Original Spice Girl recalls first hearing Wannabe as hit turns 30

Thirty years after the Spice Girls burst onto the music scene with one of the most iconic girls’ anthems of the ’90s, a little-known original member has recalled the moment she first heard Wannabe.

Lianne Morgan, from Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan, joined Victoria Beckham, Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton and Melanie B in ‘Touch’.

But Lianne was abruptly replaced by Mel C because, at 23, she was “too old against the other girls”.

Soon after returning from a cruise ship gig, Lianne saw them singing Wannabe on Top of the Pops.

“I was so pleased for them and got out their numbers and was going to call to say congrats. But then thought no, I won’t, they might not even remember me,” she said.

Back in the ’90s, Lianne attended an audition at Nomis Studios in London and was chosen to be part of a girl group called Touch with Geri Halliwell, Melanie Brown and Victoria Adams.

Speaking on the audition process, she said that “she fitted the bill” for what they were looking for as she was a singer and dancer “with an edge and confidence.”

“Having sang in Welsh social clubs as well as up North I was confident and could hold an audience and deal with hecklers. I could hold my own,” she added.

The mum-of-two, now aged 55, said Geri Halliwell was the first member of the band that “stood out”.

“Geri was great fun to be around and I would have definitely been closest to her, she was the most grounded one,” she said.

Morgan said Victoria Beckham was “very quiet and shy”, adding that she “did not want to sing at all, she kept on saying I am not a singer I am a dancer.”

She also recalls Mel B being “so confident”, even at just age 16.

“She had an incredible voice and I knew she would be picked but felt she was very, very young,” said Morgan.