Melanie Janine Brown (born 29 May 1975), professionally known as Melanie Brown and Mel B, is an English pop singer and songwriter turned actress and television personality best known as one of the members of the girl group the Spice Girls, one of the most successful female groups of all time. She was given the nickname "Scary Spice" by the British media because of her outrageous, "in-your-face" attitude, 'loud' Leeds accent, throaty laugh, manner of dress (which often consisted of leopard-print outfits), and her voluminously curly hair.

Brown was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire to a white English mother, Andrea, and a black Nevisian father, Martin. She has a younger sister named Danielle who is an actress. She studied performing arts at the now famous Intake High School, in Leeds, before entering the entertainment industry. For a time she worked as a dancer in the holiday resort, Blackpool, Lancashire.

After seeing an advertisement for an audition in a newspaper, Brown started her music career in a band known as Touch. The group left the original management team and eventually teamed up with music manager Simon Fuller. Here, she and the other girls were launched on the world as the Spice Girls. After worldwide success in the group she embarked on a solo music career in 1998. Her first solo album, with Virgin Records, was a success, including a No.1 hit. In 2005 she released a second solo album which did not attract much attention.

At the height of the Spice Girls' success, Brown was invited to work with Missy Elliott on the single "I Want You Back", a song for the soundtrack of the film Why Do Fools Fall in Love. It was recorded in just one afternoon, due to Brown's busy Spice Girls schedule. The video featured Brown's then husband Jimmy Gulzar, who appeared chained and submissive to his wife. Upon its British release in September 1998, I Want You Back sold 80,000 copies in its first week alone, giving Brown her first and only solo #1 in her home country. This was confirmed on the day that the Spice Girls played their last world tour concert at Wembley Stadium in front of 52,000 fans. Ultimately the single sold 218,000 copies and became the 82nd Bestselling British Single of 1998.

At the suggestion of her then-husband Jimmy Gulzar, Brown covered Cameo's 1986 hit Word Up as her next solo release. The track was notable for being produced by Timbaland. The track was already released on the soundtrack to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. This resulted in its flopping in the UK (peaking at #14), making it the lowest charting Spice Girls related single of the 90s. The European video was a surreal animation, directed by Jimmy. A further video was shot which featured the mini me character from Austin Powers. The track was not included on Brown's UK version of her debut solo album, and speaking at the time of her album release she stated that she "didn't really like 'Word Up'".

Following the disappointing performance of Word Up , Brown stopped releasing records for a while, but worked quietly on tracks for her debut solo album and the third Spice Girls album. Turning to television work, she hosted Pure Naughty, a weekly BBC2 magazine show focusing on black music. She also hosted the MOBO Awards on two occasions, in 1998 with Bill Bellamy and in 1999 with Wyclef Jean, and took part in a BBC funded short film entitled Fish.

As a way of dealing with the problems of her marriage, Brown continued working on her debut solo album. She worked with producers such as Sisqo, Teddy Riley, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (Janet Jackson, Prince), with whom she was also working on the Spice Girls' third album, Forever.

In September 2000, she said that she heard the first single release from the album, Tell Me. The track debuted at #4 in the UK charts with about 40,000 copies sold in its first week. It finally sold approximately 100,000 copies, making it the 158th "best seller" of 2000. The album, Hot, was released one month later on 3 October, was not a success and garnered mediocre reviews. It sold a disappointing 7,419 copies in its first week and charted at a weak #28, before quickly falling out of the charts.

Following the release of Feels So Good, rumours began that if her next single flopped she would be dropped by her record company, Virgin Records. In May, Brown performed a small set at the London G-A-Y Astoria club, her only solo gig until 2004. A third single was released in June 2001, Lullaby, a pop number dedicated to her daughter. It was accompanied by a very simple video shot in Morocco and featured Brown with Phoenix Chi. The media criticised Brown for using her child in the music video and single artwork, labelling her Desperate Spice and insinuating that she was exploiting her child as a marketing tool. The single entered and peaked at a disappointing #13, and Virgin duly dumped Brown from their label.