I have to admit to you, '90s music wasn't exactly my jam. I much prefer the music of the '70s or '80s. But if you're a fan of Backstreet Boys or the Spice Girls, this article is definitely for you.
I'm not sure if you followed the careers of these pop stars after their heyday was over, but I'm about to share with you some fun facts about where they are now and exactly what they're doing. So check it out and go down memory lane.
Even though I said I wasn't a fan of '90s music, I did notice the Spice Girls when they came out. Their hit song Wannabe was definitely ear-catching, no? Oh, yeah. It came on the music scene like a storm.
And all the five members were synonymous with their nicknames as much as their matching costumes. Melanie Brown became Mel B or Scary Spice. Melanie Chisholm, aka Mel C or Sporty Spice. Emma Bunton, aka Baby Spice. Geri Halliwell, aka Ginger Spice, and, of course, Victoria Beckham became Posh Spice.
In 1998, Geri Halliwell decided to leave the group due to exhaustion and creative differences. The rest of the group members started solo careers. The Spice Girls reunited a few times, but the group never stayed together for long.
The most famous of the Spice Girls, Victoria Beckham, is a brand all on her own. Notably, being married to the hottest soccer star, David Beckham, has something to do with it. But Victoria has her own fashion empire, has appeared on numerous reality shows, and has written several books.
Melanie Brown, aka Scary Spice, has released solo music, but these days she's more known for being a judge on various talent shows. Melanie Chisholm, aka Sporty Spice, is still a successful solo artist. She even started her own record label Red Girl Records, after the release of her second album, Reason, in 2004.
Emma Bunton, aka Baby Spice, had a solo career, too, but currently has her own radio show on Sunday evenings. She also dabbled in TV and movies and launched a series of kidswear lines in 2011 with Argos.
Geri Halliwell had a solo music career, but these days, she's more into TV. She was a judge on two seasons of The X Factor UK, Australia's Got Talent and American Idol. Halliwell also released her first autobiography in 1999 and her second in 2002. She also authored a series of children's books in 2007. Wow!
Okay, I must confess I did enjoy Everybody (Backstreet's Back) back in the day, ha, ha. Out of all the boy bands, I would have to pick Backstreet Boys as one I could stand, lol. They did grow on me after shooting into stardom back in 1996.
I bet many hearts were shattered. But in 2012, he came back, yay! And in 2013, the group released its first independent album, In a World Like This, to commemorate its 20th anniversary.
Then six years later, the group debuted their next album DNA. It became number one again and made the band the first ever boy band to top the album charts in the United States in three different decades. Impressive, huh?
The group was formed by Chris Kirkpatrick in 1995 and consisted of Kirkpatrick, Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Joey Fatone, and Lance Bass. Their debut album was first released in Europe before hitting US airways. After that, the group became insanely popular. But that didn't last long.
However, they did reunite several times, including in 2013 at the MTV Video Music Awards. And then again in 2018 to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I bet the fans thought it might last, but these days the group members are into their solo careers.
Leaving NSYNC was only the beginning for Justin Timberlake. He's now the most well-known, successful, and controversial member of the former music group. Who can forget that Super Bowl half-time show where he exposed Janet Jackson's breast, for which he later apologized. These days he's still making music and is happily married to Jessica Biel, with whom he has two children.
JC Chasez has enjoyed his own solo music career after his first album, Schizophrenic, debuted in 2004. After that, Chasez has written and produced songs for Girls Aloud, Sugababes, Basement Jaxx, David Archuleta, Matthew Morrison, and the Backstreet Boys. He was also a judge on MTV's America's Best Dance Crew for all seven seasons until the show ended in 2012.
Joey Fatone decided to venture into TV and acting vs. having a music career. In 2007, Fatone came second on America's Dancing with the Stars. He has also been a host of numerous TV shows, namely American Family Feud, Rewrapped, My Family Recipe Rocks and The Price is Right Live!
You can also see him in 2002's My Big Fat Greek Wedding and again in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2.
Lance Bass also left the music world and formed two production companies, Bacon & Eggs, and Lance Bass Productions. He also famously moved to Star City in Russia in pursuit of a seat on the Soyuz space capsule as a tourist. Get this - he had to train as a cosmonaut for several months to prepare for it, but in the end, his financial supporters backed out, and he lost the seat. Oh, shucks!
Bass is an author and released his autobiography, Out of Sync, which debuted on the New York Times Best Seller list. He also came out in a People cover story and is now happily married to his husband, Michael Turchin.
Even though Chris Kirkpatrick formed NSYNC, his music career hasn't been as extensive as the other group members. He was the frontman of an alternative rock band Nigel's 11, but the group got dismantled due to Kirkpatrick's busy schedule of managing and producing music for other artists.
Kirkpatrick dabbled in movies and had a role in 2015's Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!, but he's most well-known for his voice work as Chip Skylark in The Fairly OddParents from 2002 to 2009.
Irish pop group B*Witched had us humming such hits as C'est La Vie and Rollercoaster. Unfortunately, their second album Awake and Breathe, was a bit of a bomb, and the group split shortly afterward.
They reunited in 2012 for the UK reality series The Big Reunion and had an arena tour across the UK and Ireland. Then they released two more albums, did a tour in Australia, and had a podcast.
O'Carroll managed another girl group called Minx for three years before they split up. Then she set up her own musical workshop 'Star Academy,' to help young kids find their feet in the music industry. She also appeared in an Irish soap Fair City in 2007. She's now a proud mom to a daughter Samarah and son to now husband Mike Rahman.
After battling mental health issues, Keavy Lynch and twin sister Edele re-launched themselves as the Barbarellas only to split shortly thereafter to make way for the B*Witched reunion. She is now happily married with children.
Edele Lynch joined the songwriting/production team Xenomania and credits co-writing hits for Girls Aloud and the Sugababes. She also won Celebrity Apprentice in Ireland and was a cast member on Celebrity Big Brother in 2014.
Lindsay Armaou tried her hand at a solo career, then joined a band Clayton, a few months before their split. She also trained as an actor at The Poor School in London, which paved the way for her to land her first feature film role in Two Days in the Smoke.
I definitely did not. It's cool to find out that these former pop stars do have a life after becoming so popular. Some of them continued on the same path and others decided to venture into completely different avenues. Have you kept track of any of them over the years?
