About Me
Victoria Caroline Adams was born April 17, 1974, in Hertfordshire, England. She has two siblings, brother Christian and sister Louise, and parents, Jackie and Tony, ran a successful electrical wholesale business and were well-off by most standards.As a child, Victoria was surprisingly lonely; other children often teased her because of her acne and she would even ask her father not to drop her off in front of school so as not to be seen in the family's Rolls-Royce.
Such a personality made her an unlikely candidate for pop stardom, but she found herself in a band while in school. She studied at the Jason Theatre School as a child and moved on to the Laine Arts Theatre College, where she also dabbled in dance and modeling.Although her original band never took off, her life was forever changed when she decided to answer an ad in The Stage that was looking for five women who could sing and dance to form a group.Little did Victoria know that this ad would lead to a group called the Spice Girls, which would eventually leave an indelible mark in music history.Released in 1996, the Spice Girls' first single, "Wannabe," and their debut album, Spice, were smash hits in the US and abroad. Victoria, along with her band mates Emma, Geri, and the two Mels, became instant household names, with success that changed the face of pop culture and gave new meaning to "girl power."
With hits like "2 Become 1" and "Spice Up Your Life," the Spice Girls went on to sell over 35 million albums and 25 million singles worldwide, igniting a worldwide phenomenon in the process.But this mega success was relatively short-lived. Worldwide tours, millions of albums sold, and a movie (Spiceworld) later, Geri "Ginger Spice" Halliwell decided to split from the Girls in May 1998, leaving a huge void in the group.After the remaining foursome released Forever in 2000, which was met with lukewarm sales, the Spice Girls decided to split up and pursue solo projects. Taking some time off and falling in love in the process, Victoria "Posh Spice" Adams married soccer star David Beckham in July 1999, and together they have three sons, Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz.
August 2000, Victoria released her first solo single: "Out Of Your Mind", a collaboration with the Garage act the Truesteppers and Dane Bowers. The week of release coincided with the release of "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" by Spiller ft. Sophie Ellis-Bextor, resulting in a chart battle dubbed 'Posh vs. Posher' by the tabloids. Following a huge publicity campaign, "Out Of Your Mind" was outsold by 20,000 copies and debuted at number two with first week sales of 180,584 copies.Beckham signed a recording contract with her group label Virgin Records. Her true debut single as a solo artist, "Not Such An Innocent Girl", was released in September 2001. Again, she faced competition in another hugely hyped chart battle, this time with Kylie Minogue's single "Can't Get You Out Of My Head". Despite huge promotion and an expensive and futuristic video Beckham was massively outsold. In the week of release, the tabloid newspaper The Sun ran a daily progress chart covering the chart battle, but they gave up half way through the week when it was clear the battle was a one horse race. A potential factor attributable to Beckham's weaker sales could be the due to the media furor she created after wearing a fake lip ring during a live performance in Birmingham, an event that also saw her getting booed and pelted with fruit by a hostile public. She was widely criticised by many groups, including the British Dental Association, for setting a bad example that her younger fans may wish to emulate. "Not Such An Innocent Girl" was however a number 1 hit in the Philippines.
Beckham's debut album reached number 10 in the UK album chart. The album featured the song "Every Part Of Me", which was co-written by Beckham and dedicated to her son, Brooklyn, who features at the start, Brooklyn's 'part' was allegedly an off-chance recording which took place during a recording session break.The second and final single to be released from the album was "A Mind of Its Own" The single reached number 6 in the UK and sold 56,500 copies.Some speculate that due to its not hitting the Top 3, rumours started spreading that Beckham was soon to be dropped by her label. These were refuted at the time.
A third single, "I Wish", was promoted but never materialised. The single version was a remix featuring Robbie Craig, and was performed on TV on Friday Night's All Wright. Many hoped this single would revitalise the album's fortunes, but following the announcement of Beckham's second pregnancy it was shelved, and Beckham was dropped from the label Virgin Records.Telstar Records signed Victoria in 2002 in a deal made with Simon Fuller's 19 Management. She spent much of 2002 recording a 'pop-influenced' album, but Beckham allegedly shelved it after not being happy with the results. Instead of pop, Beckham wanted to record tracks with a more R&B and hip hop influence, and to accomplish this she began working with urban producer Damon Dash. There were some unsubstantiated rumours regarding both Dash and Beckham at the time. These plans reportedly worried Telstar and Simon Fuller, but they compromised with Beckham, allowing her to release a Dash produced track ("This Groove") along-side one of her earlier pop tracks ("Let Your Head Go") from the shelved album.
