30 January 2013

On February 17th Melanie will appear at the WhatsOnStage.com awards at the Palace Theatre in London. During the show Melanie will perform in a section honouring 'Jesus Christ Superstar', singing the Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice classic 'I Don't Know How to Love Him'. Melanie is nominated for the best supporting actress award, so if you haven't done so yet make sure you vote for Melanie, Tim Minchin & 'Jesus Christ Superstar' by clicking here. Voting closes tomorrow!

Tickets for the award show are now available here.

22 January 2013

Dara O'Briain, Jack Dee, Chelsee Healey, Greg James & Melanie announced today that they're bravely taking on the BT Red Nose Challenge: Hell and High Water - a five day ordeal which will see them attempt to travel under their own steam down Africa's mighty Zambezi river and raise as much money as possible for Red Nose Day.

Dara O'Briain, Chelsee Healey, Jack Dee, Melanie & Greg James

The five strong team will push themselves to the limit as they travel 111km down the deadly Zambezi river, battling torrential downpours and negotiating rapids officially known as 'Gnashing Jaws of Death', 'The Washing Machine' and 'Oblivion' as they make their way beyond the world's largest waterfall – Victoria Falls. Along the way they're likely to encounter some of the world's most dangerous and frightening creatures, like crocodiles, lethal snakes and one of the most deadly – hippos! By night the group will be camping on treacherous cliff tops and damp, soggy riverbanks.

The 111km long route down the Zambezi river

The team are putting themselves through hell and high water in the hope of raising £1 million to help children in Zambia go to school. This could pay for life-changing education for thousands of vulnerable girls, for whom it means an escape from poverty and safety from child marriage and pregnancy. Any extra money raised will help those living unimaginably tough lives across the UK and the rest of Africa.

To help Melanie and the others raise stacks of cash, sponsor them now at rednoseday.com/zambezi Tune in to BBC on Friday 15th March to watch highlights of this very special challenge. If you want to know more about Melanie's upcoming trip to Zambia, listen to 'Steve Wright In The Afternoon' on BBC Radio 2 today and watch 'The Alan Titchmarsh Show' on ITV on Thursday as Melanie will be discussing taking part in the BT Red Nose Challenge: Hell and High Water.

09 January 2013

Make sure you tune in to BBC Two / BBC HD next Tuesday (January 15th) as Melanie will appear on 'The Sarah Millican Television Programme'.

UPDATE: You can now watch the full interview below:

Having trouble playing this video? Click here.

08 January 2013

Thank you to everyone for your continued support on our Charity Calendar project. The 2013 edition proved as popular as ever and now we only have 5 copies left - and they've been signed by Melanie, no less!

Our chosen charities this year are The Lowe Syndrome Trust and The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. Printed on high-gloss and UV printed film card, not only are you getting a piece of exclusive memorabilia but as signed copies are limited to just 5, these are pure limited editions.

Please follow the link below to place your bid, the auction will end in 7 days so don't miss out on this special version of the Charity Calendar 2013 and raise money for two worthy causes in the process. Thank you.

Auction link: http://tinyurl.com/adgsotr

30 December 2012

What a year it has been for Melanie - A Spice Girl reunion at the Olympics as well as the launch of 'Viva Forever!' the musical, a new live DVD, tour, album and dance EP, playing Mary in 'Jesus Christ Superstar' and of course that very special Christmas number 1. If you missed anything or simply want to look back at Melanie's highlights of 2012 here's an overview of what happened and the best videos of the year:

At the beginning of the year we announced the release of the DVD 'The Sea Live'. The release featured 17 fantastic live tracks, filmed during Melanie's 2011 tour, as well as a brand new, previously unheard studio track called 'Too Soon'. Despite the DVD now being sold out, you can still watch the full show on YouTube and listen to 'Too Soon'. After a successful live tour in the UK, Germany, Austria and Switzerland in December 2011, Melanie went back on the road in February and performed nine shows in the UK and Ireland. Melanie and the band treated the audiences to a fantastic show including live renditions of fan favourites 'Burn', 'Fragile' and 'Too Soon'. Later in the year Melanie also performed at several German festivals, the Isle of Wight Festival, in Abu Dhabi and at London's Shepherds Bush Empire.

In March, Melanie joined Andrew Lloyd Webber in a search to find the new 'Jesus Christ Superstar' as part of the ITV1 show 'Superstar'. ITV's search to find the new male lead of the musical also resulted in finding someone very special to play Jesus' female counterpart Mary Magdalene... Melanie joined the cast of 'Jesus Christ Superstar' to play the role of Mary during its UK and Ireland tour and wowed audiences with her heartfelt performance of 'I Don't Know How To Love Him' during the 'Superstar' finale. Following the 2012 UK & Ireland arena tour which was seen by over 150,000 people, 'Jesus Christ Superstar' is now nominated for five WhatsOnStage.com Awards, including 'Best Supporting Actress in a Musical' for Melanie's portrayal of Mary. To vote for 'Jesus Christ Superstar' click here.

When Melanie and DJ Jodie Harsh met at a children's birthday party a few years ago no-one would've thought the two would be recording a selection of dance tracks together. 'The Night', a three track dance EP featuring 'Set You Free', 'Sunrise' and 'Walk Away' was released on iTunes in May.

September saw the release of Melanie's sixth album 'Stages'. The record, produced by long time collaborator Peter-John Vettese, features a collection of songs from the theatre that have been important to Melanie at various stages of her life such as 'Another Hundred People', 'I Don't Know How To Love Him' and 'Tell Me It's Not True' from 'Blood Brothers'. If you haven't done so yet, you can listen to the twelve tracks here and watch the 16-minute long Electronic Press Kit of the album on YouTube.

A very special track on the album is Melanie's version of the 'Chess' classic 'I Know Him So Well', which Melanie recorded together with fellow Spice Girl Emma Bunton. Sporty and Baby released the song as a single in November and performed the track on various TV shows as well as at Melanie's show at London's Shepherds Bush Empire.

But 'I Know Him So Well' wasn't the only Spice-related reunion of 2012. We can all vividly remember when those 5 black, yet colourful, cabs drove into the Olympic Stadium during the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics back in August. It was the performance that people from all over the world talked about the next day and the girls reminded everyone once again what girl power stands for. Earlier this month the girls reunited once again to launch the new Spice Girls musical 'Viva Forever!' at the Piccadilly Theatre in London. But that wasn't all, Spice Girls fans could also enjoy a special documentary on the girls and the musical on ITV1 on Christmas eve. To watch 'The Spice Girls Story: Viva Forever!' on YouTube click here.

December also saw the release of 'He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother', the Hillsborough tribute single by The Justice Collective, which featured a stellar line-up of artists including Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams, Rebecca Ferguson and Melanie. The track sold 270,000 copies in its first week and achieved the coveted Christmas Number One in the charts, which means Melanie is now part of 12 UK Number One singles and 4 UK Christmas Number One singles.

After a tremendous 2012 it'll be interesting to see what 2013 will bring. One thing is for sure, a lot of people will have the chance to see Melanie in 'Jesus Christ Superstar' as the rock musical will be hitting the road again from March onwards - see www.jesuschristsuperstar.com for more info! Whatever else 2013 will bring we hope it'll be a great year for everyone and we would like to wish you all a happy new year and thank you for your continued support!