Michelle Stephenson


Michelle Stephenson is a British singer and television presenter. At the age of 17, she was briefly a member of the English girl group that would go on to become the Spice Girls.

Touch (Spice Girls)

Alongside Melanie Brown, Melanie Laccohee, Lianne Morgan and Suzanne Tinker, Stephenson completed the original 1994 line-up of Touch, receiving the highest scores at the audition. At the audition, she sang Dina Carroll's song "Don't Be a Stranger". Stephenson was a member of the group for only a short period before commitment issues prompted Heart Management to remove her. According to Bob Herbert, she was fired because "she just wasn't fitting in... she would never have gelled with it and I had to tell her to go". Stephenson later challenged Herbert's claim, stating that it was her decision to leave due to her mother being diagnosed with breast cancer: "To say I was turfed out of the group when I left because I wanted to be with my sick mother – well, what kind of person does that?" Adams later dismissed this claim, saying she "just couldn't be arsed" to put in the work the rest of the group was doing. Stephenson was replaced by Emma Bunton.
Stephenson has given several interviews about her time with the group, stating that she does not regret leaving them.

Presenting and music

Stephenson worked briefly as a television presenter for LWT, ITV, Friendly TV, and BSkyB. She also filmed a television show in Malta called Wild Games before forming a songwriting partnership with Ben Hackett and Mike Edwards. She has also worked as a session singer for various record companies. She performed backing vocals for singers like Ricky Martin and Julio Iglesias, while working on her own songs as well. In November 2003, Stephenson recorded and released an EP entitled SHESongs, featuring six songs called "In Control", "Fall Over", "Hey Sugar", "Dirty Music", "Boom, Boom", and "Happens for a Reason".

Filmography

Albums