Emma Bunton

"Be sweet and honest always, but for God's sake don't eat my donuts!" -Emma Bunton's personal motto.

biography

Emma Lee Bunton may well have been called "Baby" as far back as January 21, 1976, when she was born in Barnet, North London. While growing up in nearby Finchley, Emma showed her desire to perform early on. Winning a beauty contest at age three, she yearned to be a dancer and an actress.

She told her mother Pauline that she wanted to be a singer, after seeing Olivia Newton-John in Grease. Later, in the '80s, Emma looked up to Madonna as a role model (like most of the other Spice Girls).

on the right track

After grade school, Emma attended Sylvia Young Theatre School, an early training ground for showbiz-track Britons. But with her working-class background -- father Trevor is a milkman -- she couldn't afford to attend for long, and had to switch to a regular high school. The disappointment drove the aspiring singer to tears: "The shock to my system was scary," Emma later admitted. However, after a mere three weeks, the theatre school called, offering her a scholarship, and she returned.

In 1992, Bunton took a two-year drama course at Barnet Technical College. Meanwhile, she made inroads as a model and actress, appearing in a number of commercials, ads and magazines, as well as being cast as a troubled youth on the BBC hit soap opera, Eastenders (after several auditions).

the spicy road to superstardom

In 1994, Bunton answered an ad in The Stage trade paper looking for young female singers to form a new all-girl pop group. The band, originally called "Touch," was the brainchild of Chris Herbert, who auditioned thousands of girls before selecting the final five members. Emma made the cut, along with Geri Halliwell, Victoria Adams (now Beckham), Melanie Brown, and Melanie Chisholm.

Herbert conceived of a two-year plan to train the band, hiring a vocal coach, booking a rehearsal studio and arranging recording sessions; after less than a year, however, the Spice Girls grew impatient. Halliwell led Bunton and the rest away from their original management when, in 1995, the quintet was signed by Virgin Records and hired manager Simon Fuller.

The Spice Girls released their first single the following year, and their debut album, Spice, ended up selling more than 20 million copies. Touring and international adoration -- even if it was mostly female adolescent adoration -- soon followed.

But there was a snag: Two years later, the headstrong Halliwell lead the Spice Girls to new management once again, and soon after quit the group herself, embarking on a solo career. This was trouble for the remaining Spice Girls. They were sued by an Italian company over Halliwell's split, and Bunton later had to testify that she never thought Halliwell would leave the group.

no longer a baby

Meanwhile, the quintet-turned-quartet put out another album (the ominously-named Forever). While the Spice Girls remained together on paper, each pursued a solo career, and Bunton was no exception. First she took a break from music, focusing instead on being a television presenter. Leading up to Y2K festivities, she spoke on behalf of a safe-drinking campaign, warning Londoners about the dangers of lighting fireworks while drunk.

In 2001, Emma Bunton was back with a single, "What Took You So Long?" and a new album, A Girl Like Me. While not a smash hit, it was a personal triumph. Bunton had a hand in writing all the new songs, something she had wanted to do for some time. "I decided to make a solo album a couple of years ago and started writing lyrics a long time before that," she says.

In the meantime, Bunton enjoys reading, taking in a movie or two, and going to the gym. And she still likes to find time for family, going so far as to buy her mother a new house (her parents are now divorced) with her Spice Girls profits. So, despite the monumental ups and downs, Emma Bunton has still come out ahead: That's truly girl power.