Hello Magazine Profile of Victoria Beckham - Thursday November 11, 2004

"If you haven't got it. Fake it! Too short? Wear high heels!" says Victoria. Having risen from obscurity as one of The Spice Girls and gone on to become half of one of the world's most high-profile couples, the singer can walk the walk - but she's certainly no fake.

Born Victoria Caroline Adams on April 17, 1974, in Hertfordshire, England, to parents Tony and Jackie, the singer admits to having wanted to be a star from the age of eight after seeing the film Fame. Recognising the showbiz bug in their little girl, her parents sent eight-year-old Victoria to the Jason Theatre School in Enfield where she continued to study until she was 17. Growing up, Victoria was not popular at school. Ironically, for a girl who as Posh Spice would adopt an image revelling in her wealth, she hated being dropped off outside the gates in her father's Rolls Royce.

At age 18 the budding performer moved on to Laine Arts Theatre College in Surrey, taking dancing lessons on the side. Three years later she answered an ad in the magazine The Stage looking for five girls who could sing and dance. It was to be her ticket to fame. The female quintet – Geri Halliwell, Mel B, Mel C, Emma Bunton and Victoria – would go on to become The Spice Girls.

Even after The Spice Girls' first single, Wannabe, went straight to number one, few imagined they would dominate pop music for so long. But for a few years the girls could not put a foot wrong – they captured the imagination of youngsters around the globe, notching up number one after number one and breaking record after record.

Amid all the success, Victoria met her future husband, footballer David Beckham, after a Manchester United game in 1997. According to her father Tony, "It was love at first sight". The couple were married two years later and had their first son Brooklyn the same year. Another son, Romeo, followed in September 1, 2002.

By 1997, The Spice Girls had reached the peak of their popularity and were even starring in their own movie Spiceworld. Everything changed, however, when the de facto leader of the group, Geri Halliwell, made her shock announcement that she was to quit the outfit at the beginning of 1998.

The remaining "Spices" decided to continue without her, releasing the album Forever in 2000, but marriage, motherhood and solo careers soon began to eclipse the band's world domination. Victoria released a solo single Not Such An Innocent Girl and self-titled debut album Victoria Beckham in 2001, although her family had come to take precedence over her career. In May 2003, however, she was once again active on the musical scene teaming up with several lumineries from the US hip hop world.