FORMER Spice Girl Melanie C will be wowing festival goers at the inaugural Polo Fest at Chester Lakes next month.

Sporty Spice will be hitting the decks with her 90s Mixtape DJ set on the evening of Saturday, September 15, which also has internationally renowned band Toploader heading the bill.

As part of the legendary girl group, Melanie Chisholm became a household name the world over and has gone on to develop her own successful solo pop and theatre career.

Event organiser Phil Marston said: “We’re absolutely delighted that a international star of the stature of Melanie C will be joining us on the Saturday evening at this years Polo Fest. She is simply iconic as Sporty Spice and as popular with today’s as she was as a Spice Girl.

“When you add Melanie to the stars appearing on the Saturday, including Toploader, Simon Webbe and Chris Hepworth, it should prove to be a fantastic day for the whole family.”

The Spice Girls first struck gold in 1996 with their international hit single ‘Wannabe’, which reached number one in 37 different countries.

Their phenomenal success saw them achieve nine number one hits in the UK alone, selling 31 million albums worldwide.

Following their split in 1998, Melanie embarked on her solo career with great critical success.

Firstly she teamed up with Bryan Adams on the hit single ‘When You’re Gone’ before releasing her triple platinum debut solo album ‘Northern Star.’

The album went on to sell four million copies globally and peaked at number four in the album charts, with two international number one singles in ‘Never Be the Same Again’ and ‘I Turn to You’.

Since then she has released a further six albums, the last being the critically acclaimed ‘Version of Me’.

The Spice Girls were re-united for an album and world tour in 2007, the latter grossing almost US$180million.

Since 1996, Melanie has sold more than 105 million records, of which 20 million as a solo artist (6.5 million albums and 13.5 million singles), and a further 85 million with Spice Girls.

In October 2009, she had her acting debut on stage as Mrs Johnstone in the musical ‘Blood Brothers’, a role she held until the end of 2010, being named best actress at the Laurence Olivier Awards that year.

Since then she has appeared on both stage and screen such as X-Factor Australia, an award-winning performance in the musical ‘Mary Magdalene’ as well as the role of Christy in the 2013 British comedy film ‘Play Hard’.

Most recently she has become a favourite on BBC Radio 2, regularly covering for the likes of Dermot O’Leary and Zoe Ball.

* Tickets for Polo Fest 2018 are available at www.polofest.co.uk, by calling 0344 800 0410 or by visiting the Chester Visitor Centre in the Grosvenor Shopping Centre.

Gates at the venue in Dodleston open at noon on both days, September 15 and 16.

The full line-up is:

Saturday (September 15)

Toploader

Melanie C’s 90s Mix Tape (DJ set)

Simon Webbe

Jay Foreman

Chris Hepworth

Sunday (September 16)

Toploader

Gok Wan (DJ set)

Sam Bailey

Zoot Serious & the Bellyful of Bop

Chris Hepworth