I was the 6th Spice Girl but now I’m a hospital worker & a normal mum because my voice was ‘too strong’ & would dominate
WEARING a black and white checked dress over a white T-shirt, Mel Coloma, 18, finished belting out the Dreamgirls ballad ‘And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going’.
More than 400 teen girls clapped as Mel, from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, handed the mike to the next person auditioning in the top floor studio at Pineapple Studios in Marylebone, London, in March 1994.
“There was a huge selection of girls,” she said.“Some were super confident, others shy and some were clearly trained dancers.
“It was competitive, other girls were better singers and some girls on their very first try-out.
“We all wanted to be noticed. You had to stand out and bring the magic.”
After sitting through 400 auditions the casting agents called out the names of the girls they wanted to see at the next audition.
“I held my breath hoping for a call back,” Mel said.
“And then the casting director called out Melanie Chisholm, Melanie Brown and Victoria Addams.”
As a disappointed Mel grabbed her portfolio to leave an assistant tapped her on the shoulder and said she was wanted as well.
“We want you too – you must stay,” she said.
She didn’t know it then but Mel and the seven other girls who made it through to the next round of auditions were making global entertainment history with the creation of The Spice Girls.
With hits like Wannabe and Mama, they were the world’s biggest girl band and were a firm part of UK pop culture.
But their decade of dominance came to an abrupt end in 2000 when the band announced their decision to go their separate ways.
DREAMING BIG
Since then Mel, 47, who is separated and still based in Huntingdon, has never forgotten how she could have been the real Posh.
She explained how she found out about the audition in industry magazine The Stage via an advert.
The advert asked for singers aged 18-23 who were ‘streetwise, outgoing and ambitious’ and travelled to London for her chance to get in the band.
Amazingly, along with The Spice Girls we know and Love, she got through to the final eight.
“I could have been a Spice Girl,” said Mel. “Instead, I’m a mum of two and work in a hospital.
“Still, it feels like yesterday I sat with Geri, Mel B and Victoria and we were all ‘wannabes.’”
While Mel didn’t make the final cut, she hasn’t given up on singing.
“People are stunned I got to sing with Geri Halliwell and Mel B making it through to the final group,” she says.
“It was an amazing experience. I’m still singing and entertaining today.
“I perform at weekends at weddings and posh events. My brother Warren Laccohee, 42 and I are a duo called The Decanters and we’re regularly booked for music festivals, restaurants and nightclubs.
“Singing is in my DNA.
“I could have made millions, married a football player and ended up with houses all over the world.”
WOULDN’T TRADE IT IN
But despite living in a three bed, semi-detached terraced house , Mel doesn’t regret not being picked.
“I have two amazing kids,” she says.
“I travelled all over the world as a singer and dancer. I’m still singing on the weekends and during the week I am an operating theatre store manager looking after surgical equipment and supporting staff at Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon.
“At the time I was doing about seven auditions a week.
“Today thousands of people show up for Big Brother or Britain’s Got Talent auditions. There just were 400 girls at the Spice Girls try-outs.
“In the first round we sang solo and then got broken into groups of 10 to dance to the song ‘Stay’.
“My groups included Melanie Brown or ‘Scary Spice’
“She and I hit it off. We chatted about other auditions. I remember thinking she was a great dancer and had a great look.”
Mel made it to the second audition as part of the final eight, held at Nomis Studios in London’s Shepherds Bush.
Geri Halliwell who would become Ginger Spice had missed the first audition and managed to convince the producers to let her try out at the second audition in April.
THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S BIGGEST GIRLBAND
THE famous girlband The Spice Girls was formed in 1994.
The band’s debut single Wannabe reached No1 in 37 countries in 1996.
Their first six singles went to No1 and they became a symbol of ’90s feminism.
However, Geri quit in 1998 and in December 2000, the Spice Girls ceased all promotional activities for their third and final studio album Forever.
They announced they were taking a break to focus on their individual careers.
After Geri Halliwell decided to quit the group in 1998, the Spice Girls were never the same.
At the time the group were in the middle of their American tour – which they were forced to complete without Halliwell.
As Halliwell left, rumours of their split started to gain traction amid reports of infighting among the group.
There have been numerous Spice Girl reunions since the group split in 2000.
Timeline:
2007 – All five members reunited for The Return of the Spice Girls Tour.
Tickets for the first return show in London sold out in 38 seconds as five million people worldwide signed up for the ticket ballot on the Spice Girls website.
2012 – The group performed a medley of Wannabe and Spice Up Your Life at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
2018 – It’s announced that the girl group would reunite again for another tour.
However, they are without Victoria Beckham who decided not to participate.
The following year, they performed live shows globally – raking in an estimated estimated £4.47m.
2020 – The Sun revealed that the group plan to hit the road again for a massive world tour – without fifth member Victoria Beckham.
This was to mark their 25th anniversary, with Geri, Mel B, Mel C, and Emma Bunton all preparing to perform across America, Europe, and Australia – while also making a movie about their exciting year.
“We had to sing again,” said Mel. “Then we were put into groups of three.
“My group was Geri, myself and another girl.
“The third girl was quite confident but Geri and I worked well together. It was a teamwork exercise in making up steps as a group.
“She and I really got along. We’d both been doing the audition rounds and made the team exercise work for us.
“Mel C, Geri and I were like all the other girls doing auditions then. You showed up, auditioned and then headed off to the next try out. You never knew when you’d hear back.”
According to Mel everyone who took part in the final audition were equally talented.
I remember thinking Mel B performed incredibly well at the auditions and Geri had reddish hair and was full of energy,
Mel Coloma
“Some were good at singing, others dancing, and others had more passion. I remember thinking anyone could be selected,” she says.
The auditions had been organised by Chris and Bob Herbert who ran Heart Management and wanted to create a girl band that could compete with boy bands dominating the UK pop charts at the time.
Together with financier Chris Murphy they wanted five strikingly different girls who would appeal to different segments of the audience.
“We were told the audition was for a group called Touch,” Mel explains.
Touch never made it, but The Spice Girls did as a result of the two auditions.
STRONG SPICE
After the second audition Mel was told her voice was too strong and may dominate the group.
“It wasn’t until two years later that I switched on the TV and saw the video for Wannabe and saw someone that looked familiar,” Mel remembers.
“Mel B’s face flashed up on the screen and everything fell into place.
“This was the group I’d so nearly been a part of.
“I’d assumed it hadn’t come to anything because it had been two years and I’d never heard anything about Touch. But there they were.”
At the same time Mel’s career was also taking off.
“I got signed to a girl group and we recorded one song,” she says.
“Then I became a lead vocalist for a cruise line performing in the Caribbean, South America and the Mediterranean on cruise ships.”
Always followed the group
Mel toured Britain in the ‘What A Feeling’ stage show as an understudy for the then pop star Sonia.
In June 2003 Mel’s son, now 20 was born and in August 2009 she welcomed her daughter, now 14.
But she’s always followed The Spice Girls.
“I am thrilled for the Spice Girls and knew when they pursued solo careers what pressures would have made them make that decision,” she said.
My kids just roll their eyes when I talk about The Spice Girls.
Mel
“My kids just roll their eyes when I talk about The Spice Girls.
“I know it could have been me who was picked. The finalists were all evenly matched.
“I was as good as any of the girls. I had a very strong voice. I was told my R’n’B style voice would overpower the other girls by producers,” she says.
“At the time it was ‘just another audition.’ No one knew it would end up being an iconic part of the Spice Girls history.
“It was great knowing we were all as good as each other.
“That’s real girl power in my eyes.”