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LONDON : British pop group the Spice Girls, who made "girl power" a buzzword for a whole generation of teenagers, are getting back together for a one-off world tour.
The 1990s all-female band, one of the most successful acts in pop music history, said on Thursday they will play 11 dates on six continents in December 2007 and January 2008.
Victoria Beckham, Geri Halliwell, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm and Emma Bunton appeared together at a press conference in London to break the news, a move pre-empted by an announcement on their website.
"We wanted to say thank you to our fans. It just feels very right for us," said Chisholm.
Beckham, wife of former England football captain David Beckham, said there would be a "huge creche" provided to accommodate the seven children the women will have produced by then.
"Our priority is going to be our families. We want to have fun. That's one of the many reasons for this, for our children to see what we used to do," she said.
She added that her husband, whose fame has eclipsed her own in recent years, would be joining her and their children on tour, adding: "I'm going to be the cool one in the family for once!"
"Posh", "Ginger", "Scary", "Sporty" and "Baby", as the thirty-something multi-millionairesses were known, stressed they would not be reuniting for good.
And neither will they be performing at Sunday's memorial concert for the late princess Diana in London because Bunton is about to give birth.
First stop on the tour is Los Angeles on December 7. It will then go to Las Vegas, New York, London, Cologne, Madrid, Beijing, Hong Kong, Sydney and Cape Town before ending at Buenos Aires on January 24, 2008.
With organisers expecting high demand for tickets, fans face putting their names into a lottery for the chance to see the group, although their website adds that extra dates may still be announced.
The Spice Girls sold over 50 million records worldwide and scored nine British number one singles in the 1990s.
They formed in 1994 after their management company placed a newspaper advertisement.
Their first hit, "Wannabe" in 1996, was followed by a string of others including "Stop", "Spice Up Your Life" and "Say You'll Be There".
The group became icons of "Cool Britannia" - Britain's booming popular culture scene in the late 1990s - and met figures including Nelson Mandela, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles, whose bottom Halliwell pinched.
The five coined the phrase "girl power", a never fully defined concept which encouraged their mainly teenage and pre-teenage female fans to be more assertive.
The Spice Girls also spawned a vast range of marketing spin-offs, from their 1997 movie "Spiceworld" to chocolate, dolls and deodorant.
The band's death knell sounded in 1998, when Halliwell quit, but they only formally split up in 2001.
By then, though, all of the group had forged successful, although short-lived, solo careers.
Beckham was the only member of the group not to secure a British number one on her own.
But today, she is by far the best known of the group - the British press features almost daily stories, many hostile, about "Posh" and her husband, who will move clubs from Real Madrid to LA Galaxy in the United States within days.
Brown, meanwhile, has also been back in the media limelight recently because of a paternity battle with Hollywood actor Eddie Murphy, who she claims is the father of her baby daughter, Angel.
The Spice Girls' announcement comes after another 1990s teen band, Take That, launched a successful comeback last year, although without founder member Robbie Williams. - AFP/de
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