Emma Lee Bunton (born 21 January 1976) is an English pop singer, songwriter, and occasional actress. Bunton is best known for being a member of the successful ’90s girl group, the Spice Girls, in which she was known as “Baby Spice” as she was the youngest member and often wore revealing “babydoll” dresses.

Early life

Bunton was born in Finchley, raised a Catholic, and grew up in Woodside Park, both in the London borough of Barnet.[[1]] Her parents, Pauline, a karate instructor, and Trevor, a milkman, split up when she was eleven; she stayed with her mother. She has a younger brother, Paul James. Bunton started off at St. Theresa’s Primary School in Church End Finchley. Then Bunton went to the Sylvia Young Theatre School in Marylebone; in 1993 she appeared in the ITV1 police series The Bill and also auditioned (although unsuccessfully) for the role of Bianca (played by Patsy Palmer) in the BBC soap EastEnders; she had previously appeared briefly in the soap in 1992, as a mugger who attacked the character Jules Tavernier, played by Tommy Eytle.

Music career

Spice Girls (1994-2001)

She joined the Spice Girls (then still called Touch) in 1994 after the original fifth Touch member, Michelle Stephenson left the group. The group became one of the most successful musical acts of the 1990s, selling 35 million albums with studio releases Spice in 1996, Spiceworld in 1997, and Forever in 2000. She was known as Baby Spice because she often wore baby doll dresses and her blonde hair in pigtails. Their debut single “Wannabe” became the first of a string of number ones in the United Kingdom (nine in total) and reached the top position in thirty seven countries around the globe. As a songwriter, Bunton - as part of the Spice Girls - set the record for the shortest time to achieve 6 #1 UK singles, taking 1 year 5 months from Wannabe’s first week at #1 to the ascent of Too Much. This outpaced Lennon/McCartney, who took 1 year 6 months (From Me to You through I Feel Fine). In 1999 she presented her own music show Emma on VH1. She had also recorded the song “(Hey You) Free Up Your Mind” for the anime film Pokemon: The First Movie. The Spice Girls stopped recording in 2000; many rumours circulated about a reunion for the group’s tenth anniversary but nothing materialised until June 2007 when they reformed for The Return of the Spice Girls tour and Greatest Hits CD.

Solo career (2001-2007)

Her debut solo album entitled A Girl Like Me spawned the UK number-one hit “What Took You So Long?” as well as the top five hits “What I Am” (a cover of a 1988 song earlier recorded by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians) and “Take My Breath Away” (which has nothing to do with Berlin’s 1986 hit), and the top twenty hit “We’re Not Gonna Sleep Tonight”. The album sold approximately 125,000 copies in the UK. Due to the disappointing sales of the project, Bunton parted with Virgin in 2002.

Bunton’s second album “Free Me” when released (2003/2004) also made the UK top 10. “Free Me” was released through 19/Universal Records. It sold marginally better than her debut and contained four hit singles, “Free Me”, “Maybe”, “I’ll be there” and “Crickets Sing For Anamaria“. After success in the American dance charts the album was also released in North America. The American edition included bonus remixes and a different cover to the UK edition.

In November 2006, Bunton released the official charity single for the BBC Children in Need appeal, recording a cover of Petula Clark’s ’60s classic “Downtown”. It peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart and was followed by her third studio album, Life in Mono, released on 4 December. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number sixty-five, selling approximately 13,000 copies in its first week. To date, it has sold around 48.000 copies in the UK.^{[citation needed]} The second single from it was “All I Need to Know”, released on 12 February 2007, intended for the Valentine’s Day market. Bunton shot the video around Old Street in East London, in the week before Christmas 2006. Entering the UK Singles Chart at number sixty, “All I Need to Know” became Bunton’s lowest-charting single of her solo career.

Spice Girls Reunion (2007-2008)

On June 28, 2007, it was announced that Bunton would be reuniting with the Spice Girls for a world tour and Greatest Hits collection release.

Re-entry into acting

Emma recently posted a blog on her official website saying that she has been offered a lot of roles and has been reading over scripts for a possible acting gig. In the June 17, 2008 edition of Hello! magazine it was claimed Emma was working on a new solo album, but she did not confirm or comment on this. Also in the August 2008 edition of Red Magazine she did not even mention the prospect of a new album, and neither did the interviewer, but she did confirm that she was looking over scripts for a possible acting career.

Television and film

In October 2006, Bunton appeared as one of the celebrity contestants in the autumn 2006 series of the popular BBC programme Strictly Come Dancing and was partnered with professional dancer Darren Bennett. Despite being the bookies’ favourite, she finished in third place, and was the final female contestant to be eliminated. It has been revealed that Dannii Minogue has asked Emma to appear on the X Factor as of 27 September, 2008, as part of Dannii Minogue’s team, to help choose Dannii the three acts from the over-25’s section to go through to the final. Emma will also be co-hosting ITV’s For one night only on 28 September, 2008.

Performance

She has also appeared in other roles in recent years, most notably in the fifth and final season of Absolutely Fabulous playing herself in two episodes.^[4][5] She has also guest-presented the television programmes, T4 and hosted her own show Emma for VH1. In August 2006, former Spice Girls’ manager Simon Fuller announced that he was planning a television sitcom based around Bunton.

In 2005, Bunton filmed guest roles in two Bollywood films: Pyaar Mein Twist and Chocolate: Deep Dark Secrets.

Bunton has been seen in a high-profile television commercial for the supermarket chain Tesco. She also had a cameo role on the Australian soap opera Neighbours as herself on the episode titled “What’s a Spice Girl Like You…?“, aired on March 19, 2007 in Australia, and on May 25, 2007 in the UK. Bunton returned to US screens with a nationwide commercial for Prego in May 2007.

In July 2008 Bunton stood in as co-presenter alongside Richard Madeley on the UK television show Richard & Judy while Judy Finnigan was recovering from a knee operation.

She is planning on making a return to acting as stated on her blog.

In October 2008, Bunton appeared on the UK series of The X Factor to assist judge Dannii Minogue in choosing the three best over-25s acts to take to the live X Factor finals.

Filmography

• Eastenders
• The Norm Show
• Spiceworld The Movie
• Fat Slags
• Absolutely Fabulous
• Pyaar Mein Twist
• Chocolate: Deep Dark Secrets
• Neighbours
• The Pink Panther 2
• Gothem Nights
• Workin Christmas Mornin

Personal life

Bunton has been linked with such stars as actor Nigel Harman, pop singer Justin Timberlake, and 911 lead singer Lee Brennan.

Her boyfriend of ten years is former Damage and current CherryBlackStone lead singer Jade Jones, with whom she currently lives in a house in Hertfordshire. In October, 2006, there were rumours that the couple were engaged, with plans to marry in March 2007. This rumour was denied several days later.

After being diagnosed with endometriosis,a condition which can reduce fertility, Bunton and Jones announced in January, 2007, that they were expecting their first child together.

On August 10, 2007, Bunton gave birth to a 7-lb. 15-oz. baby boy named Beau Lee Jones (according to their official website, “Baby had a baby!”).

In 2008 Emma Bunton became a goodwill ambassador for the world’s largest development NGO, World Vision http://www.worldvision.org.uk

Discography

Albums

Singles

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• Dannii Minogue
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