Victoria Caroline Beckham (née Adams; born 17 April 1974) is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model, actress, fashion designer and businesswoman. In the late 1990s, Beckham rose to fame with the all-female pop group Spice Girls and was dubbed Posh Spice by the July 1996 issue of the British pop music magazine Top of the Pops.
Since the Spice Girls split, she has had a solo pop music career, scoring four UK Top 10 singles. Her first single to be released, "Out of Your Mind", reached Number 2 in the UK Singles Chart and is her highest chart entry to date. During her solo career, she has been signed to Virgin Records and Telstar Records.
Beckham has found more success as an internationally recognised and photographed style icon. Her career in fashion includes designing a line of jeans for Rock & Republic and later designing her own denim brand, dVb Style. Beckham has brought out her own range of sunglasses and fragrance, entitled Intimately Beckham, which has been released in the UK and the US. In association with the Japanese store Samantha Thavasa and Shiatzy Chen, she has produced a range of handbags and jewellery. In addition, Beckham has released two best-selling books; one her autobiography, the other a fashion guide.
In her television ventures, Beckham has participated in five official documentaries and reality shows about her, including Being Victoria Beckham, The Real Beckhams, and Victoria Beckham: Coming to America. She has since made a cameo appearance in an episode of American TV series Ugly Betty, and been a guest judge on Project Runway, Germany's Next Topmodel, and American Idol.
She is married to David Beckham and they have four children, Brooklyn Joseph, Romeo James, Cruz David, and Harper Seven. As of 2009, the couple's joint wealth is estimated at £125 million.
Beckham auditioned for a March 1993 advertisement in The Stage which required girls who were "street smart, extrovert, ambitious and able to sing and dance". In 1994, Beckham joined the all-female group, the Spice Girls. In the recordings before her marriage, she is credited with her maiden name as Victoria Adams. The group's first single was called "Wannabe" (1996), and she worked alongside Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, Melanie Brown and Melanie Chisholm. It went to number one in the United Kingdom and United States, and another 29 countries. It was followed by nine further number one singles from their albums Spice, Spiceworld and Forever.
Each member of the group received a nickname from the media. Beckham was named "Posh Spice". The group was one of the most successful pop acts of the 1990s, selling over fifty-five million records worldwide. After the release of their third album, Forever (UK number 2), which was far less successful than their previous two albums, the Spice Girls stopped recording, leading Beckham to try to build a solo career.
In 2007, the Spice Girls reformed and announced plans to embark upon a reunion tour, from which they were said to have earned £10 million each (approximately $20 million). Victoria had previously stated that she and her former Spice colleagues were enjoying their solo careers in various fields, saying "We're all still doing our own thing."
Their "Greatest Hits" album was released in early November 2007 and the tour began on 2 December 2007. At its advent, Beckham said "I wanted my children to see that Mummy was a pop star. It was the last opportunity for them to stand in a crowd full of people screaming for the Spice Girls." When Beckham had her hair coloured brown for the tour, she stated that her sons immediately reacted by saying "Oh my goodness, it's Posh Spice. She's back." During one Spice Girls performance at London's The O2 Arena, her three sons accompanied her on stage during "Mama", along with the other Spice Girls' children.
She was the only member of the group not to sing a solo song on the tour, instead posing in the style of a fashion show on a makeshift catwalk, whereas the others each performed a number from their solo careers. Polly Hudson wrote: "This time around Posh gets the biggest cheer when she sings her solo lines. She knows it too – and it seems to give her more and more confidence as the show goes on."
Filmmaker Bob Smeaton directed an official film of the tour entitled Spice Girls: Giving You Everything, which was first aired on Fox8 in Australia. It later aired in the UK on 31 December 2007 on BBC One. As well as their sell-out tour, the Spice Girls were contracted to appear in Tesco advertisements, for which they were paid £1 million each.
On 14 August 2000, Beckham released her first solo single, "Out of Your Mind" in collaboration with Dane Bowers and Truesteppers. The week of release coincided with the release of "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" by Spiller featuring Sophie Ellis-Bextor, resulting in a chart battle dubbed 'Posh vs. Posher' by the tabloids. Following a huge publicity campaign, "Out Of Your Mind" was outsold by Ellis-Bextor, and debuted at Number 2 in the UK Singles Chart.
Before the single's release, on 8 July 2000, Beckham made her public solo debut at London's Hyde Park at a concert to raise money for the Prince's Trust charity. She sang "Out of Your Mind" to a 100,000-strong audience. Beckham then signed a recording contract with her group label Virgin Records. Her next single as a solo artist, "Not Such An Innocent Girl", was released on 17 September 2001. Again, she faced competition in another hugely hyped chart battle, this time with Kylie Minogue's single "Can't Get You Out Of My Head".
Despite a huge promotional campaign, Beckham was outsold eight to one, and her single debuted at number 6. Beckham's eponymous debut album, which was released on 1 October 2001, reached Number 10 in the UK album chart. The album cost a reputed £5 million to produce and it sold a modest 50,000 copies.
The second and final single to be released from the album was "A Mind of Its Own" on 11 February 2002. The single reached number 6 in the UK and sold 56,500 copies.Rumours soon spread that Beckham was to be dropped by her label for not charting in the Top Three. These were strongly refuted at the time.