The resulting double A-side single "Let Your Head Go / This Groove" was released in the UK in late December 2003, following heavy promotion and many TV appearances across the Christmas period. The single charted at number 3. This double A-side remains Victoria's last single release to date.
As another compromise, Telstar allowed Beckham to release some of her urban tracks on "The Real Beckhams" DVD. This 2003 documentary was released in January 2004, and bonus material included the videos for "Let Your Head Go" and "This Groove", as well as four previously unreleased tracks: "Resentment", "That Dude", "Me And You This Time" and "Valentine" (none of the songs had a writing credit from Beckham). "Resentment" has since been covered by Beyoncé Knowles and released on her solo album B'Day (2006).
Outside of the UK, Damon Dash had plans for Beckham in the United States, including a potential release of "Let Your Head Go / This Groove" under the name of "Posh Spice Victoria Beckham". The release was proposed for sometime between March to May 2004, but never occurred. A Dash produced track "It's That Simple" featuring M.O.P. was promoed to vinyl, and received a premiere on BBC urban music radio station 1Xtra. This only generated further criticism, with the feeling being that Beckham was a far from convincing urban act. Around this time, a 90-second snippet of a track called "Come Together" was released to the media, which was notable for sampling The Beatles' song of the same name.
With the UK media describing her music career a failure, and combined with a rumored fall out between Dash and Fuller, remaining plans for Victoria's music career were cancelled. To try and salvage her music career, Beckham again began work on pop-styled tracks in 2004. It is known that she recorded a track she had written with Cathy Dennis entitled "My Love Is For Real" (not to be confused with the Paula Abdul song of the same name). Amidst the collapse of Telstar Records, the Rebecca Loos scandal and the announcement of Beckham's third pregnancy, this song had never been heard, except for a remix by Armand van Helden, until August 2007, when the original mix of the song was leaked. "My Love Is For Real" leaked onto the internet in August 2007.
In 2000, Victoria Beckham made a guest appearance on the catwalk for Maria Grachvogel. Beckham has also appeared on the runway for her close friend Roberto Cavalli and was for a period exclusively dressed by him for red-carpet and social events.
In 2004, Beckham designed a fashion line for Rock and Republic called 'VB Rocks,' consisting mainly of jeans for the high end of the market (retailing at approximately $300 in the U.S.). She has also worked on a range of women's clothes including shirts and skirts. The clothing features a logo of a crown with the letters "VB". In September 2006, Beckham ceased working with Rock and Republic in order to launch her own Denim label. The new line of Beckham's jeans collection is called DVB Style.Beckham was briefly the face of Rocawear, and has produced a range of handbags and jewellery in association with the Japanese store Samantha Thavasa. In July 2006, Victoria Beckham released a line of sunglasses which she was seen wearing at the World Cup games. In September 2006, 'Intimately Beckham', a his-and-her fragrance line, was launched in association with perfume manufacturer Coty. Around the same time Beckham launched her new official website dybstyle.com which promotes her fashion work.
In June 2007 Beckham was a judge at London's annual Graduate Fashion Week alongside Zandra Rhodes.On 5 June 2007, she won two British Glamour Magazine Awards: one for "Woman of the Year" and another for "Entrepreneur of the Year," which celebrated her fashion achievements.
On 14 June 2007 Beckham launched her dVb denim collection in NYC at the high-end Saks Fifth Avenue, along with unveiling her eyewear range in the US for the first time.Her autobiography book, entitled Learning to Fly, was the 3rd best selling non-fiction title of 2001 and the total UK sales stand at more than 500,000 copies. The title was taken from a line in a song from the musical Fame, which Beckham enjoyed as a child.
Beckham was quoted by a Spanish journalist in 2005 as saying "I've never read a book in my life". She later claimed this was a mistranslation from the original Spanish in which the interview was printed, saying she actually stated she never had time to finish reading a book because she was always running around after her children.
Her second book, about fashion, was called That Extra Half an Inch: Hair, Heels and Everything In Between, was published on 30 October 2006. It was co-written by Hadley Freeman, deputy fashion editor of The Guardian and a contributing editor of Vogue and includes photography by Mario Testino, Annie Leibovitz and Steven Meisel. On the Sunday Times Book Charts, the book reached number 2.Beckham has shot five official reality documentaries. She has also been spoofed on shows including 2D:TV as a cartoon, impersonated by Ronni Ancona on Big Impression and more recently in 2006's Star Stories where Daisy Beaumont impersonated her in episode: "David & Victoria: Our Story".
