Girl power is back: Spice Girls to reunite

BRITAIN: British pop group the Spice Girls, who made “girl power” a buzzword for a whole generation of teenagers, are getting back together for a one-off world tour.

The 1990s all-female band, one of the most successful acts in pop music history, said Thursday they will play 11 dates on six continents in December 2007 and January 2008.

Victoria Beckham, Geri Halliwell, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm and Emma Bunton appeared together at a press conference in London to break the news, a move pre-empted by an announcement on their website.

“We wanted to say thank you to our fans. It just feels very right for us,” said Chisholm.

Beckham, wife of former England football captain David Beckham, said there would be a “huge creche” provided to accomodate the seven children the women will have produced by then.

“Our priority is going to be our families. We want to have fun. That’s one of the many reasons for this, for our children to see what we used to do,” she said.

She added that her husband, whose fame has eclipsed her own in recent years, would be joining her and their children on tour, adding: “I’m going to be the cool one in the family for once!”

“Posh”, “Ginger”, “Scary”, “Sporty” and “Baby”, as the thirtysomething multi-millionairesses were known, stressed they would not be reuniting for good.

Nor would they be performing at Sunday’s memorial concert for the late princess Diana in London because Bunton is about to give birth.The first stop on the tour is Los Angeles on December 7.

It will then go to Las Vegas, New York, London, Cologne, Madrid, Beijing, Hong Kong, Sydney and Cape Town before ending at Buenos Aires on January 24, 2008.

London, Friday, AFP