melanie c - Open Air Gampel Wallis

BIOGRAPHY
MELANIE C
'It's me on a plate, pretty much'. This is how Melanie Chisholm describes the content of ‘Reason’, her
second solo project, and follow-up to 1999's much loved and multi-platinum debut, ‘Northern Star’.
And what a gourmet feast she represents. With her vocals displaying a new warmth and maturity, and
her songwriting yet more boldly assured and energetic than before, she is set to turn any remaining
preconceptions about her upside down. This is not the work of a manufactured pop puppet, but that of
a richly gifted and imaginative artist. In both personal and artistic terms, ‘Reason’ is a joy and triumph
and a giant step forwards.
You didn't have to be an avid Spice-watcher to know that, with ‘Northern Star’, Melanie fared far better
commercially and critically than did her former colleagues with their own first individual projects.
Which was very nice, she admits, but something of an irrelevance. 'I've never felt that I was in
competition with the other girls. I think any one of them would tell you that, during the time we were in
the band, I was the one who was most serious about her music, and the most driven.'
She had rushed headlong into the writing and recording of that album, immediately after the mutual
decision had been made to call a halt to what had been the biggest global pop phenomenon of the
1990s. 'It was an amazing, amazing ride', she says now. 'I can't say I enjoyed every minute of it. I
can't say I loved every song we did.
But it was just an out-of-this-world experience, something
incredible to have been a part of.' That said, being one of five, then one of four, had meant learning to
live with compromise and frustration, most especially in musical terms. No wonder, then, that she
couldn't wait to start expressing her solo self.
'I went straight into ‘Northern Star’ off the back of the Spice Girls final tour, which may have been a bit
of a mistake. But the fact is I couldn't help myself. I was just so excited by the freedom of it all. And
to find that so many great people wanted to work with me …. I just went crazy…Mental.
“I so loved the whole process of making a record that was all about me and my tastes, and which
didn't have to be put together by committee.' That sense of excitement and self-expression permeated
all 12 of ‘Northern Star's’ tracks. But how would it be received? Having enjoyed Top Three success
the previous year as featured vocalist on the Bryan Adams hit ‘When You're Gone’, Melanie now
prepared to stand alone.
To their great credit, British consumers proved happy and willing to look, listen, and quickly put away
all received notions of who or what Sporty Spice represented. Acceptance of the new, lone Melanie
was such that a first single, ‘Goin' Down’, debuted at Number Four in October of 99, and the album's
title track replicated that achievement in the crowded Christmas chart two months later. But it was
‘Never Be The Same Again’, written with a team that included the late Lisa Left Eye Lopes, which
would fully break ‘Northern Star’ in April of 2000. In doing so, it gave Melanie her first solo Number
One single. ‘I Turn To You’ would give her a second, four months later.
In preparing for that album's release, she had made it clear to company executives that she didn't
intend to promote it merely by flying from one territory to the next, schmoozing a room full of sales and
media personnel, and then miming to a track for three minutes. True to her word, then, and with
former Spice drummer Fergus Gerrand as her musical director, she set about putting together the
band that would tour with her for two full years, thus notching up a total of 124 gigs and festival
performances - more than the Girls achieved in their entire career. Returning home to London finally in
September of last year, Melanie intended to take time out to breathe, to just allow herself to live a life
not possible. The singer and composer within her wouldn't switch off. Two months later, she was
back in the studio, and the fruits of a writing and recording marathon that zigzagged back and forth
between London and Los Angeles are now ready for us to enjoy. ‘Reason’ is, save for one exception,
an album of wholly original material.
This time round, Melanie's songwriting collaborators include such stellar names as Rick Nowels,
Gregg Alexander, Tore Johansson, Rhett Lawrence and Phil Thornalley. Rick, Gregg, Tore and Rhett
also take production credits, along with Marius de Vries, Peter Vettese, Pat McCarthy, Damien Le
Gassick and Gary Clark. The first single, written with Marius and former Blow Monkey Dr Robert
Howard, is the insidious and irresistible ‘Here It Comes Again’.
It's the aperitif to an album that is uplifting, insightful, exciting, energetic and reflective, all at one and
the same time. How true a portrait does it provide of its maker, meanwhile? Melanie thinks for a
moment or two, and then smiles. 'I think it offers up a pretty accurate reflection of who I am and where
I'm at now. It's generally positive, which is the way I'm trying to go these days. It says I've found
myself in what is generally a good place, but that I still have my moments of darkness and insecurity as, I think, everyone does'.
