Selling only 33,803 copies of their third LP Forever in the U.S. during its first week in stores, the Spice Girls are, according to a U.K. paper, calling it quits. Sporty Spice, a.k.a. Melanie Chisholm, told Britain's Daily Record that the quartet's performance on the MTV Europe Music Awards Thursday evening may be their last.

"The last time we will probably all be together on stage is at the MTV Music Awards," she said. "After that, I don't know."

She also announced that the Girls will not be touring behind Forever. "There will be no Spice tour," she said. "Next year I'll be doing a solo tour. Emma [Bunton, Baby Spice] and Victoria [Beckham, Posh Spice] will be releasing their own albums, and Mel [Brown, Scary Spice] will be working on her follow-up album."

Chisholm's statements are just more bad news for the seemingly troubled outfit. Since the departure of Geri Halliwell, who left in 1998 to pursue a solo career, the girls have hit a myriad of problems. Beckham's son Brooklyn was the target of an unsuccessful kidnapping plot. Mel B. found herself immersed in a messy custody dispute and divorce from former Spice dancer Jimmy Gulzar. And more recently Mel C. admitted that she was suffering from depression.

Additionally each of the girls have made successful solo album or single debuts in Britain, which has put strains on the group, according to Chisholm. "We all enjoy our Spice work, but we are having a really hard time at the moment, and we've got to a stage where we just want to be happy. We're not interested in striving to be the best anymore. We've done that and we just want to do the things that will mean something again."

However, according to a Spice Girls spokesperson, claims that the group is on the verge of splitting, are a "non event." The spokeswoman confirmed that no tour is planned because of the Girls' many solo commitments, but says that the group are enjoying working together: "The girls are having one of the best times together they've ever had. The British press are always taking the piss out of the Girls. They do this with All Saints too . . . [The Spice Girls] are happy together and the proof is in the pudding."

JOLIE LASH
(November 17, 2000)