'Spice Girls' member Mel C reveals interesting story behind nicknames

Mel C has shared the real story behind the selection of nicknames of her band members.

In a new chat with PEOPLE Magazine, Melanie “Mel C” Chisholm looked back on how the Spice Girls’ iconic nicknames came to be as the group worked to establish themselves in the early days of their career.

For those unversed, the singer shared that when the group of Chisholm, Geri Halliwell, Melanie “Mel B” Brown, Victoria Beckham and Emma Bunton began gaining traction, they were encouraged to adopt nicknames to help shape their public image.

Reflecting on that time, Mel C recalled the importance of Top of the Pops, calling it “an iconic British music show” and adding, “It's the show we all grew up watching, like longing to be on it.”

She went on to explain that the idea came from the show's editor. 

“Now, the editor of this, a guy called Peter Loraine, he said, ‘You girls, you need nicknames,’” she shared. 

It is noteworthy that the Spice Girls first formed back in 1994.

“So we came up with all these crazy nicknames to launch, but he came up with these names… you know the names, right?” she continued.

 “It was just a silly article, these little pots of spice with our nicknames — Scary, Baby, Posh, Ginger, Sporty.”

Chisholm added that the nicknames quickly took on a life of their own as the Spice Girls’ fame exploded worldwide even though the group initially viewed the labels as a “throwaway thing.”

“We laughed at it,” Chisholm said. 

“But when we came here, to the U.S., everybody kept calling us by these nicknames, and it just kind of stuck. And we loved it. We just really embraced it, and we became caricatures of ourselves.”