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Victoria Beckham
Background information
Birth name Victoria Caroline Adams
Also known as Posh Spice
Born April 17, 1974 (1974-04-17) (age 33)
Origin Goff's Oak, Hertfordshire, England
Genre(s) Pop
Occupation(s) Singer, Fashion designer
Label(s) Virgin, 19 Entertainment, Telstar
Associated
acts Spice Girls
Victoria Beckham (née Adams), (born April 17, 1974 in Harlow, Essex,
England) is an English singer, songwriter, fashion designer and television
personality. Beckham is part of the successful pop group Spice Girls, and
was dubbed 'Posh Spice' as part of the pop group. Since the Spice Girls
followed separate careers, Beckham has released four UK Top 10 singles.
Her fashion style has made her a well-known style icon and has listed her
among the "best dressed ladies." She is also known for being married to
British soccer player David Beckham. Her career and marriage to David
Beckham have made her both the fifty-second richest woman in Britain[1] and
the six hundred and nineteenth richest person in Britain with husband David,
with an estimated joint wealth of £112 million.[2]
Music career
Spice Girls
Victoria Beckham (then Adams) joined the all-girl band Spice Girls, first
called "Touch," in 1994, together with Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, Melanie
Brown and Melanie Chisholm. The group's first single, "Wannabe," went to
number one in the UK and the U.S., and would be followed by eight other
hugely successful number one singles from their albums "Spice" and "Spiceworld."
Each member of the group received a nickname from the media: Victoria became
"Posh Spice," so called because of her regal and composed attitude, deadpan
facial expressions and much elegant pointing towards the camera, and a
penchant for short black Gucci dresses and high heels. The group would
become one of the most successful acts of the 1990s, selling in excess of
fifty-five million records worldwide.[3] After the release of their third
album, "Forever," which was much less successful than their previous two
albums, the Spice Girls stopped recording, and Victoria would eventually
take steps toward a solo career.
In 2007, the Spice Girls confirmed that they have reformed and are due to go
on tour.[3] Just a year earlier on February 26, 2006, Victoria Beckham
stated in an interview with the Sunday Mirror: "I'm never going to sing
again, unless it was a chance to do something with the Spice Girls. I don't
really miss the shows we did together. I miss the girls more. I see Geri a
lot — I love her, she's amazing. I speak to the others from time to time. I
love them too and miss them." Beckham also declared that she and her former
Spice colleagues were enjoying their solo careers in various fields. She
said: "We're all still doing our own thing."[4]
Virgin Records
In August 2000, Victoria released her first solo single: "Out Of Your Mind",
a collaboration with the Garage act the Truesteppers and Dane Bowers. The
week of release coincided with the release of "Groovejet (If This Ain't
Love)" by Spiller ft. Sophie Ellis-Bextor, resulting in a chart battle
dubbed 'Posh vs. Posher' by the tabloids.[5] Following a huge publicity
campaign, Out Of Your Mind was outsold by 20,000 copies and debuted at
number two with first week sales of 180,584 copies.
Beckham signed a recording contract with her group label Virgin Records. Her
true debut single as a solo artist, "Not Such An Innocent Girl", was
released in September 2001. Again, she faced competition in another hugely
hyped chart battle, this time with Kylie Minogue's single "Can't Get You Out
Of My Head". Beckham was unlikely to beat Kylie, but she gave the project
huge promotion, and the record had an expensive and futuristic video. In the
week of release, the tabloid newspaper The Sun ran a daily progress chart
covering the chart battle, but they gave up half way through the week when
it was clear the battle was a one horse race. A potential factor
attributable to Beckham's weaker sales could be the due to the media furor
she created after wearing a fake lip ring during a live performance in
Birmingham,[6] an event that also saw her getting booed and pelted with
fruit by a hostile public. She was widely criticised by many groups,
including the British Dental Association, for setting a bad example that her
younger fans may wish to emulate. "Not Such An Innocent Girl" did,
nevertheless, sell respectably in the UK and was a #1 hit in the
Philippines.
Beckham's eponymously titled debut album reached number 10 in the UK album
chart. The album featured the much talked about "Every Part Of Me", a song
co-written by Beckham and dedicated to her son, Brooklyn, who features at
the start, Brooklyn's 'part' allegedly being an off-chance recording which
took place during a recording session break.
