‘I nearly joined the Spice Girls ... I would have been Old Spice!’
SHE’S the singer from Cardiff who came within a whisker of making it into the world’s biggest girl group of all time.
But far from being bitter at missing out on becoming one of the Spice Girls, 30 years on and Lianne Morgan has told how she has no regrets.
Lianne, who grew up in Tremorfa, has spoken of her fateful audition, as fans of the band mark three decades of the pop sensations.
Speaking on BBC One’s Morning Live yesterday, she recalled how she was a full-time singer in the 1990s, performing in social clubs and with bands.
“I was doing my normal thing which was flicking through the Stage Magazine every Thursday and there it was, they were looking for five girls to form this girl group,” she said. “And I thought, well, I’ll give it a go!”
She was one of hundreds of women who headed for an audition in London after spotting the ad for what would eventually become the Spice Girls.
“Coming from Cardiff and going to the Big Smoke was just an exciting thing,” she said.
“I was nervous but I wasn’t showing that I was nervous. I was quite mouthy, quite chatty, very Welsh!”
After the audition Lianne was told she had made it into the final line-up, alongside the then unknown four of Melanie Brown, Victoria Adams, Emma Bunton and Geri Halliwell.
“Getting picked for the last five was amazing,” she said.
“I was just waiting then for this letter to come, because we were going to move into this house together.”
Chris Herbert, the talent manager who founded the Spice Girls, confirmed that: “She, in our mind, had a place in the band.”
But he added: “Somewhere along that way we switched her out and we brought Mel C [Melanie Chisholm] in.”
Lianne says she understands that the decision may have been influenced by the fact she was slightly older than the other women, and quipped: “After serious consideration, they felt that I looked too old against the other girls... I would have been Old Spice!”
She recalled how, two years on from the audition: “I was sitting in my house and then Top of the Pops came on, and there they were singing Wannabe!”
But three decades on, she says she has no regrets about not making it into the final line-up of the band, which went on to sell 105 million records worldwide, making them the best-selling girl group of all time.
Lianne went on to have a solo career and continues to sing after overcoming a serious health issue.
She previously told the Echo how she had a condition called spasmodic dysphonia, which meant her voice sometimes cut off when she spoke because of muscle spasms.
She became a music teacher and is now an artist.
Looking back on her life, she said she had found happiness and added: “I wouldn’t have been given the opportunity to have an impact on young people, as I have.”