Melanie Janine Brown (born 29 May 1975) is an English pop singer and songwriter turned actress and television personality best known as one of the members of the girl group the Spice Girls, the most successful female group of all time. She was given the nickname "Scary Spice" by the British media because of her outrageous, "in-your-face" attitude, 'loud' Leeds accent, throaty laugh and manner of dress.

Brown was born in Harehills, and grew up in Burley, Leeds, West Yorkshire. She is the daughter of a White mother and a Black father. She has a younger sister named Danielle who is an actress. She studied performing arts at Intake High School, in Leeds, before entering the entertainment industry. For a time she worked as a dancer in the holiday resort, Blackpool, Lancashire.

After seeing an advertisement for an audition in a newspaper, Brown started her music career in a band known as Touch. The group left the original management team and eventually teamed up with music manager Simon Fuller. In this pairing, she and the other girls became known as the Spice Girls. After the group achieved worldwide success, she embarked on a solo music career in 1998. Her first solo album, Hot, produced by Virgin Records, was a moderate success, including a number one hit. However, it did not sell or chart very well. In 2005, she released a second solo album which did not attract much attention. A source said that even fellow band member Geri Halliwell called the album "terrible".