The second and final single to be released from the album was "A Mind of Its
Own" The single reached number 6 in the UK and sold 56,500 copies.[7] Some
speculate that due to its not hitting the Top 3, rumours started spreading
that Beckham was soon to be dropped by her label. These were refuted at the
time.[8]
A third single, "I Wish", was promoted but never materialised. The single
version was a remix featuring Robbie Craig, and was performed on TV on
Friday Night's All Wright. Many hoped this single would revitalise the
album's fortunes, but following the announcement of Beckham's second
pregnancy it was shelved, and Beckham was dropped from the label Virgin
Records.[9]
The Telstar / 19 Management era
Telstar Records signed Victoria in 2002 in a deal made with Simon Fuller's
19 Management. She spent much of 2002 recording a 'pop-influenced' album,
but Beckham allegedly shelved it after not being happy with the results.[10]
Instead of pop, Beckham wanted to record tracks with a more RnB and hip hop
influence, and to accomplish this she began working with urban producer
Damon Dash. There were some unsubstantiated rumours regarding both Dash and
Beckham at the time. These plans reportedly worried Telstar and Simon
Fuller, but they compromised with Beckham, allowing her to release a Dash
produced track ("This Groove") along-side one of her earlier pop tracks
("Let Your Head Go") from the shelved album.
The resulting double A-side single "Let Your Head Go / This Groove" was
released in the UK in late-December 2003, following heavy promotion and many
TV appearances across the Christmas period. The single charted well at #3.
This double A-side remains Victoria's last single release to date.
As another compromise, Telstar allowed Beckham to release some of her urban
tracks on "The Real Beckhams" DVD. This 2003 documentary was released in
January 2004, and bonus material included the videos for "Let Your Head Go"
and "This Groove", as well as four previously unreleased tracks:
"Resentment", "That Dude", "Me And You This Time" and "Valentine" (none of
the songs had a writing credit from Beckham). "Resentment" has since been
covered by Beyoncé Knowles and released on her solo album 'B'Day' ("2006").
Outside of the UK, Damon Dash had plans for Beckham in the United States,
including a potential release of "Let Your Head Go / This Groove" under the
name of "Posh Spice Victoria Beckham". The release was proposed for sometime
between March to May 2004, but never occurred.[11] A Dash produced track
It's That Simple featuring M.O.P. was promoed to vinyl, and received a
premiere on BBC urban music radio station 1Xtra. This only generated further
criticism, with the feeling being that Beckham was a far from convincing
urban act.[12] Around this time, a 90-second snippet of a track called "Come
Together" was released to the media, which was notable for sampling the
Beatles' song of the same name.
With the UK media describing her music career a failure, and combined with a
rumored fall out between Dash and Fuller, remaining plans for Victoria's
music career were canceled.[13] To try and salvage her music career, Beckham
again began work on pop-styled tracks in 2004. It is known that she recorded
a track she had written with Cathy Dennis entitled "My Love Is For Real"
(not to be confused with the Paula Abdul song of the same name). With the
collapse of Telstar Records, the pressure to stay with her family caused by
the Rebecca Loos scandal, and the announcement of Beckham's third pregnancy,
this song has never been heard, except for a remix by Armand van Helden.
Fashion career
In 2000, Victoria Beckham made a guest appearance on the catwalk for Maria
Grachvogel.[14] Beckham has also appeared on the runway for her close friend
Roberto Cavalli and was for a period exclusively dressed by him for
red-carpet and social events.
In 2004, Beckham designed a fashion line for Rock and Republic called 'VB
Rocks,' consisting mainly of jeans for the high end of the market (retailing
at approximately $300 in the U.S.). She has also worked on a range of
women's clothes including shirts and skirts. The clothing features a logo of
a crown with the letters "VB". In September 2006, Beckham stopped working
with Rock and Republic to launch her own jeans label. The new line of
Beckham's jeans collection is called DVB Style.[15]
Beckham was briefly the face of Rocawear, and has for or a number of years
produced a range of handbags and jewellery in association with the Japanese
store Samantha Thavasa. In July 2006, Victoria Beckham released a line of
sunglasses (which she had been seen wearing at the World Cup games). In
September 2006 'Intimately Beckham', a his-and-her fragrance line in
association with Coty the world's largest fragrance house was launched.
Around the same time Beckham launched her new official website which follows
her fashion work.
In June 2007 Beckham was a judge at London's annual Graduate Fashion Week
alongside Zandra Rhodes.
