Spice Girl Mel B to switch on Blackpool Illuminations

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Mel B will be flicking the switch at Blackpool Illuminations Credit: PA IMages

Pop icon Mel B says she is "thrilled" is to switch on this year’s Blackpool Illuminations.

The Spice Girl will return to the resort for the big switch on, where her career first started as a 16-year-old dancer in the Mystique show at the Pleasure Beach.

Mel, 49, rose to global fame in the 90s as a member of the girl power band in which she was nicknamed Scary Spice.

With more than 100 million records sold worldwide, the group became the best-selling girl band of all time.

Mel was made an MBE in the 2022 New Year Honours list for her charitable work. Credit: Instagram: Mel B

She has since gone on to work as a solo singer-songwriter, TV personality and actress, working on numerous shows in the UK, Australia and the United States.

Mel – who is patron of Women’s Aid - was also made an MBE in the 2022 New Year Honours list for her charitable work.

She says she is "thrilled" to be turning on the Illuminations because "Blackpool has played a big part in my life and career." Mel added: "I was just 16 when I came to Blackpool to be part of the Mystique dance group. To me it was the most glamorous place in the world - the Vegas of Britain. "I had so much to learn, so fast and it stood me in good stead for everything that came later. I love the people, the place and of course the fish and chips - with plenty of scraps.

Mel B and the rest of the Spice Girls took the world by storm in the 1990s Credit: PA

"So to have the opportunity in 2024 to come back and turn on the Illuminations means so much to me. I’m really excited to get the party started!"

Cllr Lynn Williams, Leader of Blackpool Council, said: “We are thrilled to announce Mel B as the 2024 Switch-On star.

"Not only is she a member of one of the best-known girl groups on the planet, her work with vulnerable women and victims of domestic abuse is exemplary.

"It will be a pleasure to welcome her back to the resort where she started out on what was to become a stellar career."

The illuminations will light up Blackpool's Golden Mile for four months Credit: PA

Mel will pull the famous switch to trigger four months of Illuminations at the end of a show that has Ella Henderson and former member of The Pussycat Dolls Kimberley Wyatt on the bill.

It is a free to access event on the Tower Festival Headland on the night of Friday 30 August, and an estimated 80,000 will be there.

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