Victoria Caroline Beckham (born Victoria Caroline Adams on 17 April 1974) is an English popular music singer, who first came to prominence as a member of girl band the Spice Girls, as Posh Spice, a nickname given to her by the BBC's Top of the Pops magazine. She is married to soccer icon David Beckham.
Victoria Beckham was born and brought up in affluent Goffs Oak, Hertfordshire to Anthony William (Tony) Adams, an electronics engineer, and Jacqueline Doreen (Jackie) Cannon.
She has a younger sister Louise and a younger brother Christian. Her father used to drive her to school in a Rolls-Royce and their house boasted a pool. Prior to joining the Spice Girls, Victoria had a number of odd modeling and dancing jobs (she is a trained dancer).
Right before joining the Spice Girls she had joined a band where she would be the lead singer; however she left them after falling in love with the Spice Girl project. Even though she sang off key in the audition (she said the song was in the wrong key for her but 'she can really sing') she was chosen anyway.
Victoria Adams married the ex-Manchester United and present England and Real Madrid footballer David Beckham, on July 4, 1999, with whom she has three sons: Brooklyn, born March 4, 1999, Romeo, born September 1, 2002, and Cruz, born February 20, 2005.
Following the birth of her first child, Victoria's weight loss became a topic of much discussion in the British tabloid press. She agreed to appear in adverts for a potato crisp brand but there were claims that she would not actually eat the crisps.
She has claimed to this day that she never had an eating disorder though she says former band member Geri Halliwell did get her dangerously addicted to dieting. She likes to say her dramatic weight loss was due to polycystic cyst ovaries condition but her plummeting weight over the years makes this hard for most people to believe (especially compared to pre Spice photos and videos.)
Despite being one of the most famous celebrities in Britain, and having all her music reach the top ten (the only solo Spice to do so), Victoria Beckham's career as a solo artist is largely considered to have been a commercial failure.
The only Spice Girl not to have had a UK number one single as a solo artist (despite "Out Of Your Mind" was the solo-Spice single with biggest sales in its first week, selling 180,584 copies), she fought unsuccessful media-driven "chart battles" for the number 1 position with Spiller in 2000 (whose single featured the vocals of Beckham's contemporary and rival Sophie Ellis-Bextor, who caused Beckham to be the only solo spice girl to not have a #1 single) and Kylie Minogue in 2001. Her debut album reached number 10 in the UK album chart.
A first single called "Let Your Head Go/ This Groove" (a double A-side) was released in late December 2003 where it hit number 3. This single was a compromise with her manager Simon Fuller, one side being a pop/dance song and the other side a song displaying strong R&B influences which was inspired by her new mentor Damon Dash.
A release for America was planned for March 2004; as well as a second single but a series of unfortante events seen to it neither happened. Apparently Damon Dash (by his own admittance) had a falling out with Simon Fuller over how to manage and produce Victoria's career and music.
With him off the project Victoria apparently decided to shelve the idea rather then trudge ahead. She decided to work on a range of original fashions for Rock and Republic instead.
A promo CD was sent to the media which featured the singles and a snippet of a cover of the Beatles 'Come Together' though the full song has never leaked.
In 2004, her happy marriage image suffered when a string of women lined up to the tabloids claiming to having had affairs with David, including Rebecca Loos. All were dismissed as "ludicrous", "absurd" and "unsubstantiated" by David Beckham and the Beckhams showed a publicly united front against the allegations. However, Loos maintained that she had not fabricated the allegations, and since the Beckhams took no legal action to disprove them, they have continued to mar the image of the Beckhams as the UK's "golden couple". The British press and public, however, eventually lost interest in the story, and the Beckhams have appeared to continue life as normal.
In 2003, Victoria denied rumors of breast enhancement on British TV insisting, "I'm completely natural, except for my fingernails and I have a bit of help with my hair and a bit of San Tropez going on." A year later she told British chat show host Michael Parkinson, "I haven't had a boob job."
This was widely believed to be proven as a lie in 2005 when a court document relating to a libel case she and her husband filed revealed she did have her breasts enhanced. The file, obtained by Britain's The People newspaper, says "That the Second Claimant (Victoria Beckham) had in fact undergone breast enhancement surgery and had lied about it on the 'Tabloid Tales' television program." However most people have failed to realize that is no fact; just what the tabloid is claiming is true. So far there is no proof she has had breast enhancement.
Beckham has had a well-publicized feud with supermodel Naomi Campbell, which began when she publicly branded Campbell as "a massive cow" and a "bitch" in 2000. Campbell later remarked that she could not understand how the former Spice Girl ever got the nickname "Posh". However, any bad blood (tabloid-induced or otherwise) between them seems to have subsided in the past few years, the girls have even appeared to be friends. In fact Naomi was the one who introduced Victoria to Damon Dash.
In 2004 Victoria came out with a mainly jeans fashion line for Rock and Republic called 'VB Rocks'. The jeans were high end (retailing for roughly $300 msrp in the U.S.) and supposed to 'lift your bum' in the design. The line was so successful Victoria has made further lines including a range of Children's and men's wear for the Spring/Fall of 2006. She also has worked on a range of women's clothes including shirts and skirts. The distinctive feature on the clothing is Victoria's logo a crown with the letters VB.
There was also a period in 2005 when it was reported that Victoria Beckham might be sued by HM Queen Elizabeth II for use of what appeared to be The Queens crown as Victoria Beckham's clothes line symbol.
Beckham also revels in her passion for Gucci and Prada and her fondness for high-heels. She is rarely seen smiling in public, for she reportedly hates the way she looks when she smiles. Many people take this to mean she is unhappy though most fans believe its just 'her image'.
In 2006 Victoria had another career milestone when she walked the catwalk for dear friend and fashion designer Roberto Cavalli. Rumour had it she was planning to try to start a career as a model though Victoria herself has said this is absurd.
Further plans for 2006 include a line of sunglasses, a perfume (one for her and a cologne for David), and furthering her fashion range.
On February 26, 2006, Beckham made an official statement regarding the future of her music career in an interview with the Sunday Mirror:
"I'm never going to sing again, unless it was a chance to do something with The Spice Girls. I don't really miss the shows we did together. I miss the girls more. I see Geri a lot - I love her, she's amazing. I speak to the others from time to time. I love them too and miss them."
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