If you wannabe new Posh Spice, you'd better get ready for reality TV show: Victoria snubs Spice Girls reunion... sparking hunt for her replacement
- Girl group set to reunite for album and tour but without Victoria Beckham
- Sources say the group could hold auditions for a fifth member
- Sugababes star Heidi Range has been mooted as a replacement
- Posh kept distance from other members at musical premiere on Tuesday
With their showstopping Olympic appearance and glitzy new West End musical, the Spice Girls are as hot today as they were in their Nineties heyday.
And now the most successful female group ever are set to re-form for a new album and tour – but without the reluctant Victoria Beckham.
Instead, the remaining four members could hold auditions for a new ‘Posh Spice’ – through a major TV talent hunt to rival X Factor.
A source said: ‘The girls are going it alone without Victoria. They are keen to get back together and were trying to work out if they could do it as a four-piece. I think they know this is the last chance for them to get the band going again.
‘But the Spice Girls as a foursome is not going to get them another record deal or sell out big venues. They need an extra cherry on the cake. And the cherry on the cake would be if they replaced Victoria.
‘And that leads to the next question: who do they replace her with? At the moment it’s all being done in a very cloak-and-dagger way and not through official channels.’
Indeed, spokesmen for Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, Mel Chisholm and Mel Brown either declined to comment or could not be reached for reaction. Beckham’s publicist said: ‘Victoria respects all of the girls and will always support them all personally and professionally.
Beckham, who has forged a more successful solo career than any of her former colleagues, kept her distance from the rest of the Spice Girls at the first night of their musical Viva Forever! on Tuesday
She arrived late, missing a photoshoot with the rest of the group and delaying curtain-up, then left the after-party earlier than the others.
The reunion plan is being spearheaded by Halliwell, who was the first to leave the group in 1998, at the height of their fame. She is understood to have been performing private showcases for record executives in a bid to drum up interest.
She is said to have compared the planned reunion with Take That’s hugely successful decision to re-form without Robbie Williams in 2005 (although he later rejoined).
Take That never used a substitute for Williams, but the Spice Girls are considering either a reality TV series to find the ‘new Posh’ – or recruiting a singer with more experience of the music business.
Sugababes star Heidi Range, 29, has been mooted as a possible replacement.
The band source added: ‘At the moment they’re thinking who, out there, who’s been in a another band, could “be” Victoria. There would be interest in a television series, but I think they’re keen on someone with industry experience rather than discovering a new star.’
Sources say the girls will announce plans to re-form within weeks. They split in 2000, after releasing their farewell studio album Forever, but reunited for a world tour in 2007, which netted them £10 million each.
The move may also trigger commercial wrangles about whether the remaining band members will be able to use the Spice Girls name without Beckham’s involvement and whether the new fifth member with have the right to use the ‘Posh’ title.
In 2002 Beckham attempted to block Peterborough United FC from registering their long-standing nickname, The Posh, as a trademark.
The star could also be entitled to a slice of any profits from a new Spice Girls tour as co-writer of many of the band’s hits. And she is one of five partners of Spice Girls LLP, which Companies House documents describe as being involved in ‘activities of its members associated with their previous live performances’.
Each of the Spice Girls could make £3 million if the Jennifer Saunders-scripted Viva Forever! becomes a hit. The show – which coincidentally revolves around a TV talent show – received a cold reception from critics, with one describing it as ‘a prize Christmas turkey’, but it has already taken £4 million at the box office.
Interest in the Spice Girls, who formed in 1994 after answering an advert in performers’ newspaper The Stage, will be further heightened by a 90-minute documentary to air on ITV on Christmas Eve, featuring interviews with all five members.
Another band source said of the possible reunion: ‘They all have existing work and family commitments. As you’d expect with the biggest girl band of all time they are always receiving ideas and offers.’
