Untitled Document
Untitled Document
Release date: October 18th, 1999
First release: United Kingdom
Record label: Virgin Records
Recording sessions: 6 months in 1999
Collaboration: TLC’s Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, singing and co-writing Never Be The Same Again
Singles: Goin' Down, Northern Star, Never Be The Same Again, I Turn To You, If That Were Me
Highest chart position: 4 (UK)
Total sales: 900,000 copies and 3 million worldwide
Recording studios:
-Guerilla Beach Studios, Los Angeles
-The Village Recorder Studio, Los Angeles
-The Studio, Los Angeles
-Fredonia International, Los Angeles
-Track Records, Los Angeles
-Sound Gallery Studios, Los Angeles
-Royaltone Studios, Los Angeles
-Cello Studios, Los Angeles
-Angel Studios, London
-Air (Lyndhurst) Studios, London
-Olympic Studios, London
-Strongroom Studios, London
-Ca Va Studios, Glasgow
All tracks mixed at O’Henry’s Sound Studio, Burbank, except Ga Ga mixed at the Village.
  1. Go! (Melanie Chisholm/William Orbit) Produced by William Orbit – Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
  2. Northern Star (Melanie Chisholm/Rick Nowels) Produced by Marius de Vries - Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
  3. Goin'Down (Melanie Chisholm/Richard Stannard/Julian Gallagher) Produced by Marius de Vrires - Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
  4. I Turn To You (Melanie Chisholm/Rick Nowels/Billy Steinberg) Produced by Rick Nowels - Co Produced by Rob Playford - Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
  5. If That Were Me (Melanie Chisholm/Rick Nowels) Produced by Rick Nowels - Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
  6. Never Be The Same Again (Melanie Chisholm/Rhett Lawrence/Paul F. Cruz/Lisa Lopes/Lorenzo Martin) Produced by Rhett Lawrence - Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
  7. Why (Melanie Chisholm/Marius de Vries/Steve Sidelnyk) Produced by Marius de Vries - Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
  8. Suddenly Monday (Melanie Chisholm/Matt Rowe/Richard Stannard/Julian Gallagher) Produced by Ricky Rubin - Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
  9. Ga Ga (Melanie Chisholm/Phil Thornalley/Dave Munday) Produced by Ricky Rubin - Mixed by Ricky Rubin & D. Sardy
  10. Be The One (Melanie Chisholm/Phil Thornalley/Dave Munday) Produced by Ricky Rubin - Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
  11. Closer (Melanie Chisholm/Rick Nowels/Billy Steinberg) Produced by Marius de Vries - Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
  12. Feel The Sun (Melanie Chisholm/Rick Nowels) Produced by Craig Armstrong/Patrick McCarthy/Damien LeGassiak - Mixed by Patrick McCarthy


-Never Be The Same Again Single Mix (Melanie Chisholm/Rhett Lawrence/Paul F. Cruz/Lisa Lopes/Lorenzo Martin) Produced by Rhett Lawrence – Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
-I Turn To You Hex Hector Radio Mix (Melanie Chisholm/Rick Nowels/Billy Steinberg) Remix by Hex Hector – Vocal Reproduction by Yak Bondy
-Follow Me (Melanie Chisholm/Bryan Adams/Billy Steinberg) Produced by Marius de Vries - Mixed by Patrick McCarthy

Melanie performed 14 gig around the world to promote Northern Star in 1999: England, United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands and Denmark) in her first solo tour From Liverpool To Leicester Square. Northern Star had also 5 other tours in 2000 and 2001.

Northern Star debuted at position 10 in the best selling albums chart in the UK. It sold 17,773 copies in the first week.

The album was released on November 2nd in the USA and only peaked the 208 position.

After five singles and several tours and promotion, the album was re-released in August 2000 and climbed to position 4 in the UK charts, selling 880,000 copies.

Northern Star ended up selling 3 millions copies worldwide.


