Catch a Fire: The Autobiography

by Melanie B., Melanie Brown

In this extraordinary autobiography of "Scary" Spice, Melanie Brown, she covers it all—the council estate childhood, the formation of the Spice Girls, the early months being groomed for stardom, the subsequent global domination, Geri's departure, the marriage and divorce to Jimmy Gulzar, the birth of Phoenix Chi, the solo career, and the leap into TV presenting. Not bad for the rebellious, mixed-up girl from Leeds who is still only in her 20s. Born to a working-class mixed-race family from Leeds, Melanie B grew up feeling different from her schoolfriends. Her hyperactive energy was channelled into drama school, and in 1994 the Spice Girls were formed. The rest is history.

Genres: Music, Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography, Biography Memoir, Celebrity, Autobiography

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Liesje Leest · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few years ago, maybe 3 or 4?, I read the autobiography of Victoria Beckham and Geri Halliwell's 2 books.Ii bought them all from ebay, cheap, and could not get a hold of Mel B's book at the time. After stumbling across a documentary on the Spice Girls on youtube in January I decided to try and find Mel's book. I have no idea how I didn't find a copy last time cause there where so many copies up for grabs on ebay this time around.

Sporty and Ginger had always been my favorite Spice Girls but this book has made me like Mel B so much. The book starts out really sweet because Mel takes her time to thank all the other Spice Girls, but from the beginning it is clear that, at the time, things between her and Geri weren't going very well.

The book, obviously, tells us all about Melanie's life. But besides wanting to share her life with us, Melanie also seems to want to empower women, especially those who are in bad relationships through sharing her own experiences. There is a lot of Girl Power in this book, and after going back an forth in my mind I decided to add it to my feminism shelf as well.

The book has quite a lot of photo's which I always like in these kind of books. This book is a must read if you loved the Spice Girls and will make Melanie B one of your favorite Spice Girls!

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mel B's book was definitely more revealing than Geri and Victoria's autobiographies. I learned so much more about the year between forming the group and becoming famous.

I really enjoyed reading her diary entries. It's crazy how much those girls traveled - in October 1997, they were in France, Spain, France again, Turkey for their first live show, Singapore, India, Hong Kong, Japan, and England! I can imagine how exhausting that could become!

I did find a few contradictions in the book..for example, Mel B said that she felt uncomfortable meeting fans because she didn't know what to say to strangers. Later, she mentions that she is completely comfortable in front of strangers!! She also said that the 3rd Spice Girl album was unnamed at the time the book was written...but later talks about the album being called Forever. I may have caught these contradictions because I read the book within a week.

Happy to read another Spice book, even if it's outdated!!

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

How I Came To Read This Book: After reading Geri Halliwell's first autobiography in one day this year, I felt like picking up the final Spice biography out there (Mel C & Emma...can't wait to read yours!)

The Plot: Mel B's 500+ page biography covers her life from babyhood to motherhood, and how she went from a girl just interesting in entertaining to part of one of the greatest girl groups of all time. The bulk of the book thankfully deals with her life as a Spice Girl, with just the first 150-ish and the last 100-ish pages dealing with the before and after.

The Good & The Bad: This book is refreshingly upfront and frank in comparison to other celeb autobiographies I've read this year - I'm looking at you Geri. It's written in an extremely conversational style, as though you're spending an afternoon (or 20) as Mel dictates her life to you, good, bad, and in between. This is both the book's strength and its downfall. It helps in painting a much more complex picture of Scary Spice - who she was before, why she was so wired, and the surprisingly vulnerable side she shows when it comes to her failed romance with back-up dancer Jim Gulzar. It's a bit tiresome however, to get through some of the details Mel chooses to focus on - I often wanted to shake her and be like wait, no...expand upon that! No not that! The other thing! She writes one entire section (a long one at that) in diary entries from the time, which give you some good, solid insight, but are also tiring to read. In comparison to Victoria & Geri's bios, she is a lot more focused on the emotions and general insider tidbits, rather than the hard facts. It's not that the book is particularly boring, it just gets a bit rambly, and could use some of the polish that Geri & Victoria's books had (albeit not in the calculating way Geri came across).

The Bottom Line: A worthwhile read for any Spice fan, you'll still learn tons you'd never heard before. Not as interesting as Geri & Victoria's bios, but Geri's are just obnoxious, and Victoria's was extremely well-written.

Anything Memorable: I think it was just over the last week Mel B was quoted as saying some Spicey things might be on the horizon (minus Victoria?!?!?!). Also as with the other bios, reading them after the fact actually makes them more interesting as you know where Mel's career goes (despite her optimism at the end of this book) and that the Spice Girls indeed make a triumphant albeit brief return.

50-Book Challenge: Book #45 in 2009.

