Spice Girl Mel B is to switch on this year’s Blackpool Illuminations. The singer will make a nostalgic return to the resort where her career first started as a 16-year-old dancer in the Mystique show at Pleasure Beach Resort. The switch-on moment was watched last year by an estimated 80,000 people.
The Switch-On ceremony, which is a free , will take place on the Tower Festival Headland on Friday 30 August. The two-hour concert will be headlined by Ella Henderson and feature former member of The Pussycat Dolls, Kimberly Wyatt, and Massaoke performed by Rockstar Weekend. Leeds-born Melanie Brown rose to global fame in the 90s as a member of the Spice Girls in which she was nicknamed Scary Spice.
With more than 100 million records sold worldwide, they became the best-selling female group of all time. She has since gone on to work as a solo singer-songwriter, TV personality and actress, working on numerous shows in the UK, Australia and the United States. Last month, she received an honorary doctorate from Leeds Beckett University, which recognised the star for her work with domestic abuse victims and her global influence as “a music icon”.
Mel – who is patron of Women’s Aid - was also made an MBE in the 2022 New Year Honours list for her charitable work. Mel said: “I’m so thrilled to be turning on the Illuminations because Blackpool has played a big part in my life and career. “I was just 16 when I came to Blackpool to be part of the Mystique dance group.
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