Mel B

Melanie Janine Brown (born 29 May 1975), also known as Mel B or Scary Spice, is a British pop and R&B singer-songwriter, actress, author and television presenter who gained popularity as a member of The Spice Girls. She is currently a judge on the Australian version of The X Factor and is also the current co-host of the Australian version of Dancing with the Stars. Brown was born in Harehills, Leeds, England, to an English mother, Andrea, and a black Nevisian father, Martin, and grew up in Burley, Leeds, West Yorkshire. She has a younger sister named Danielle who is an actress. She studied performing arts at Intake High School, in Leeds, before entering the entertainment industry. For a time, she worked as a dancer in the holiday resort, Blackpool, Lancashire. After seeing an advertisement for an audition in a newspaper, Brown started her music career in a band known as Touch. The group left the original management team and eventually teamed up with music manager Simon Fuller. In this pairing, she and the other girls became known as the Spice Girls. Brown, along with Melanie Chisholm, Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, and Victoria Adams responded to an advertisement in The Stage trade