[April Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got all the way to page 305 before I decided to stop reading. It was just too long, slow and very boring. I thought once she joined the group the story would pick up and it would get exciting. It didn’t. She spends the first 250 pages just talking about her life and upbringing which weren’t anything special. She should have talked a lot less about that part and got to the part most people actually care about which is the part when she was a member of the Spice Girls. She rambles a lot and tells a lot of details about things that just aren’t interesting or important. The journal entries were also annoying. I bought Victoria’s book but I don’t think I’ll bother reading it. I guess I don’t care about the story as much as I thought. I can’t suffer through another 200 pages. Not when there are tons of other books on my TBR I could actually be enjoying.

[Jenny Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book more than I expected.

I was a Spice Girls fan in my teens although Mel B wasn’t my favourite. I’ve recently got into autobiographies and when someone gave me this I thought it would be interesting to learn more about her background and the formation of the group. It was also interesting to hear about the aftermath of their world tour and that many changes happened simply as they were growing up and having families.

It is fascinating to see how an “ordinary” hardworking person can rise to such fame and, whatever you think of the Spice Girls, it shows how amazingly well they did. I’m sure the book could have been double the length. It also shows that money can’t buy happiness. It is brutally honest and she comes across as a lot warmer than I would have expected.

I’d like to read the other Spice Girls’ autobiographies now, though some look quite long!

[Eden Silverfox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Melaine B has always been my favorite Spice Girl and I was so happy to be able to read about her life. The book talks of her early life quite a bit, I don't think it focuses on the Spice Girls as much Geri's and Victoria's books do, that is okay though. I really enjoyed reading about her early life, her mom's family sounds a bit crazy I can tell you that.

I thought this book was wonderful though, well-written. She has done so much in her life so far and it is really amazing to read about. It's sad to read about her marriage to Jimmy, she truly loved him and it just didn't work out. Makes you feel really bad for her, but she comes out of it fine and much stronger then before. Very good book if your interested in learning more about the life of Scary Spice from the Spice Girls.

[Adrian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I find this book to be interesting...yes, i have also read Vic's and Geri's...i enjoy Mel's because of the way she write it...she is quite a good writer...or try to be one anyway...she is a dramatic person and manages to showcase that in her writing. She was a normal person...well we all are, aren't we...DUH!! But what made her successful was her diligence, hard work, and belief in herself. She also know her aims...she portrays herself well here...as careless, fun, risky, outrageous, amusing, and just a great person to meet in real life and have down to earth conversations with.

[Lyssrose · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading this, I have to admit that I'm pleasantly surprised at just how normal the girls behind the Spice Girls really are. Sure, they became quite famous, but when you get right down to it, they're just normal people who got thrown into that. Now, I'm not saying that there weren't a few times when I just wanted to roll my eyes at some of the things Melanie talks about in the book, but I just chalk that up to her being a BIT more outrageous than me.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I already read Geri Halliwell's If Only and For the Record and more recently read Victoria Beckham's Learning to Fly. I have to say I enjoyed Melanie Brown's book the least of the Spice Girls. It was overly long; spent too much time on her pre-Spice years and then was much more vague during the Spice years and beyond. It was an OK read but I found myself skimming it more than reading it, especially near the end.

[Devin Tait · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was nice to read yet another viewpoint of the Spice Girls phenomenon, as I'd already read both of Geri's book, and Victoria's. I was interested in her marriage to Jimmy Gulzar although I felt like some details were left out. The book was a little overly long and spent too much time (in my opinion) on her pre-Spice days, but overall it was a good read.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book, a very honest insight into scary spices life. Could do with less about realationships in it, and more about the girls friendship. The diary forms got quite irritating, however mel does show her vunerable side in this book, a sight rarely seen before.

[Zeta T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

She remembered the fun stuff!

[Winter Sophia Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, Fair & Fun!

[Polly March · Rating 4 out of 5]

Geri's car was our think tank and her Filofax our computer. We bombed our way around London, exploding into the offices of agents, managers and record companies - well, the ones that let us in, anyway. A tape of Wannabe would be shoved hurriedly into the music system, then I'd shout 'C'mon!' and jump up on the table while Mel did a back flip, Victoria flashed her legs and Emma jumped up and down. We all bounced around like maniacs for a couple of minutes, singing and dancing, then Geri would introduce us and explain why we were there. It was great. They didn't know what had hit them. I think it's safe to say that no one we have everSpiced has forgotten the experience.

Wow. What a time capsule this little treasure turned out to be! I’ve had this sitting on my bookshelf for God knows how many years and I’ve always wanted to read it - but with so much new, contemporary fiction coming out on what seems like a daily basis, it’s been (unfairly!) pushed down the tbr list. But after hitting my 2023 reading goal early this year, I decided there was no better time to dive back into Spice World than now!

I genuinely think it’s important to contextualise how insanely successful the Spice Girls were before diving into Mel B’s memoir. In 1998 the Spice Girls released their debut solo single, Wannabe, that shot to number one in more than 20 countries, including the United States. Can we stress, this was their DEBUT. In a time before instagram and social media, a group of budding singers - all working class girls - shot to the top of the charts with a feminist anthem that they wrote themselves just a year earlier when they formed after answering an ad in The Stage newspaper.

