Everything about Victoria Beckham totally explained
Victoria Caroline Beckham (née
Adams; born
17 April 1974) is an
English pop singer,
songwriter,
dancer, turned
fashion designer,
author,
businesswoman, and occasional
actress and
model.
During her rise to fame with 1990s pop group the
Spice Girls, she was dubbed
Posh Spice, a
moniker first coined by the
British tabloid press. Since the Spice Girls followed separate careers, Beckham has dabbled with
pop music, scoring four UK Top 10 singles as a solo artist. Her first single to be released, "
Out of Your Mind", reached number two in the
UK Singles Chart and is her highest chart entry to date. During her solo music career she's been signed to
Virgin Records and
Telstar Records.
Beckham has found more success as an internationally recognised and photographed
style icon. She has had a significant career in fashion, designing a
line of jeans for
Rock & Republic and later designing her own denim brand, dVb Style. Beckham has brought out her own range of
sunglasses and fragrance, entitled Intimately Beckham which has been released in the UK and America. In association with the Japanese store, Samantha Thavasa, she's produced a range of
handbags and
jewellery. In addition, she's released two bestselling books, one her autobiography, the other a fashion guide.
In her television ventures, Beckham has had five official documentaries and reality shows made about her, some of which include
Being Victoria Beckham and
The Real Beckhams. Her last documentary to date was which documented her move to the
United States with her family in 2007, but it was poorly received by American critics. She since made a
cameo appearance in an episode of American TV series,
Ugly Betty and been a guest judge on
Project Runway.
Universally referred to as "Posh", she's married to English
football player
David Beckham with whom she's three sons. The couple's joint wealth is estimated at £112 million.
Early life
Beckham was born to Anthony and Jacqueline Adams and raised in the prosperous area of
Goffs Oak,
Hertfordshire. and the success of the family business meant a wealthy upbringing for Beckham and her siblings,
Beckham attended St. Mary's High School in
Cheshunt and Jason Theatre School in
Hoddesdon. She was embarrassed by her family's wealth and often begged her father not to drop her off outside the school in their
Rolls Royce. During her schooling days, Beckham was a victim of bullying, being made to feel like an outsider. She commented "Children were literally picking things up out of the puddles and throwing them at me. And I just stood there, on my own. No one was with me. I didn't have any friends."
After Beckham had watched the musical,
Fame, it inspired her and she subsequently decided that she wanted to become famous. It was then that her parents enrolled her at Jason Theatre School.
Career
Spice Girls
Victoria Beckham (known then as Victoria Adams) joined the all-girl group
Spice Girls, first called "Touch," in 1994, with
Geri Halliwell,
Emma Bunton,
Melanie Brown and
Melanie Chisholm. She had previously answered an advertisement in
The Stage in March 1993 which required girls who were "street smart, extrovert, ambitious and able to sing and dance". After the release of their third album,
Forever (UK#2), which was much less successful than their previous two albums, the Spice Girls stopped recording, leading Beckham to try to build a solo career.
In 2007, the Spice Girls reformed and announced plans to embark upon a
comeback tour, Beckham had previously stated that she and her former Spice colleagues were enjoying their solo careers in various fields. She said "We're all still doing our own thing." Their "
Greatest Hits" album was released in early November, and the tour began on
2 December 2007. Beckham has stated "I wanted my children to see that Mummy was a pop star. It was the last opportunity for them to stand in a crowd full of people screaming for the Spice Girls." When Beckham had her hair coloured brown for the reunion tour, she stated that her sons immediately reacted by saying "Oh my goodness, it's Posh Spice. She's back." During one Spice Girls performance at London's
The O2 Arena, her three sons accompanied her on stage during "
Mama", along with the other Spice Girls' children. She is the only member of the group not to sing a solo song on the tour, instead doing a makeshift catwalk and pose in the style of a fashion show, whereas the others each perform a number from their solo careers. One critic wrote "This time around Posh gets the biggest cheer when she sings her solo lines. She knows it too - and it seems to give her more and more confidence as the show goes on."
Filmmaker, Bob Smeaton, has also directed an official
documentary on the reunion. It is entitled
Spice Girls: Giving You Everything and was first aired on
Fox8 in
Australia. It later aired in the
United Kingdom on
31 December,
2007 on
BBC One.
As well as the sell-out tour, the Spice Girls were contracted to appear in
Tesco advertisements, for which they were paid £1 million each.
Solo music artist
On
14 August 2000, Victoria released her first solo single, "
Out Of Your Mind" in collaboration with
Dane Bowers and
Truesteppers. Following a huge publicity campaign, "Out Of Your Mind" was outsold by Ellis-Bextor, and debuted at number two in the
UK Singles Chart. Before the single's release, on
8 July 2000 she made her public solo debut at London's
Hyde Park at a concert to raise money for the
Prince's Trust charity. She sang "Out of Your Mind" to a 100,000-strong audience.
