schizophonic: "For me," Mel C told the magazine, "she's just cotton wool. She's not a talented musician and she's not a very strong singer."

Mel C confirms she is quoted accurately.

"If someone's going to ask me about Geri ... I'm maybe too honest for my own good. And I don't think she's a great artist. I don't."

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