Melanie Jayne Chisholm (born 12 January 1974 in Whiston, Merseyside) is an English singer, songwriter and television personality most famous as one of the five members of English girl group the Spice Girls, where she is known as "Sporty Spice". She is also known as Melanie C or Mel C. As a solo artist she has released four albums and was nominated for a BRIT Award and ECHO Award. Chisholm has co-written eleven UK number-one singles - second only to Madonna for a female artist.

Prior to becoming a member of the Spice Girls, Chisholm had been studying at the Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts in Sidcup, Kent. She was a student on the Diploma course at the college, studying dance, singing, drama and musical theatre. It was while Chisholm was still at college that the advert appeared in the The Stage, that Chris & Brob Herbert were looking to form a new girl group, which would later become the Spice Girls. Chisholm left the college having nearly completed her 3 year course and holds teaching qualifications in Tap and Modern Theatre Dance with the ISTD.

In 1996 Chisholm, along with Melanie Brown, Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, and Victoria Beckham (at that time Victoria Adams), shot to fame as a member of the Spice Girls with the release of "Wannabe". The debut album, Spice, shot to number one all over the globe, including the U.S.. Because of the fact she was often to be found in a tracksuit with her hair in a ponytail and sporting a rather "tomboyish" attitude, Chisholm received the nickname "Sporty Spice" from Top of the Pops Magazine (each member of the group was given a humorous nickname in a small piece titled "Spice Rack"). The Spice Girls dominated the late 1990s, selling over thirty-five million albums in just two years. They went on to become one of the best-selling girl groups of all time, selling more than fifty-five million records worldwide. They had nine UK number-one singles and two number-one albums. After a third album release, Forever (UK number-two), the members went their separate ways, and Chisholm developed a solo career.

Chisholm took her first steps in establishing a solo career in late 1998 by singing with Canadian rocker Bryan Adams on the song "When You're Gone". She followed the duet with the album Northern Star in 1999. A track from this album ("Ga Ga") was included on the Big Daddy soundtrack before her own album's release. Singles "Goin' Down" and "Northern Star" were met with promising success, but the third single "Never Be the Same Again", featuring TLC member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, became her first UK number-one single as a solo artist, also a Top Five hit in Germany. Capitalising on her new found success, Chisholm released a fourth single from Northern Star, a dance remix of "I Turn to You", and earned herself a second UK number-one single. "I Turn to You" reached #2 in Germany and eventually climbed to the top of the Billboard dance chart in the United States. Northern Star was re-released with the single versions of "Never Be the Same Again" and "I Turn to You", and eventually peaked at number four on the United Kingdom album chart and number six in Germany.

"If That Were Me" was chosen as the fifth and final single from Northern Star and proceeds were donated to a charity for the homeless; it peaked at number eighteen in the UK. Northern Star is certified three times platinum in the United Kingdom for shipping 900,000 copies, platinum in Germany for selling over 500,000 copies, and gold in Australia for selling over 35,000 copies. Chisholm then went on her Northern Star World Tour, performing in countries such as Canada, Germany, Spain, USA, Bahrain, Israel, Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Chisholm released her second studio album, Reason, in March 2003. The album included production from a series of collaborators including Gregg Alexander (New Radicals, Ronan Keating), Marius De Vries (Madonna), Dr Robert of The Blow Monkeys, David Arnold (Björk) and Matt Rowe, writer of the Spice Girls' "Wannabe". The lead single from Reason was "Here It Comes Again", which peaked at number seven in the UK, with the album entering the UK album chart a week later at number five.

Other singles from the album were "On the Horizon" (UK number fourteen, written with Gregg Alexander), "Let's Love" in Japan (where the song accompanied a Toyota commercial), "Yeh Yeh Yeh" in mainland Europe and, finally, a UK double A-side of "Melt"/"Yeh Yeh Yeh", which achieved a disappointing UK chart position of number twenty-seven. After a series of disappointments and the relative failure of "Melt"/"Yeh Yeh Yeh", Chisholm parted ways with her label, Virgin Records. Reason has been certified gold in the United Kingdom.

Chisholm spent much of 2004 working on new material and setting up her own record company, Red Girl Records. Without major label backing, her activities are decided on and funded by herself, alongside her business partner and manager, Nancy Phillips. In April 2005 Chisholm released her third album, Beautiful Intentions. The Adam Argyle-penned "Next Best Superstar" was chosen as the lead single and was released simultaneously in the UK, Europe, and Australia. The single peaked at number ten in the UK and reached the top of the Germany radio airplay chart for several weeks. A second single, "Better Alone", was released but later restricted to purchase from the iTunes Store (for digital download) and from her official online shop. The third single from her third album was "First Day of My Life", a previously unheard Chisholm recording written by Guy Chambers and Enrique Iglesias. "First Day of My Life" topped the charts in several European countries, including Spain, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland and Portugal. The single became one of the biggest hits of 2005 in parts of Europe, but it was never released in the UK. Beautiful Intentions has been certified gold in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and platinum in Portugal, where it spent nine weeks at number one.

In early 2007 Chisholm released her fourth album, This Time. It features writing collaborations with Adam Argyle, Peter-John Vettese, Guy Chambers and Cathy Dennis (amongst others). The first single release from the project was the international single "The Moment You Believe", primarily released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, where it was a top twenty hit. The single peaked at number one in Spain for two weeks, at number two in Portugal and was a Top 20 hit in Sweden. In Britain, Chisholm released the track "I Want Candy", which peaked at number twenty-four and featured on the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The single peaked at number nine in Italy and Denmark. The second international single from the album This Time was "Carolyna", which was released in June in the UK and across Europe; although it underperformed in the UK (peaking at number forty-nine due to lack of media support), it became a top five radio hit in Germany and Switzerland and a top twenty hit in Italy. On 12 October 2007 in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, and on 22 October in UK Mel C released album titled track "This Time" as the final single from the fourth LP (Melanie re-recorded this track for a new single version), which includes a B-side track called "We Love to Entertain You" which is used for this years Pro7 Starforce campaign in Germany.

At the moment Melanie is reunited with the Spice Girls for a Greatest Hits album release and The Return of the Spice Girls tour.

*1999: Northern Star *2003: Reason *2005: Beautiful Intentions *2007: This Time

*2006: Live Hits

* 1999 - From Liverpool to Leicester Square * 2000/2001 - Northern Star European Tour * 2001 - Northern Star World Tour * 2003 - Reason UK & Ireland/Germany Tour * 2004 - The Barfly Mini-Tour * 2005/2006 - Beautiful Intentions Live

*List of number-one dance hits (United States) *List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart *List of number-one singles from the 2000s (UK) *List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart

*Official website *Official MySpace profile *Official German website *Official Italian website *Informative fansite