Beckham then signed recording contract with her group label
Virgin Records. Despite a huge promotional campaign, Beckham was outsold eight to one, and the single debuted at number 6. The album cost a reputed £5 million to produce and it sold a modest 50,000 copies. Rumours soon started spreading that Beckham was soon to be dropped by her label for not charting in the top 3. These were strongly refuted at the time. Beckham commented "You know what newspapers are like, they just like to put all the negative stuff in, but as far as I'm concerned and the record company is concerned it's all great." Following the announcement of Beckham's second pregnancy, the single was shelved. Beckham was then departed from the label
Virgin Records. A statement was issued, which read "No-one has been dropped. The Virgin deal has come to a natural end and both parties have decided not to continue." Instead of pop, Beckham wanted to record tracks with a more
RnB and
hip hop influence, creating a more urban sound. During this time, it was reported that Dash slighted Beckham, stating "If we can make Victoria hot, we can make anybody hot."
Beckham's first single with Telstar Records, "
Let Your Head Go / This Groove", This double A-side remains Beckham's last single release to date. She is currently the only Spice Girl never to have had a British solo number one, though she's also the only Spice Girl to have all her single/album releases go Top 10. 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.
With the UK media describing her solo music career a failure, and combined with a rumoured fall-out between Dash and Fuller, her hip hop album,
Come Together, wasn't released. Amidst the collapse of
Telstar Records, remaining plans for Beckham's music career were cancelled. Beckham has said that she's no plans to return to music.
Books
Beckham's autobiography, entitled
Learning to Fly, was released on
13 September 2001. The title was taken from a line in a song from the musical
Fame, which Beckham enjoyed as a child. The verse that inspired the title goes "I'm gonna live forever, I'm gonna learn how to fly". The book documents her childhood, time during the Spice Girls, her marriage and family life, as well as her career at the time.
Learning to Fly became the third best-selling non-fiction title of 2001 and the total UK sales stand at more than 500,000 copies. When the book was first released, it went to number 1 in the book charts after four weeks of release, sending
Robbie Williams' book to second. A high-profile appearance on
Parkinson, watched by 9 million people, helped to promote the book. She later claimed this was a mistranslation from the original Spanish in which the interview was printed, saying she actually stated that she never had time to finish reading a book because she was always too busy looking after her children.
Beckham's second book, a fashion advice guide, entitled
That Extra Half an Inch: Hair, Heels and Everything In Between, was published on
27 October 2006.
That Extra Half an Inch: Hair, Heels and Everything In Between includes tips from Beckham on fashion, style and beauty, and has sold 400,000 copies in Britain alone since it was published in hardcover. The rights have since been sold to the United States, the
Netherlands,
Japan,
Portugal,
Lithuania,
Russia, and most recently
China. The second of the reality shows, which aired on
ITV1 on
4 March 2002, was called
Being Victoria Beckham and 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 documentary attracted a strong audience of 8.83 million, coming top in its timeslot. One critic described her as "so clearly level-headed, happy with her not inconsiderable lot and seemingly unfazed by the madly intrusive nature of her monumentally ridiculous fame". The third,
The Real Beckhams which aired on
24 December 2003 on ITV1, focused on the Beckhams' move to Madrid from London after David Beckham was signed to
Real Madrid. It also featured Victoria Beckham re-launching her solo career and showed her mocking the tabloid stories she reads in the paper every day. The special received an audience of 6.10 million viewers and was later released on DVD on
2 February 2004.
The fourth was entitled
Full Length & Fabulous: The Beckhams' 2006 World Cup Party, which followed Victoria and David Beckham organising and making preparations to host a
2006 World Cup Party at a marquee in the grounds of their mansion in
Hertfordshire, which aimed to raise money for their charity. Two tickets to attend the ball were auctioned online for charity, and sold for £103,000. The documentary aired on
28 May 2006 and showed the event itself, where the menu was designed especially by friend and chef
Gordon Ramsay and the charity auction was hosted by
Graham Norton. Ramsay catered for 600 guests, with the aid of 40 chefs and 100 waiting staff.
To document Victoria Beckham's preparations for her family's move to the United States, she signed a deal with
NBC for six episodes of a half-hour unscripted
reality TV series. Despite the originally planned six episodes, the show was cut to a one hour special only as there "just wasn't enough (material) for a series." The show, called, aired on
16 July 2007 in the US and Canada. It was heavily scrutinised by the American media and critics, with
The New York Post describing it as "an orgy of self-indulgence" and also describing Beckham as "vapid and condescending". The programme aired in Britain on
17 July 2007 on
ITV with 3.84 million viewers tuning in. The programme was produced by Simon Fuller who managed her and the Spice Girls on their come-back tour.
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. The episode, "
A Nice Day for a Posh Wedding", aired on
9 November 2007 in the United States and on
23 November in the United Kingdom. Beckham's first line was "It's major", said when bursting through a curtain at a dress fitting for a wedding, in which she was the bridesmaid.
In February 2008, it was revealed that Beckham would be the guest judge for the
fourth season finale of
Project Runway, which aired on
5 March 2008 in the United States. She was especially complimentary of winner
Christian Siriano's designs, saying they were very much to her taste and style. Beckham made a guest appearance on the catwalk for Maria Grachvogel in 2000, making this her debut at
London Fashion Week as a model. Beckham also acted as British ambassador for
Dolce and Gabbana and was briefly the face of
Rocawear in 2003.