Work In Progress was Northern Star’s demo CD, with the songs from the revision period. Rarity for the fans, the Work In Progress brought songs that weren’t used on Northern Star, such as You Taught Me and an extended version of Suddenly Monday.
Release Date: September 27th, 1999
First release: United Kingdom
Record Label: Virgin Records
Formats: Single pt1, single pt2, cassette, vinyl
Highest Chart Position: 4 (UK)
Total Sales: 90,000 copies

PT1:

  1. Goin'Down Radio Version (Melanie Chisholm/Richard Stannard/Julian Gallagher) Produced by Marius de Vrires - Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
  2. Ga Ga (Melanie Chisholm/Phil Thornalley/Dave Munday) Produced by Ricky Rubin – Mixed by Ricky Rubin & D. Sardy
  3. Angel On My Shoulder (Melanie Chisholm/Phil Thornalley/Hewerdine) Produced by Ricky Rubin

PT2:

  1. Goin'Down Single Version (Melanie Chisholm/Richard Stannard/Julian Gallagher) Produced by Marius de Vrires - Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
  2. Ga Ga (Melanie Chisholm/Phil Thornalley/Dave Munday) Produced by Ricky Rubin - Mixed by Ricky Rubin & D. Sardy
  3. I Want You Back (Melanie Chisholm/Phil Thornalley/Campsie) Produced by Ricky Rubin - Mixed by David Schiffman
  4. Goin'Down - video for PC

Directed by Giuseppi Capotondi, Melanie is wearing a skirt singing inside a warehouse full of people walking and jumping around her, and also a band playing and skaters. With aggressive gestures, black make up and very short hair, Melanie looks like the leader of the crowd. Cops that pass by find out about the mess going on and call for back up to surround the place, including a helicopter. This does not affect Melanie and only when the song finishes she throws the mic on the floor and leaves passing through the crowd. Click on the pictures to visit the Videography section:

Goin’ Down got a bad reception from the critics, who didn’t enjoy the radical changes on Melanie’s look and the bad language she uses on the song.

The video was banned from many TV stations due to the aggressive performance and the cursing. It damaged the single’s promotion. Melanie also had a throat infection and needed to mime in several appearances.

The single went to number 4 in the charts, sold 90,000 copies in the UK, stayed inside the Top 40 for 3 weeks and was the 179º best selling single in 1999.

The b-side Angel On My Shoulder is dedicated to Vincent Tuffley & Winnie Costello, Melanie’s grandparents who died from cancer.
Release date: November 22nd, 1999
First release: United Kingdom
Record label: Virgin Records
Formats: Single pt1, single pt2, cassette, vinyl
Highest chart position: 4 (UK), 50 (Germany)
Total sales: 195,000 copies
TRACKLIST PT1:
  1. Northern Star Single Version (Melanie Chisholm/Rick Nowels) Produced by Marius de Vries – Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
  2. Follow Me (Melanie Chisholm/Bryan Adams/Billy Steinberg) Produced by Marius de Vries - Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
  3. Northern Star Full Version (Melanie Chisholm/Rick Nowels) Produced by Marius de Vries - Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
  4. Northern Star - video for PC

TRACKLIST PT2:

  1. Northern Star Single Version (Melanie Chisholm/Rick Nowels) Produced by Marius de Vries - Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
  2. Something's Gonna Happen (Melanie Chisholm/Marius de Vries/Steve Sidelnyk) Produced by Marius de Vries - Mixed by Marius de Vries
  3. Northern Star Acoustic Version (Melanie Chisholm/Rick Nowels) Produced by Ricky Nowels - Mixed by Ricky Nowels

Directed by Steven Green, Melanie appears wearing a black leather coat and high heel boots walking by a lot of environments: an airport, a town, a beach and a gas station. The video is quite dark but with a few shades in blue. There are several close ups on Melanie during the video. Click on the pictures to visit the Videography section:

Released just seven weeks after Goin’ Down, the single Northern Star was very successful despite peaking the same chart position as Goin’ Down, number 4.

The single Northern Star stayed in the Top 40 for seven weeks and sold 195,000 copies in the United Kingdom. It was the 98º most selling single in 1999.