On June 5, 2007, she won in two Glamour Magazine Awards: one for "Woman of
the Year" and another for "Entrepreneur of the Year," which celebrated her
fashion achievements.
On June 14, 2007 Beckham launched her dVb denim collection in NYC at the
high-end Saks Fifth Avenue, along with unveiling her sunglass range in the
US for the first time.
Books
Her autobiography, entitled Learning to Fly,[16] (the title was taken from a
line in a song from the musical Fame, which Victoria adored as a child). The
book was the 3rd best selling non-fiction title of 2001 and the total UK
sales stand at more than 500,000 copies.[17]
Beckham is widely believed to have told a Spanish journalist in 2005 that
"I've never read a book in my life".[18] Although often used to criticise
and ridicule Victoria, this 'quote' was actually a mistranslation from the
original Spanish in which the interview was printed - she actually stated
she never had time to finish reading a book because she was always running
around after her children.[19]
Her second book, a fashion book titled That Extra Half an Inch: Hair, Heels
and Everything In Between,[20] was published on October 30, 2006. It was
co-written by Hadley Freeman, deputy fashion editor of The Guardian and a
contributing editor of Vogue and includes photography by Mario Testino,
Annie Leibovitz and Steven Meisel. On the Sunday Times Book Charts, the book
stood at #2.
Television
Over the course of her career, Beckham has shot five official reality
documentaries.
The first of which, entitled Being Victoria Beckham, focused on Beckham
discussing her career as a solo artist, with the release of her first album,
also showing her at various photo shoots and recording sessions. The second,
The Real Beckhams, focussed on the Beckhams' move to Madrid from London
after David was signed to Real Madrid. It also featured Beckham re-launching
her solo career and showed her mocking the tabloid stories she reads in the
paper every day. This particular special was released on DVD.
The third was called Full Length & Fabulous: The Beckhams' World Cup Party,
which followed Victoria and David Beckham organising and making preparations
to host a World Cup Party at a marquee in the grounds of their mansion in
Hertfordshire, which aimed to raise money for their charity. The documentary
also filmed the event itself, where the menu was designed especially by
friend and chef Gordon Ramsay and the charity auction was hosted by Graham
Norton. The fourth being titled Victoria's Secrets is rare and much sought
after by fans, little detail is known about it aside from it being aired
only in the U.K.
To document Victoria Beckham's preparations for her family's move to
America, she signed a deal with NBC for six episodes of a half-hour
unscripted reality tv series. The show is called Victoria Beckham: Coming to
America and aired on Monday July 16, 2007 in America and Canada. The show
was savaged by the American media and critics, where amongst other reviews,
The New York Post described the show as "an orgy of self-indulgence"[21] and
also described Beckham as "vapid and condescending".[22] It became the third
most watched programme in its time-slot and received viewing figures of 4.9
million in America, beaten by a repeat of Wife Swap and two sitcoms.[23]
Despite the originally planned six episodes, the show was cut to a one hour
special only.[24] The programme aired in Britain on July 17, 2007 on ITV
with 3.5 million viewers tuning in.[25] The programme was produced by Simon
Fuller who will be managing her and the Spice Girls on their come back tour,
which will begin as early as November of 2007.[26] Despite a TV show in the
works, Victoria has denied plans to embark upon an LA movie career.[27]
Personal life
Victoria Adams was born in in Harlow, Essex on 17 April 1974.[citation
needed] Her parents are Anthony William and Jacqueline Adams. She has a
younger sister, Louise, and a younger brother, Christian. She attended Jason
Theatre School in Hoddesdon. At 17, she started going to the Laine Arts
Theatre College in Epsom, Surrey. Beckham later enjoyed huge success as
'Posh Spice' in the girl band, The Spice Girls. Victoria started dating
footballer David Beckham in 1997, and the couple were dubbed "Posh and Becks"
by the media. Beckham proposed to Victoria on 24 January 1998 in a
restaurant in Cheshunt, England, and their first son, Brooklyn Joseph, was
born on 4 March 1999. The two were married at Luttrellstown Castle, Ireland
on 4 July 1999, and the wedding attracted tremendous media coverage.
Beckham's teammate Gary Neville was the best man, and the couple's son
Brooklyn, then four months old, was the ring bearer. The media were kept
away from the ceremony, as the Beckhams had an exclusive deal with OK!