'In that sense, I hope people will be able to identify with it and hence with me. In summary, and as I
said at the outset, it's pretty much me on a plate. Oh, and could I just say that I'm very, very excited
by and proud of it? I could? Well, thank you very much!'
MELANIE C
Reifer geworden
Drei Jahre nach ihrem Platinseller "Northern Star" meldet sich ex-Sporty Spice Melanie C
eindrucksvoll mit "Reason" zurück. Reifer ist die Frau aus Liverpool geworden, eigenständiger klingen
denn auch die Songs, die sie locker aus dem Aermel zu schütteln scheint. Angefangen von der
lustbetonten Vorabsingle "Here It Comes Again" bis hin zur intimen Ballade "Soul Boy". Co-Autoren
wie Rick Nowels, Gregg Alexander, Tore Johansson oder Phil Thornalley sorgen dabei für gewohnte
Qualität. Wer hinter "Northern Star" eine einmalige Erfolgsstory vermutete, wird rasch eines Besseren
belehrt: "Reason" ist eine aussergewöhnliche Popplatte, auf der Melanie C die ganze Palette ihres
Könnens ausbreitet.
Nach 124 Konzerten und zahlreichen Festivalauftritten hätte sich Melanie C eigentlich eine
grosszügige Auszeit gönnen dürfen. So viele Konzerte hatten die Spice Girls während ihrer ganzen
Karriere nicht gegeben. Doch die am 12. Januar 1974 in Liverpool geborene Melanie Jayne Chisholm,
die eine ganze Girlie-Generation nur als Sporty Spice kannte, dachte gar nicht daran, sich ein paar
erholsame Monate des fröhlichen Nichtstuns zu gönnen. Da war zu viele kreative Energie vorhanden,
die im Energiebündel Melanie C schlummerte. Keine zwei Monate waren vergangen, als die sportliche
Frau wieder ins Studio ging, um an Songs zu arbeiten. In der Folge jettete Melanie C zwischen
London und Los Angeles, um mit einer illustren Co-Autorenschar an Songs zu basteln, die jetzt
endlich das Licht der Popwelt erblicken. Rick Nowells und ex-New Radical Gregg Alexander gehören
ebenso dazu wie das skandinavische Talent Tore Johansson, Phil Thornalley oder ex-Blow Monkey
Dr. Robert Howard, der zusammen mit Melanie C die erste Single, das dezent rockige "Here It Comes
Again"", geschrieben hat.
""Reason", das bin vor allem ich auf einem Serviertablett." So beschreibt Melanie C den Inhalt von
"Reason" ihrem zweiten Solo-Projekt, das auf das 99er Debüt "Northern Star" folgt. Drei Jahre Pause
klingen nach einer langen Pause. Aber die Nachfrage nach einer Live-Präsentation von "Northern
Star" war derart gross, dass Melanie Chisholm die ganze Welt bereiste, um für "Northern Star" live die
Werbetrommel zu rühren. "Ich machte meiner Plattenfirma von Anfang an klar, dass ich nur via
Konzerte Werbung machen wollte. Auf einen Interviewmarathon und ein paar ausgesuchte ShowKonzerte für Leute aus dem Musikbusiness hatte ich keine Lust", erklärt Melanie C. Zum Erfolg von
Tour und Album trugen nicht nur die rockige Einstiegssingle "Going Down" bei, die Melanie C den
Uebernamen "Indie Spice" eintrug, sondern auch die poppigeren Chartbreaker "Never Be The Same
Again" und "I Turn To You".
Auf dem Serviertablett namens "Reason" präsentiert uns Melanie C einen Festschmaus der ganz
besonderen Art, der deutlicher als zuletzt ihre Handschrift trägt. Pop in allen Schattierungen ist auf
"Reason" zu hören, mal mit einer Bläsersektion partymässig getrimmt ("On The Horizon"), mal dezent
rockig ( "Here It Comes Again"), frech und spritzig ("Yeh, Yeh, Yeh") oder besinnlich und intim ("Soul
Boy"). Melanie Cs Songs sind deutlich reifer und eigenständiger geworden, persönlicher auch. Mit
anderen Worten: "Reason" ist ein gigantischer Schritt nach vorne. Hier ist keine industriell gefertigte
Poppuppe am Werk, sondern eine reich an Talenten gesegnete Künstlerin, die weiss, was sie will.
(3/03)