The Original Nicknames For 90’s Pop Group Steps

When you were dancing for your family after Sunday roast to Spice Girls songs, which member were you? I was Sporty Spice.

My cousins were Baby Spice and Posh Spice but if my best friend was over, I had to be Ginger Spice because Sporty was her favourite member, too.

Turns out that all along, we could have been not only co-opting the nicknames of the Spice Girls but of Steps, too. What a missed opportunity.

During an interview for the book Reach For The Stars, 1996-2006: Fame, Fallout and Pop’s Final Party by Michael Cragg, Ian ‘H’ Watkins revealed that Steps also tried to go down the personality-traits-as-nicknames route.

Ian said: “I was Hyperactive Steps, Claire was Smiley Steps, Lee was Sporty Steps, Faye was Curly Steps, Lisa was Party Steps. It was like, ‘Why are we trying to do this?’ They had to put you in a box to appeal to the young audience.”

Listen, it is a bit naff but as their exact target audience at the time, I have to say, I completely understand the vision here.

While we may have loved the nicknames given to our favourite girl group, not all members of the Spice Girls were immediately sold on their assigned nicknames.

Earlier in the book, Emma ‘Baby Spice’ Bunton said: “I loved [my nickname]. I’ll say it a thousand times, I really love mine. I’ve always been like that.”

However, Mel ‘Scary Spice’ B doesn’t think hers quite reflected who she was. She said: “I thought Scary Spice was funny. I didn’t think it defined me, because I knew who I was and I always thought it was quite handy to have people being a bit scared… but that’s not who I really am.”