Magazine, but newspapers were still able to obtain photographs showing them
sitting on golden thrones.[28] 437 staff were employed for the wedding
reception, which was estimated to have cost £500,000.[29] The Beckhams'
second son, Romeo James, was born on 1 September 2002; a third son, Cruz
David, followed on February 20, 2005 in Madrid, Spain.[30] The Beckhams are
also known for their close friendship with Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.
After many preparations, Victoria and David Beckham moved to Los Angeles
where David has been signed to play for the LA Galaxy soccer team. On
arrival in America on July 13, 2007, the couple were met by hundreds of
paparazzi and media representatives, causing a media frenzy. They are now
residing in a $22 million Beverly Hills mansion with 10 security guards. To
create publicity for their move to America, the couple were photographed in
their underwear for the fashion magazine, W. In an interview for the
magazine, Victoria Beckham said that David's alleged affair with Rebecca
Loos made their relationship stronger.[31]
Discography
Albums
* 2001 Victoria Beckham #10 UK
Singles
Year Single Album Chart positions Audio
UK IRE AUS SPA
2000 "Out of Your Mind" (Truesteppers & Dane Bowers Featuring Victoria
Beckham) "Truestepping" (Trusteppers album) 2 -- 27 4 . (help·info)
2001 "Not Such An Innocent Girl" Victoria Beckham 6 -- 36 15 . (help·info)
2002 "A Mind of Its Own" 6 -- -- 32 . (help·info)
2004 "This Groove"/"Let Your Head Go" 3 17 -- -- . (help·info)
. (help·info)
References
1. ^ Women's rich list - Victoria Beckham. The Times. Retrieved 2007-07-15.
2. ^ Britain's rich list - David and Victoria Beckham. The Times. Retrieved
2007-07-05.
3. ^ a b Spice Girls announce reunion tour. BBC News. 2007-07-13.
4. ^ Victoria Beckham Confident In Spice Girls' Reunion. Softpedia
(2005-08-05).
5. ^ Here One She Made Earlier.... Dooyoo.
6. ^ Posh lip ring was 'fake'. BBC (2001-08-28).
7. ^ Victoria Beckham - A Mind Of Its Own. foreverspice.com.
8. ^ Beckham: 'I'm staying with label. BBC (2002-02-17).
9. ^ Posh parts with label. BBC (2002-06-05).
10. ^ Victoria Beckham's scrapped album leaked. Female First (2006-09-08).
11. ^ MTV News Round-Up 25/05/2004. MTV (2004-05-25).
12. ^ 1Xtra celebrates birthday presence. BBC (2003-08-16).
13. ^ Damon Dash used Victoria Beckham. Female First.
14. ^ Victoria is Scary Spice on catwalk. Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved on
2007-04-24
15. ^ Victoria Beckham will launch her own denim label. Designer Pai-Nai
(2007-01-16).
16. ^ Learning to Fly. Amazon.co.uk.
17. ^ Tough-love diet book in the spotlight after plug from Victoria
Beckham. The Independent. Retrieved 2007-07-15.
18. ^ I've never read a book in my life, admits Victoria Beckham. The
Independent. Retrieved on 2007-04-24
19. ^ Beckham Reads First Chapter SFGate.com Retrieved on 2007-04-24
20. ^ That Extra Half an Inch: Hair, Heels and Everything In Between.
Amazon.co.uk.
21. ^ Posh doc gets mauling in US. Broadcast Now. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
22. ^ Victoria Beckham show ripped, barely watched. CNN. Retrieved
2007-07-18.
23. ^ Victoria Beckham show ripped, barely watched. CNN. Retrieved
2007-07-18.
24. ^ Beckham Special Spices up NBC on Mon. Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved
2007-07-18.
25. ^ Posh doc gets an unglamorous 3.5m. Broadcast Now. Retrieved
2007-07-18.
26. ^ Victoria Beckham to Star in NBC Reality Show. People.com. Retrieved on
2007-04-24
27. ^ Victoria Beckham Says No Plans for LA Movie Career. ABC.com. Retrieved
July 16, 2007.
28. ^ Sun pips OK! to Posh wedding photos. BBC News, 6 July 1999. Retrieved
on 25 May 2006.
29. ^ Wedded spice. BBC News, 5 July 1999. Retrieved on 2 December 2005.
30. ^ David, Victoria Beckham Have a Third Son. People.
31. ^ Beckham-mania! Posh and David take the US by storm. Daily Mail.
Retrieved 2007-07-13
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