Beckham commented "You know what newspapers are like, they just like to put all the negative stuff in, but as far as I'm concerned and the record company is concerned it is all great." A third single, "I Wish", was promoted but never materialised. The single version was a remix featuring Robbie Craig, and was performed on TV on Friday Night's All Wright.
Following the announcement of Beckham's second pregnancy, the single was shelved. Beckham and Virgin Records went their separate ways; a statement from her publicist read: "No-one has been dropped. The Virgin deal has come to a natural end and both parties have decided not to continue." Open Your Eyes
In 2002, Telstar Records signed Beckham in a deal made with 19 Management worth £1.5 million. Beckham spent much of that year recording a pop-influenced album called Open Your Eyes, which yielded the single "Let Your Head Go", but she allegedly chose not to release it after being disappointed with the results.
Instead of pop, Beckham wanted a more urban sound, working with urban producer Damon Dash for a more RnB and hip hop influence. When he was first asked why he was working with Beckham he stated "Because I see how much she gets photographed over here." A Dash-produced track "It's That Simple" featuring M.O.P. premiered on radio stations in July 2003, generating mixed reviews. Beckham's first single with Telstar, "Let Your Head Go / This Groove", was released in the UK on 29 December 2003, following heavy promotion and many TV appearances across the Christmas period with the video being directed by Andy Hylton. The single charted at Number 3 in the UK.
This double A-side lifted "Let Your Head Go" from Beckham's earlier pop-inspired work with "This Groove" one of her Hip-Hop/R'n'B songs and remains Beckham's last single release to date. She is currently the only Spice Girl never to have had a UK solo number one, though she is also the only Spice Girl to have all her single/album releases go Top 10. Outside of the UK, Damon Dash had plans for Beckham in the US, including a potential release of "Let Your Head Go / This Groove" under the name of "Posh Spice Victoria Beckham". The release was proposed for sometime between March to May 2004, but never eventuated.
With the UK media describing her solo music career a failure, combined with a rumoured fall-out between Dash and Fuller, her hip hop album, Come Together, was not released. Beckham's fourth and last attempt at a solo career came with the announcement of a new single "My Love Is for Real", in which she ditched the attempt at urban music and went back to pop. This never materialized, and amidst the collapse of Telstar, remaining plans for Beckham's music career were cancelled. Beckham is the only Spice Girl to have all of her singles and albums chart in the Top 10 of the UK charts, but she also has released fewer albums (1) and singles (4).
On 13 September 2001, Beckham released her first book, Learning to Fly. The title was taken from a line in a song from the musical Fame, which Beckham had enjoyed as a child. The verse that inspired the title is: "I'm gonna live forever, I'm gonna learn how to fly". The autobiography documents her childhood, time during the Spice Girls, her marriage and family life, as well as her career at the time. Learning to Fly became the third best-selling non-fiction title of 2001 and the total UK sales stand at more than 500,000 copies.
When the book was first released, it went to Number 1 in the book charts after four weeks of release, relegating Robbie Williams' book to second place. A high-profile guest appearance on Parkinson, watched by nine million people, helped to promote the book. Before the publishing of the book, Hello!, The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday joined to buy the rights to preview and serialise the book before its release. The figure paid was thought to be near £1 million.
Beckham has shot five official documentaries. The first, dated 11 January 2000, was called Victoria's Secrets, a programme only shown in the UK on Channel 4. It involved Beckham being followed by cameras while also discussing and interviewing other British celebrities, such as Elton John.
The second, Being Victoria Beckham, was broadcast in March 2002 and saw Beckham discussing her career as a solo artist with the release of her first album, and also showed her at various photo shoots and recording sessions. The documentary attracted a strong audience of 8.83 million coming top in its timeslot. One critic described her as "so clearly level-headed, happy with her not inconsiderable lot and seemingly unfazed by the madly intrusive nature of her monumentally ridiculous fame".
The third, The Real Beckhams, aired on 24 December 2003 on ITV1 and focused on the Beckhams' move to Madrid from London after David Beckham was signed to Real Madrid. It also featured Victoria Beckham re-launching her solo career and showed her mocking the tabloid stories she reads in the paper every day. The special received an audience of 6.10 million viewers and was later released on DVD on 2 February 2004.
The fourth was entitled Full Length & Fabulous: The Beckhams' 2006 World Cup Party, and followed Victoria and David Beckham organising and making preparations to host a 2006 World Cup Party at a marquee in the grounds of their mansion in Hertfordshire, which aimed to raise money for their charity.
Beckham has become better recognised as an international style icon, rather than a music artist. Beckham made a guest appearance on the catwalk for Maria Grachvogel in 2000, marking her debut as a model at London Fashion Week. Beckham also acted as a British ambassador for Dolce and Gabbana and was briefly the face of Rocawear in 2003.
Beckham designed a limited-edition fashion line for Rock & Republic called VB Rocks in 2004, consisting mainly of jeans for the high end of the market, retailing at approximately $300 in the US. She had previously "hit it off instantly" with Rock & Republic designer, Michael Ball, in Los Angeles. He commented "She not only understands fashion and trends but has been a trend-setter and fashion icon for years."
