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Mel B missing from Spice Girls rehearsals due to legal wrangle with ex-nanny

WITH just one month until the start of the Spice Girls tour, the time has come for Sporty, Ginger, Baby and Scary to brush up on their harmonies.

Today Geri Horner, Mel C and Emma Bunton were all spotted heading into a studio in London – but Mel B was nowhere to be seen.

Insiders tell me the singer has remained in Los Angeles, where she had a court commitment as part of her ongoing legal wrangle with former nanny Lorraine Gilles ­— but it’s the last thing the group need before their big comeback.

A source said: “There have been massive ups and downs already, so this doesn’t help.

“Mel had commitments but it really isn’t ideal. With the shows coming up fast they need to hit the ground running, but she’s planning to join the others as soon as possible.”

While Mel B has been the biggest champion of getting the band back together, her commitment kept her away from bandmate Geri for a little longer after their recent bust-up.

The flame-haired singer was livid after Mel told Piers Morgan about their lesbian sex session in an interview to be broadcast on ITV this summer.

And seeing as Geri is waiting to tear strips out of her as soon she touches down in Britain, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mel was hoping for a couple more legal hold-ups before she has to face the music with her bandmate.

Mel was replaced by a backing dancer stand-in for the first session. Geri brought along her daughter Bluebell to watch, while Emma shared a sweet snap of herself posing with five of the Spice Girls’ 20 backing dancers.

As The Sun previously revealed, killjoy Victoria Beckham is sitting out of the tour but is still set to bank millions from her links to the iconic group. The series of gigs kick off in Dublin’s Croke Park on May 24 and ends with three massive shows at Wembley Stadium from June 13 – 15.

They are set to play to hundreds of thousands of fans during the tour, so a few practice sessions beforehand wouldn’t be a bad idea if you can squeeze them in, Mel.

READ ON FOR MORE OF SIMON BOYLE'S BIZARRE COLUMN

Madge Medellin with Mal

THE wait for new Madonna music is almost over.

She announced yesterday that she will release comeback single Medellín on Wednesday – her first new tune since those included on 2015 album Rebel Heart.

It will feature on her 14th studio album, which she revealed will be called Madame X. And she posed for this glamorous and typically quirky photo for the single artwork with singer Maluma, who she has teamed up with for the track.

He is one of Latin America’s biggest pop stars, with 40.7million Instagram followers and 11billion video views on YouTube.

The video for this song is bound to give him a fair few more.

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KIM Kardashian and Kanye West are in negotiations to buy a £5.7million, six-bed, seven-bathroom holiday home in Palm Springs, California, which is next door to a pad owned by Kanye’s mother-in-law Kris Jenner.

Ariana's Grande day out

IF there was anywhere Ariana Grande would fit in wearing an outfit like this, it’s Coachella.

She closed the first weekend of the Californian music festival with a huge show in which she brought out Nicki Minaj, Diddy and *NSYNC as special guests.

Nicki was plagued by sound issues and could barely rap her verse in Bang Bang, but Ari had a ball singing and dancing along to *NSYNC’s Tearin’ Up My Heart.

Plenty of other famous faces were in the crowd in zany outfits for the final day of the festival including Kendall Jenner, Pixie Lott, and Katy Perry — who had earlier joined Zedd on stage as a surprise guest.

And Liam Payne showed ex-girlfriend Naomi Campbell what she was missing by whipping his top off to pose for a photo.

I told last week how he has been having workouts with Hollywood actor Mark Wahlberg. They are paying off.

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BRIT Awards Critics’ Choice winner Sam Fender has said he will release his debut album, Hypersonic Missiles, on August 9. The Geordie singer recorded his 13-track collection in his self-built warehouse studio.

No need to be board with Ed

ACTING isn’t all fun and games – though it is when Ed Sheeran is around.

Sanjeev Bhaskar has revealed he bonded with the singer over a board game on the set of their upcoming musical comedy movie Yesterday, which is set to the music of The Beatles. At the Asian Awards in London, he said: “I did a day’s filming with Ed. He was great fun.

“There is a traditional Asian game called carrom and he had never seen it. It’s a board and you flick counters around on it.

“Me and Ed had a game and I let him win.” Himesh Patel stars in the film as the only person who knows of the Fab Four.

Danny Boyle directs and Ed appears as himself.

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Tom jewellery

TOM Walker is as romantic in real life as he is in his music.

On the podcast Official Charts: Take The Hit, which launches today, The Leave A Light On singer said: “The ring for my fiancé is the most expensive thing I’ve ever bought for anyone. It wasn’t crazy, she’s not a flashy person, it’s simple and elegant. She really liked it.”

They expect to marry in the next two years and Tom Added: “We want it somewhere we can make lots of noise and we want to serve curry.”

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AN excited Rita Ora has announced her next track will be a collaboration with Norwegian producer Kygo. Carry On is the soundtrack to the latest Pokemon film, Detective Pikachu. Rita said she couldn’t wait for her fans to hear it.

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JOE Jonas has joked he will need “a lot of beer” when he marries actress Sophie Turner this summer after his brother Nick Jonas ran out of booze at his nuptials. Joe said: “I mean, we are getting married in France, so a lot of Coors Light is necessary. Not hard, really, to get that, but we needed to make sure.”

SPIDER-MAN actor Tom Holland has emerged as a fan of UFC fighter Conor McGregor, having backed him on Instagram. Tom, who plays Peter Parker in the new Avengers: Endgame movie, left laughing face emojis on the Irish boxer’s posts after he came under fire for mocking rival Khabin Nurmagomedov.

A HOST of celebs including Max George, Lethal Bizzle and Tyger Drew-Honey, will be heading to the VIP night of a new circus at Old Deer Park in Richmond, South West London tomorrow night. Circus Extreme combines top artists, clown escapades and stunts never seen before in the UK.

K-POP sensations BTS are on course to make chart history with the first UK No1 album from a Korean act on the Official Chart. Their new collection Map Of The Soul: Persona was 10,000 copies ahead of its nearest competitor, The Chemical Brothers’ No Geography, in the mid-week album chart update.

Emma Bunton plays Popping The Question with Fabulous Magazine

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Martina Birk

Update: 2024-06-07