In just two short years they managed to rack up seven U.K. number-one hits, sell more than 35 million albums, make a feature film (the cult classic Spice World; the premier of which the heir to the throne - and current King - attended, sitting next to Scary, no less. What other celebrity could create such a camp, iconic film and have a member of the monarchy in attendance?!) - oh, AND embark on a world tour. To try and put this into further context, Queen, David Bowie, Beyonce, Britney Spears AND Lady Gaga have all had less UK number-one hits over a much longer period of time. And to REALLY understand their success, take a quick look at the nominees they were up against when they won Best British Single at the 1997 BRIT awards. Throw in that they won the Brits Lifetime Achievement award after just 4 years of being together… these girls were IT.

So, where to begin with the text? Reading it for the first time 20 years after it was published, it is undoubtedly dated and quite ‘of its time’ as a celebrity biography, filled with anecdotes and stories that perhaps wouldn’t be included in the style of memoir that is published today (and considering Mel C aka Sporty released her autobiography just this year, it will be interesting to see the comparisons). But you certainly learn a lot about her upbringing as a mixed race, working class girl from Leeds, her ambitions before the band, the relationships she had and has held onto up to this point, and even her diary entries from her the height of her fame - something I really enjoyed reading and felt gave a deeply personal insight into her frame of mind during some of the most gruelling days in the band:

The others became used to seeing me write in my diary. Wherever we went, one of my little notebooks always came too. 'The group as a whole is a magical joining of forces’, I wrote at the time. 'It's so powerful that on a good day it blows your mind away.’

I was also pleasantly surprised to find that she spoke quite openly about her race and her experience as the only mixed race (not black - she is keen to assert this throughout) girl in the band, and also as a mixed race woman coming up against powerful white men in the industry. The Raw Spice documentary (which I would highly recommend watching) openly discusses the need for an all “white” “English” group… but also called Mel the “obvious star”. It’s sad for her to note that she will never truly know if she was chosen for her talent alone or if there was an element of tokenism involved, but it feels redundant at this point considering how universally they were all adored, specifically for their differences. It was also interesting to read the racial connotations about her wearing animal print and how this was something that had never dawned on her - can’t a girl just love a leopard print?!

Her role in the band was clearly the activist of the group in terms of rallying the girls. She has always advocated for the band to stay together and continue, even when they took their first hiatus. It’s fascinating to read how they departed from their management just before their world tour… and how when Geri sought the advise of lawyers, Mel went to a psychic!

She describes herself as follows:

I was called Scary because I was loud and forthright and brash. I spoke my mind and stuck my tongue out to the cameras. But in my mind I had balls because I was a mixed race person who in the past had gone for job interviews where they'd taken one look at the colour of me and not given me the job. I'd had teachers who'd told me I would never amount to anything, domineering employers who'd picked on me unnecessarily and I'd also been brought up by an overly strict father. As a result of all this I'd developed a real dislike of authority figures. So I had lots of issues that I wanted to express to people in power - including journalists - and my way of doing that was to take the piss out of them. Loudly.

In all honesty, this only really loses a star because the topic of Geri leaving is brushed over and confined to only one paragraph. There are later allusions to how it didn’t sink in immediately, and how at least three years later they all reunited for a dinner and were on cordial speaking terms - but as an event that quite literally rocked any 90’s kids world, I wanted MORE! Especially as so much was made at the time, and since (watch Piers Morgan’s Life Stories if you need any further context there…) about how close the two of them were.

Lastly, her story takes us up to when she has left for LA to start a new life over there in film and TV, not long after her first divorce. It is really devastating to read about how she managed to leave an emotionally abusive and quite controlling relationship, only for us to know what was to come later in her life. Incidentally, she has supported Leeds Women's Aid since 2000, far ahead of her time both politically and personally. Mel B really is the example of how abuse can happen to the strongest, most successful, powerful and brilliant women - and even those with the resources to seemingly leave.

But, I don’t want to end on a sad note. I loved that she had all the girls (minus Geri) at her first daughter's birth, that she was proposed to with a thumb ring (lol!) and mentions the occasion of getting her tongue pierced no less than three times! This memoir really encapsulates all the highs and lows of being in a 90’s girl band, and oh how they had a wicked time as ambitious, gutsy women who seized the greatest opportunities in life and embodied the term GIRL POWER.

I’m going to dive straight into her second memoir - one which was released shortly after it was made public that her second husband had been mentally, physically and financially abusive to her. I think she includes some extracts of her upbringing and time in the band, though it is considerably shorter so not the main focus. It will be interesting to see what makes the cut, if any direct references are repeated or if any memories have changed over time.

[Better · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for Spice Girls fans! Unlike Mel B's 2018 book "Brutally Honest" (which is maybe 10-20% spice-related content, if that) this here book "Catch A Fire" was ALL about the origin of the Spice Girls, and TONS of background information! I'd estimate this book was around 80-90% spice-related content. Highly recommended!