The b-side Follow Me, written by Melanie, Bryan Adams and Billy Steinberg, was recorded in 2006 by Do, a Dutch singer. Do had already recorded Bryan’s song Heaven in 2002, with DJ Sammy. The singer claimed that Bryan “gave her” Follow Me as a gift. Do released the song as a single and even filmed a video, but never mentioned Melanie C as the original owner of the song and changed small details in the lyrics.
Release date: March 20th, 2000
First release: United Kingdom
Record label: Virgin Records
Formats: Single pt1, single pt2, cassette, vinyl, American version single
Highest chart position: 1 (for a week - UK), 5 (Germany)
Total sales: 400,000 copies (150,000 only in the first week)

PT1:

  1. Never Be The Same Again Single Edit (Melanie Chisholm/Rhett Lawrence/Paul F. Cruz/Lisa Lopes/Lorenzo Martin) Produced by Rhett Lawrence – Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
  2. I Wonder What It Would Be Like (Melanie Chisholm/Ricky Nowels/Billy Steinberg) Produced by Rick Rubin - Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
  3. Never Be The Same Again Lisa Lopes Remix (Melanie Chisholm/Rhett Lawrence/Paul F. Cruz/Lisa Lopes/Lorenzo Martin) Remix by Lisa Lopes and Lorenzo Martin at Left Eye Productions
  4. Never Be The Same Again - video for PC
PT2:
  1. Never Be The Same Again (Melanie Chisholm/Rhett Lawrence/Paul F. Cruz/Lisa Lopes/Lorenzo Martin) Produced by Rhett Lawrence - Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
  2. Closer (Melanie Chisholm/Rick Nowels/Billy Steinberg) Live
  3. Goin'Down (Melanie Chisholm/Richard Stannard/Julian Gallagher) Live

Directed by Francis Lawrence, in the video Melanie appears running on a treadmill, doing phototherapy and relaxing in the water. During the rap performed by the unforgettable Lisa “Left-Eye” Lopes both of them dance to a choreography based on Yoga and Tai Chi. Click on the pictures to visit the Videography section:

During the record sessions of the album, Melanie wanted to make a duet in Never Be The Same Again and sent a demo of the song to Lisa, asking her if she’d be up to make the rap. She accepted and the result was the first number 1 of Melanie’s solo career. Lisa said: "Mel C is an interesting person. She's intelligent and has a very good energy. It was great working with her." And Melanie: "I do tend to put a lot of the success for that single down to Lisa."

Lisa remixed the song under Left Eye Productions. She had her own record label, Eyenetics, that launched the group Blaque, with a TLC style.

Sadly, on April 25th Lisa passed away in a car accident. It happened in Honduras, where she was on vacation.

Never Be The Same Again debuted straight at number 1 in the United Kingdom, selling 150,000 copies only on its first week and 400,000 copies in total. It was the 18º best selling single in the UK in 2000, it brought the album Northern Star back to the Top 10 and got the world’s attention to Melanie’s solo career.

Interviewed by Creme Magazine, Melanie told how the day was when Never Be The Same Again went to number 1: "I actually think I had quite a perfect day the other day when I went out to lunch with my friends, my old school chums and found out my single was Number One. In the evening we all went to see Five, and afterwards I stayed at J's home. That was a perfect day."

Westlife (who at the time were competing with Mel for the number one spot with their single Fool Again) tried to boycott Mel and Lisa’s single sales by telling the audience while on Top Of The Pops to buy Fool Again instead of Never be The Same Again!
Release date: August 7th, 2000
First release: United Kingdom
Record label: Virgin Records
Formats: Single pt1, single pt2, cassette, American version,
Highest chart position: 1 (for a week - UK), 2 (Germany)
Total sales: 338,000 copies (120,000 of those only in the first week)
PT1:
  1. I Turn To You Hex Hector Radio Mix (Melanie Chisholm/Rick Nowels/Billy Steinberg) Remixed by Hex Hector – Vocal reproduction Yak Bondy
  2. I Turn To You Stonebridge R&B Radio Mix (Melanie Chisholm/Rick Nowels/Billy Steinberg) Remix by StoneBridge
  3. Never Be The Same Again (Melanie Chisholm/Rhett Lawrence/Paul F. Cruz/Lisa Lopes/Lorenzo Martin) Live with Lisa Lopes
  4. I Turn To You - video for PC

PT2:

  1. I Turn To You Damian Legassick Radio Mix (Melanie Chisholm/Rick Nowels/Billy Steinberg) Remix by Damian Legassick
  2. I Turn To You Stonebridge Club Mix (Melanie Chisholm/Rick Nowels/Billy Steinberg) Remix by StoneBridge
  3. Be The One (Melanie Chisholm/Phil Thornalley/Dave Munday) Live

Directed by Cameron Casey, the video shows Melanie at the island’s mountains, dancing in a disco, bathing in a lake, meditating by the sunset and with long wavy blond hair with dark roots. At the end of the video Melanie and a group of people watch the sunrise at the rocks. Click on the pictures to visit the Videography section:

Just like Never Be The Same again, I Turn To You debuted straight at number one in the UK charts, selling 120,000 copies only in the first week and 338,000 copies in total. It was the 27º best selling single in 2000.

