Mel C Blames Spice Girls For Unsuccessful Solo Career

Singer Mel C blames her former band Spice Girls for her poor solo career, claiming their lack of success reflects badly on her.

Mel C, who started her career apart from the girl-band in 1998, duetting with Canadian rocker Bryan Adams on the massively successful song "When You're Gone", declared that her last records failed to make an impression on the top ten because of the Spice Girl refusal to sing at Live 8 concert.

The singer, whose real name is Melanie Chisholm, also confessed she thinks the negative image that surrounds Victoria Beckham and the limited sales of the other girls' albums influenced her success, making her "guilty by association".

Contactmusic.com quotes her as saying: "This year there's been the Live 8 cancellation, Victoria Beckham's never out of the press, Melanie B released an album that didn't do much and Geri Halliwell has an unsuccessful release - and that reflects badly. You're guilty by association."

Mel C also declared that, despite what has happened this year, she is determined not to give up. The singer is currently playing small free gigs in Australian shopping malls.

She said: "Things are quite tough for me in the UK at the moment, but people are more open-minded in the rest of the world, so that's where I'm spending my time - where people appreciate me."