The first of the reality shows, called Being Victoria Beckham, showed Beckham discussing her career as a solo artist, with the release of her first album, also showing her at various photo shoots and recording sessions. The second, The Real Beckhams, focussed on the Beckhams' move to Madrid from London after David was signed to Real Madrid. It also featured Beckham re-launching her solo career and showed her mocking the tabloid stories she reads in the paper every day. This particular special was released on DVD.
The third was called Full Length & Fabulous: The Beckhams' World Cup Party, which followed Victoria and David Beckham organising and making preparations to host a World Cup Party at a marquee in the grounds of their mansion in Hertfordshire, which aimed to raise money for their charity. The documentary also filmed the event itself, where the menu was designed especially by friend and chef Gordon Ramsay and the charity auction was hosted by Graham Norton. The fourth is called Victoria's Secrets and little is known about it aside from it being aired only in the UK.To document Victoria Beckham's preparations for her family's move to America, she signed a deal with NBC for six episodes of a half-hour unscripted reality tv series. The show, called Victoria Beckham: Coming to America, aired on 16 July 2007 in America and Canada. It was savaged by the American media and critics, with The New York Post describing it as "an orgy of self-indulgence" and also described Beckham as "vapid and condescending". However, it was the third most watched programme in its time-slot and received viewing figures of 4.9 million in America, beaten by a repeat of Wife Swap and two sitcoms. Despite the originally planned six episodes, the show was cut to a one hour special only. The programme aired in Britain on 17 July 2007 on ITV with 3.5 million viewers tuning in. The programme was produced by Simon Fuller who will be managing her and the Spice Girls on their come back tour, which will begin as early as November of 2007. Despite a TV show in the works, Victoria has denied plans to embark upon an LA movie career.In July 2007, it was announced that Beckham was shortly to begin filming a cameo appearance playing herself in an episode of the second season of ABC's TV series Ugly Betty.
In 2007, Victoria Beckham appeared in a Nickelback music video named, "Rock Star". She appeared with other numerous celebrities and non-celebrities lip-syncing the lyrics.Beckham's parents are Anthony William and Jacqueline Adams. She has a younger sister, Louise, and a younger brother, Christian. She attended Jason Theatre School in Hoddesdon. At 17, she started going to the Laine Arts Theatre College in Epsom, Surrey.
Victoria started dating footballer David Beckham in 1997, and the couple were dubbed "Posh and Becks" by the media. Beckham proposed to Victoria on 24 January 1998 in a restaurant in Cheshunt, England, and their first son, Brooklyn Joseph, was born on 4 March 1999. The two were married at Luttrellstown Castle, Ireland on 4 July 1999, and the wedding attracted tremendous media coverage. Beckham's teammate Gary Neville was the best man, and the couple's son Brooklyn, then four months old, was the ring bearer. Most of media were kept away from the ceremony, as the Beckhams had an exclusive deal with OK! Magazine, but the couple released photographs showing them sitting on golden thrones. 437 staff were employed for the wedding reception, which was estimated to have cost £500,000. The Beckhams' second son, Romeo James, was born on 1 September 2002; a third son, Cruz David, followed on 20 February 2005 in Madrid, Spain.Beckham's marriage and former career as a singer have made her both the fifty-second richest woman in Britain and the six hundred and nineteenth richest person in Britain with husband David, with an estimated joint wealth of £112 million.
Victoria and David Beckham moved to Los Angeles, California on 13 July 2007 where David has been signed to play for the LA Galaxy soccer team. On arrival in America on 13 July 2007, the couple were met by hundreds of paparazzi and media representatives, causing a media frenzy. They are now residing in a $22 million Beverly Hills mansion with 10 security guards. To create publicity for their move to America, the couple were photographed in their underwear for the fashion magazine, W. In an interview for the magazine, Victoria Beckham said that David's alleged affair with Rebecca Loos made their relationship stronger. The couple are also known for their close friendship with Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.
When she isn't recording songs or working on her fashion line, Victoria loves shopping and spending time with her three children. Posh is naturally trying to conquer the world of style with her clothing line. In the meantime, she continues to live a happy life as Mrs. Victoria Beckham.