The song received a lot of attention in the United States, getting to the number one at the Billboard's Dance Chart.

Two months after its release, remixed versions of the song were still being played several times at European clubs.

Hex Hector won a Grammy Award for Best Remix of 2000 with I Turn To You.


The press reported the party Mel had when she heard she was number 1 again:
Mel makes her mark: At a Hampstead restaurant on Sunday, Mel C was celebrating the success of her new single. "I've just gone to Number One!" bellowed the Spice Girl from her vantage point dancing on a tabletop. Body adorned with goodwill messages in marker pen, she hurled peanuts at fellow diners, and shouted along to the jukebox. Melanie even made an unprintably lewd suggestion to clean-cut Jamie Theakston, who looked shocked and admonished her: "Now get down off that table, Mel, at once." "She might be the first person to have embarrassed Liam Gallagher," reports a bystander.

Melanie commented on the number 1 party in World Magazine, in 2003: "We were out in Hampstead when I Turn To You was Number One. I'd been out drinking on the Saturday, I'd not been to bed and we were in the pub on the Sunday night. Liam and Nicole came over to see me dancing on the tables going, 'Number F**king One!' Even Liam was embarrassed. That's my claim to fame. I have embarrassed Liam Gallagher."

Never Be The Same Again Live & Be The One Live: Both tracks were recorded during a MTV Europe special with acoustic versions of the songs from Northern Star. That special was broadcasted by MTV Brazil in 2000, in the TV show Alto e Bom Som.

I Turn To You was recorded as a rock version by the bands Wig Wam and Machinae Supremacy.
Release date: November 27th, 2000
First release: United Kingdom
Record label: Virgin Records
Formats: Single, cassette, Australian version,
Highest chart position: 18 (UK), 58 (Germany)
Total sales: 35,000 copies (18,000 in the first week)
UK:
  1. If That Were Me (Melanie Chisholm/Rick Nowels) Produced by Rick Nowels – Mixed by Patrick McCarthy
  2. If That Were Me Acoustic Version (Melanie Chisholm/Rick Nowels) Produced by Rick Nowels - Mixed by Randall Wine
  3. When You're Gone (Bryan Adams/Eliot Kennedy) Produced by Bryan Adams - Live
  4. If That Were Me - video for PC

Directed by Cameron Casey, Melanie is wearing a black leather jacket and a t-shirt with the number 69 written. She’s walking by a courtyard and a bridge on a cold day. She’s depressed and the rain falls down on her while walking by the streets and interpreting the song. Click on the pictures to visit the Videography section:

Melanie has always been worried about the homelessness in England. Before fame, Melanie and Geri used to go out and distribute food for the people living in the streets. Melanie said in the Hour Of Power interview, from 2001: "When I originally wrote this song, it was from homeless people I actually was inspired, you know, I’ve witnessed a lot of that growing up in England and Liverpool, where I’m from and moving to London and then travelling all over the world with Spice Girls, it’s just a huge problem in most places in the world and you know, I always wanted to release this single for it to be a charity record. So it feels good to be able to do that and I just hope it’s a big seller, especially for the cause."

The royalties from the single were donated to the project No Place Home from the Kandu Arts charity.


If That Were Me was released after the long-waited return of the Spice Girls in 2000, what ended up damaging the single’s sales and hindering Melanie from promoting it properly. The result was the debut of the single at the 18th position, selling 18,000 copies in the first week. In total, If That Were Me only sold 35,000 copies in the United Kingdom.

The single was released in the United Kingdom only as pt1.

When You’re Gone Live: Recorded during a Bryan Adam’s concert at Slane Castle, Ireland, in 2000. That concert was released as a DVD including Melanie’s participation in the track.
Untitled Document
Untitled Document