The Spice Girls are being courted to perform together for the first
time since singer Geri Halliwell walked out in 1998, charity concert
organizers said on Thursday.
Charity Band Aid said it hoped the chart-topping quintet would appear
at a new Live Aid concert, aiming to repeat the success of the 1985 event
which raised over $100 million for African famine relief.
"We are in discussions with the Spice Girls to perform at Live Aid II
if it happens," a Band Aid spokesman said.
Other headlining groups the charity hopes will appear include Britpop
band Oasis and Irish stadium rockers U2.
"We are talking to every act that ever picked up a guitar or sang into
a microphone," the spokesman said.
Details of the concert are due to be announced on Tuesday.
Media reports have said the concert could be held in London's Hyde Park
to coincide with a July summit in Scotland of the Group of Eight leading
industrial nations as a way of pressuring world leaders to act on global
poverty.
The first Live Aid concert was held at Wembley
Stadium in London with a line-up
including U2, Queen, Paul McCartney and David Bowie.
The event was organized by former Boomtown Rats singer Bob Geldof, who
has become a leading advocate for global poverty relief and is behind the
plans for a second concert.
Since the Spice Girls finally split in 2001 its members -- Halliwell,
Victoria Beckham, Mel Chisholm, Mel Brown and Emma Bunton -- have embarked
on solo careers with varying degrees of success.
None has managed to recreate the stardom they enjoyed during the late
1990s when the Spice Girls scored nine number one hits in the UK including
"Wannabe," "Say You'll Be There" and "Spice Up Your Life."
A spokesman for Victoria Beckham declined to comment on the possible
reunion.
But he added that all five band members were in contact with their
former manager Simon Fuller, the creator of the popular television talent
shows "Pop Idol" and "American Idol."
(CNN) |