LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 01: Mel B speaks connected signifier during "A Brutally Honest Evening With Mel B" successful enactment of Women's Aid astatine The Savoy Theatre connected September 1, 2019 successful London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
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Spice Girl Melanie Brown, amended known arsenic Mel B oregon Scary Spice, has spoken of the sexism that the miss radical faced successful a male-dominated euphony manufacture during the 1990s.
Speaking to CNBC's Tania Bryer, Brown, who became a subordinate of the iconic British popular radical upon its enactment successful 1994, talked astir a conflict to beryllium taken seriously.
"We entered into the manufacture astatine a clip erstwhile it was each lad bands and truthful galore doors were slammed successful our look similar 'girl bands are not going to work' and we'd beryllium similar 'yes they are, you'll spot erstwhile we're affluent and famous,'" Brown said past period successful an occurrence of "The CNBC Conversation."
"But we were conscionable connected a mission, and we managed to bash it."
The iconic set was enactment unneurotic by Heart Management, which held auditions for a miss radical that would vie with fashionable British lad bands astatine the time. The radical is made up of 5 members: Brown, Melanie Chisholm, Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell-Horner, and Victoria Beckham.
The group's "girl power" mantra attracted a young, chiefly pistillate fanbase and launched them to the apical of the charts.
The Spice Girls' debut azygous "Wannabe" successful 1996 was a fig 1 deed successful astir 30 countries and the archetypal medium "Spice" became the world's top-selling medium of 1997. The radical has gone connected to merchantability much than 85 cardinal records worldwide.
"We wrote each of our ain songs truthful we'd each beryllium determination penning lyrics unneurotic going 'no we request to empower women, we request to marque definite that girls don't consciousness similar they person to conform to this oregon to that,'" Brown told CNBC.
"When we came retired successful the aboriginal 90s it was inactive precise antheral predominant, you know, each interview, each committee gathering that we went to, it was each male, and present you bash spot women successful positions of power, not enough, not intelligibly enough, but it is changing," she added.
There person been incremental improvements successful sex diverseness successful the euphony manufacture country successful the U.K. The 2024 Glastonbury Festival featured 2 pistillate headlining acts for the archetypal clip successful its implicit 50-year history
Meanwhile, the U.K. Music Diversity Report 2024, which surveyed 2,874 radical moving down the scenes of the euphony industry, recovered that women successful elder positions had risen from 40.4% successful 2020 to 48.3% successful 2024.
However, sex equity successful the euphony manufacture inactive has a agelong mode to go. The study besides recovered that women were much apt to beryllium paid little than men. Overall, 55% of respondents who said they were unpaid were women, and lone 30% of antheral respondents said the same.
On the different hand, 53.2% of men were earning much than £100,000 (roughly $131,000) portion lone 43.4% of women were besides earning arsenic overmuch oregon more.
Additionally, 51% of women successful the U.K. euphony manufacture person said they experienced favoritism portion moving arsenic a musician, compared with lone 6% of men, according to the 2024 Women Musicians Insight Report collated by Musician's Census.
Almost a 3rd of pistillate respondents said they were sexually harassed portion moving arsenic a instrumentalist compared with 5% of men, per Musician's Census.
Chisholm has antecedently said that the group's "girl power" slogan was inspired by their struggles with sex favoritism successful the industry, according to an interrogation with outlet Female First successful 2018.
"When we started, we were a popular radical and we conscionable wanted to sing and beryllium celebrated and question the satellite and we ne'er truly thought astir that broadside of things astatine all. But, arsenic soon arsenic we were heading into the euphony industry, we started to beryllium faced with immoderate sexism. We were told girls don't sell," Chisholm said.
"It gave america adjacent much determination to win due to the fact that we realised precise aboriginal on, we weren't conscionable doing it for ourselves and each other, we were doing it for girls. Being told we couldn't bash thing was similar a reddish rag to a bull to the Spice Girls," she added.
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