Jul 17, 2026 · 53 min · 12 segments
The Spice Girls story starts here. In Part 1 of our POP 101 deep dive, we break down how five strangers who answered a newspaper ad became the biggest pop group on the planet, from the Heart…
Chantel NicoleHostChrisHostBut a father and son management team, Bob and Chris Herbert of Heart Management, decided there was a gap in the market for an-
... all-female group, and with their financier, Chic Murphy, they envisioned five strikingly different girls who would each appeal to a different corner of the audience.
And in February 1994, they placed an ad in the trade paper, The Stage, looking for young women who could sing and dance, famously asking, "Are you streetwise, outgoing, ambitious, and dedicated?" [laughs]

[laughs] And around 400 women turned up to the open audition at Dance Work Studios in March 1994, and they were split into groups of 10, taught a routine to Eternal's Stay, and then did solo songs of their own choosing.
It was a fine affair, but now it's all run dry.
I see the children of the future.
Teach them well and let them lead the way.
I said we're gonna make it happen.
We might be a little ugly-

Yes.
Oh, man.
So good for Bob and Chris for seeing the gap in the market.
You know, I think they m- maybe don't credit it as much 'cause they're always just like, "There was a gap in the UK market." Of course, there were the American girl groups-
... that were coming out.
Like, we had TLC, right?
And Eternal was around as well, you know-
But a father and son management team, Bob and Chris Herbert of Heart Management, decided there was a gap in the market for an-
... all-female group, and with their financier, Chic Murphy, they envisioned five strikingly different girls who would each appeal to a different corner of the audience.
And in February 1994, they placed an ad in the trade paper, The Stage, looking for young women who could sing and dance, famously asking, "Are you streetwise, outgoing, ambitious, and dedicated?" [laughs]

[laughs] And around 400 women turned up to the open audition at Dance Work Studios in March 1994, and they were split into groups of 10, taught a routine to Eternal's Stay, and then did solo songs of their own choosing.
It was a fine affair, but now it's all run dry.
I see the children of the future.
Teach them well and let them lead the way.
I said we're gonna make it happen.
We might be a little ugly-

Yes.
Oh, man.
So good for Bob and Chris for seeing the gap in the market.
You know, I think they m- maybe don't credit it as much 'cause they're always just like, "There was a gap in the UK market." Of course, there were the American girl groups-
... that were coming out.
Like, we had TLC, right?
And Eternal was around as well, you know-
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