Ocean Colour Scene frontman Simon Fowler claims Mel B tried to bed him without realising he was gay.
The indie rocker met the Spice Girl on an episode of Chris Evans’ Channel 4 talk show ‘TFI Friday’ back in the 90s and she made it her mission to get Simon into bed not realising the mod is into men.
When her bandmate Geri Horner told her he was into guys Mel turned from Scary Spice to Loud Spice and outed him to the studio audience.
Simon – whose band’s track ‘The Riverboat Song’ was the theme music to ‘TFI’ – recalled: "Scary Spice tried to pull me, Geri had to tell her that I batted for the other side. It was during the soundcheck for ‘TFI’, Mel was like, ‘No way, he’s not gay!’ Geri said, ‘He is.’ So Loud Spice goes on the microphone and shouts out, ‘Is he gay?’ That was to the whole bloody audience. So I turned her down, which was good. I think she got a better deal because she ended up with Eddie Murphy, much better money than I could have given her."
Ocean Colour Scene and the Spice Girls stayed friends though and went on to record the official song for the England team for the France 1998 World Cup, ‘(How Does It Feel to Be) On Top of the World’ – which was written by Echo and the Bunnymen frontman Ian McCulloch and featured the three groups and Space.
Simon – who is getting ready to headline the ‘Cool Britannia’ festival over the weekend of September 1 and September 2 – used to love hanging out the five Spice Girls because they were such party animals, although he and Posh Spice Victoria Beckham are not exactly best friends.
Speaking to BANG Showbiz, he said: "That was good fun working with the Spice Girls. They were party animals, Jesus Christ! I did hang out with them quite a bit, they were another load of my partners in crime when it came to partying. They were great fun. Although the last time I saw Victoria it was at a gig Steve Craddock and I did for Jasper Carrott, it’s called ‘Rock with Laughter’, it’s at the NEC every year, it’s a charity thing. So I went up to say hello to her and she went, ‘P**s off, you were p***ed the last time I saw you and your p***ed now.’ So I went, ‘I’ve never liked you, ya pinchy mouthed cow!’"
Mel B tried to turn Ocean Colour Scene’s Simon Fowler straight
