All Saints’s Nicole and Natalie Appleton revisit Spice Girls comparisons and ‘feud’ headlines
Two of the 90s’s biggest girl bands were put head-to-head by the tabloids at the height of their fame
By Aaron Sugg
All Saints’s Nicole and Natalie Appleton have revealed that the rivalry between them and the Spice Girls in the late 1990s was largely created by the press.
The sisters said that both girl bands were, in fact, friends, and that the press pushed the idea of the two biggest girl groups of their time being enemies.
Speaking to Rolling Stone UK, Natalie said: “I think the press put that on us… It never really came from us. We just had to kind of deal with it.”
“What you didn’t see is that we were all hanging out” – Natalie Appleton on All Saints and the Spice Girls
She explained that in reality they were friends: “But back then, what you didn’t see is that we were all hanging out with each other – we were going out together all the time.”
Natalie added that their platonic friendship was not of interest to the press: “But it wasn’t interesting to know that we were friends, so [the media] wouldn’t write about us having fun together.”
They also had a long history with the group: “We’ve known Emma Bunton since she was 11,” Natalie revealed. “We’ve got history with them and still do.”
The Appleton sisters met Emma Bunton at the Sylvia Young Theatre School
The Appleton sisters have known Bunton, Baby Spice, since she was 11, after meeting at the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London.
Formed in 1993, All Saints consisted of Melanie Blatt, Shaznay Lewis and the Appleton sisters. After All Saints split in 2001, the sisters formed the duo Appleton.
Rather than resenting comparisons, Natalie has said being called the Spice Girls’ “rivals” was an honour because the girl group were so successful.
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