Beckham designed a limited-edition fashion line for
Rock & Republic called
VB Rocks in 2004, consisting mainly of
jeans for the high end of the market, retailing at approximately $300 in the U.S. She had previously "hit it off instantly" with Rock & Republic designer, Michael Ball, in Los Angeles. He commented "She not only understands fashion and trends but has been a trend-setter and fashion icon for years."
On
16 January 2006, Beckham walked the runway for
Roberto Cavalli at
Milan Fashion Week and was for a period exclusively dressed by him for red-carpet and social events. For the March 2006 issue of
Harper's Bazaar, Beckham acted as fashion editor when she styled her close friend,
Katie Holmes, for a fashion shoot. In July 2006, Beckham released a line of
sunglasses, called dvb Eyewear. She has admitted to a personal love of sunglasses, saying "I'm quite obsessed with sunglasses. I collect vintage
Guccis and
Carreras — they can make virtually any outfit look cool." She also produced a range of handbags and jewellery in association with the
Japanese store, Samantha Thavasa. On
14 June 2007 Beckham launched her dvb Denim collection in
New York at the high-end
Saks Fifth Avenue, along with unveiling her eye-wear range in the United States for the first time. In the same month Beckham made her first appearance at London's annual Graduate Fashion Week as a judge alongside
Glenda Bailey, the editor-in-chief of
Harper’s Bazaar, and
Alber Elbaz, to choose a winner to receive the River Island Gold Award, worth £20,000. In August 2007, Intimately Beckham perfume hit American stores for the first time. Victoria Beckham has stated "We are not just saying, 'We are celebrities, put our name on it.' I love to be involved with the whole process." The Intimately Beckham line has been predicted to sell over $100 million worth of sales internationally, doubling this estimate in 2008. and her debut
cosmetics line V-Sculpt was unveiled and launched in
Tokyo. In a 2007 appearance at an LA Galaxy press conference, Beckham is credited with having popularised
Roland Mouret's 'moon dress' and his brand. Beckham and Mouret are subsequently teaming up to design a limited edition collection of
LBDs.
It was announced that Beckham is to be the new face of
Marc Jacobs for Spring 2008 in a campaign shot by
Juergen Teller, and that she styled
Jack Nicholson for a photo shoot in
Parade magazine. Her next fashion project will be to design a line of men's jeans as part of the dvb label.
Beckham has voiced her
anti-fur beliefs and promotes an
animal friendly wardrobe filled with
faux/synthetic furs. Beckham's stand against
the fur industry has generated admiration from
animal rights organizations, including
PETA. Of PETA anti-fur campaigns, Beckham stated that she's "supportive of its high-profile anti-fur campaigns," and pledged "never to work with fur in any of [her] own fashion collections".
Personal life
Victoria Adams started dating football player,
David Beckham, in 1997 after they'd met at a charity football match, prompting
him to request a meeting with her. The couple announced their engagement in 1998 and were dubbed "
Posh and Becks" by the media, and were later married at
Luttrellstown Castle,
Ireland on
4 July 1999, with the wedding attracting much media coverage. David Beckham's team-mate,
Gary Neville, was the best man, Most of the media were kept away from the ceremony as an exclusive deal with
OK! Magazine had been arranged, but photographs were released showing the Beckhams sitting on golden thrones. A total of 437 staff were employed for the wedding reception, which was estimated to have cost £500,000. The couple bought what would become their most famous home for £2.5 million in 1999; the property, which is set in 24 acres of land, was duly given a £3 million renovation and was subsequently dubbed
Beckingham Palace by the media. Romeo James Beckham (born
1 September 2002 in London), and Cruz David Beckham (born
20 February 2005 in
Madrid, Spain).
Elton John and
David Furnish are reportedly the
godparents of Brooklyn and Romeo. The Beckhams have stated that they'd like to have more children, especially a daughter.
In January 2000, a tip-off to
Scotland Yard detectives exposed a plot to kidnap Victoria and Brooklyn Beckham and hold them at a house in
Hampstead, London. The family was then moved to a secret location, but no arrests were made. All charges were dropped after a witness was deemed unreliable.
In 2004, allegations surfaced that David Beckham had had a brief affair with a former personal assistant,
Rebecca Loos. The affair had apparently taken place when David had moved to
Madrid, although he denied all the allegations. 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,
Beckham's marriage, and career as a singer have made her the 52nd richest woman in Britain and the 619th richest person in Britain with husband David, with an estimated joint wealth of £112 million.
Discography
Albums
Singles
Bibliography
Learning to Fly (Michael Joseph Ltd, 13 September 2001) ISBN 0-7181-4491-0
That Extra Half an Inch: Hair, Heels and Everything In Between (Michael Joseph Ltd, 27 October 2006) ISBN 0-7181-4991-2Further Information
Get more info on 'Victoria Beckham'.
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