Melanie Janine Brown (born 29 May 1975; known as Melanie B and Mel B) is an English singer, songwriter, rapper, television personality, and actress. She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the girl group Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Scary Spice. With over 90 million records sold worldwide, the group became the best-selling female group of all time.
During the Spice Girls hiatus, Mel B released her debut solo album, Hot (2000). The album’s lead single, “I Want You Back”, reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, and was included on the soundtrack for the 1998 film Why Do Fools Fall in Love. Other singles from the album, such as “Tell Me” and “Feels So Good”, both reached the top 5 in the UK charts. After signing with the independent label Amber Caf , she released her second solo album, L.A. State of Mind (2005), which spawned a single, “Today”. Mel B released “For Once in My Life” in 2013, her first single in eight years; it peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart.
Since 2007, Mel B has established herself as a television personality and talent-show judge. She participated in the fifth season of the American dance-competition series Dancing with the Stars (2007), finishing in second place with her professional partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Between 2011 and 2016, Mel B served as a guest and main judge on the Australian and British versions of The X Factor. She also co-presented the Australian version of Dancing with the Stars for one season (2012). Mel B judged competitors on the NBC reality show America’s Got Talent (2013-2019) and served as a coach and mentor on The Voice Kids Australia (2014). From 2016 to 2018, she presented Lip Sync Battle UK alongside rapper Professor Green. In 2019, Mel B became a team captain on Celebrity Juice; she left after two series. In 2021, Mel B appeared as a contestant on second series of The Masked Singer and finished in 11th place.
Mel B has also appeared in films, including Spice World (1997), LD 50 Lethal Dose (2003), The Seat Filler (2005), Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast (2014), Chocolate City: Vegas Strip (2017), and Killing Hasselhoff (2017).