Melanie C speaks ahead of Birmingham gig - interview

She is the politest woman in the world. Mel C makes the Queen seem as though she's lacking in manners. She makes Debrett's appear to be a guidebook for the indolent. Every P & Q is minded. No question is shirked. She's ever-so-slightly flirty and she answers questions accurately then waits for the next.

There's no waffle, no going off at a tangent and zero evasion. Spice, the non-feud with Little Mix, motherhood, tabloid gossip, the highs and lows of her solo career and what it's really like to sleep on a tour bus with a load of smelly blokes are all on the agenda.

She laughs in all the right places, makes the effort to answer questions she's heard 763,999 times before and has a dirty rock'n'roll laugh when it's needed. She is, in short, a gift.

She's happy today, too. It's the day before she receives the chart placing for her sixth solo album, Version of Me, and she's heard good news.

"It's 14 on the midweek chart," she says. And, indeed, it duly enters the chart at that place, a huge improvement on her 2012 opus Stages, her 2011 album The Sea and her stalled 2007 record Beautiful Intentions. It is, in fact, her biggest hit since the post-Spice glory years, when her debut, Northern Star, went in at number four and was certified triple platinum and when the 2003 follow-up, Reason, went to number five and secured a gold disc.

She's pleased to be flavour of the month again and to have achieved her highest chart placing for 13 years.

"Coming off the back of the Spice Girls, I was super ambitious. You know, that's never really changed, I really do have high hopes. The first album was a big success. Like all artists I've had highs and lows. But it's nice to be here now with this album. We've had great reviews and it's looking good. It's the highest in the chart for over a decade. People are really connecting with this."

Indeed they are. Though Melanie Jayne Chisholm won't ever achieve the commercial heights of the Spice Girls – she's sold about 10 million records compared to their 80-100 million – but she is the most successful performer from the band. Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton and Melanie Brown have enjoyed varying levels of success. And while Victoria Beckham has eclipsed the others with her fashion empire and marriage to David – they're worth more than £500 million – it's Mel C who's thrived most in the world of entertainment.

She's no longer the backflipping, crop-top-wearing loudmouth with a high ponytail and nose ring whose face graces everything from frozen pizza boxes to bean bags. These days she's something of an all-rounder: a singer, songwriter, actress and TV personality who owns her own record label and has never been more confident or comfortable in her own skin.

Since 2012's Stages album, she's been remarkably busy.

"I had some great opportunities. I toured Jesus Christ Superstar and did the TV show of that." It took two years and she was acclaimed for her portrayal of Mary Magdalene.

"Then I toured with Jools Holland, which is such a wonderful gig. He's great and his orchestra is incredible. While I was on stage with Jools, I missed being on stage with my own band, doing my own stuff with my own show. So three years ago, I started writing. I didn't put any pressure on."

She got busy, inevitably, doing other things. "I was a judge on Asia's Got Talent, which was really fun. So I've been busy but sporadic. And I think that's helped me make a great album and it's really strong," she reflects.

She's thrilled to be back in the ring, doing the thing she loves the most. "It's rock'n'roll, babe. The writing part of work is where your life is your own. When you're promoting an album it's Breakfast TV and radio then late nights. The writing fits within everything else."

She's a mum, too, and has a seven-year-old, Scarlet Chisholm Starr. "I do the school run and work things around that. I work in the afternoons until the evening. I've worked with some great songwriters, musicians and producers on this. There's lots of people I've worked with in the past as well as new collaborators like Sons of Sonix. It's a younger demograph for me. Sons of Sonix are 25 and have that R'n'B/grime background.

"But I'm such a lover of music and things change constantly. I love rock and pop and dance. I love EDM. It's a healthy time in mainstream music and I also love electro soul and people like Jack Garrett. Someone like SIA is a phenomenal pop artist too. I've really been influenced and inspired by what's going on out there.

"Throughout my career, everything I've done has come to me. Opportunities have come up. Everything has felt right at the time, whether that's being on the road or working in the West End. I need to be passionate about my work. Right now it's all about this album and getting out and playing it right."

Version of Me is a typically honest and forthright album. And, let's face it, we'd expect no less. Mel C's output has been characterised by its honesty and she's spoken openly about her struggles with ADHD, clinical depression and an eating disorder. She's also had a number of relationships – Robbie, Anthony Kiedis from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Matt Cardle and the like – that have formed the basis for some of her, and their, music.

On Version of Me she worked with two longtime co-writers, Peter Vettese and Adam Argyle. "Having Peter and Adam is great. I like to be very candid and write from personal experience. It's good to be with people I've worked with for a long time. You're exposing your innermost thoughts and feelings so you need to be comfortable.

"I was super nervous with Sons of Sonix. But we share publishers and they had the idea to put us together. It's not something I would have thought of doing. But the publisher knew us personally and felt it would work. It was great. It may be the only time in history where every session ended up on the record. Everything we did went straight on," she says.

She loves it when ideas and energy flow spontaneously.

"Some songs, usually the ones that work out well, happen quickly. The inspiration is flowing and it kinda just comes. Other times it takes days to rewrite a chorus."

The new record will be supported by a five-date UK tour taking in the biggest cities. She starts in Glasgow then visits Liverpool, Manchester and London before wrapping it up in Birmingham. The tour's shorter than it might have been so that she's not away for too long from her daughter.

"It's really tough being a parent and I'll find it tougher this time as my little girl is older now. When children are young they are resilient. Now she's seven she needs me more. But I've been in this writing phase for a while and spending lots of time in London doing mummy duties. It'll be hard to be apart but I'll make sure I'm not away too much.

"Now she's older she can come and join me and hang out. I think when I look at my friends' children, some of whom are older, they've been backstage and on the road. And I think: 'Wow, what an incredible childhood'. I want her to have that but not disrupt her school life.

"Playing live is the best thing for me. That's the drive. It's the reason I go into the studio and write and record. I'm just driven by getting up and performing. When you see that sea of faces, singing back at you and cheering, it's one of the best feelings on Earth. Once you become a parent, you can't say it's the best. But the feeling when an audience responds is absolutely incredible. I've had the opportunity to do it in arenas with the (Spice) Girls and at Wembley. But even doing that with 200 people in a club is great."

She used to be more of a party girl than she is now. And though the booze can flow after a show, most nights she heads for her bed and makes sure she's fit for the following day's show.

"I have learned over time you have to take care of those pipes. If there's a day off the next day, we might have a couple of shandies. But I have to take care of my voice. My songs and shows are very strenuous so on the tour I will wait until the last night. It's in Brum, so watch out." Her laugh is filthy. She'll clear the bars, make no mistake.

Versatility has been the defining characteristic of her recent career and her performance in Jesus Christ Superstar surprised many. Powerful and authoritative, she made the role her own, owning one of the great characters in musical theatre.

"Jesus Christ Superstar was quite life changing. I've made lifelong friends through doing that. It was really brilliant. My life with that show started on the TV show, the casting show, trying to find Jesus with Lloyd Webber, as one does. . ."

'As one does. . .' – isn't she great? Maybe it's she who should have been called Posh Spice.

"We found the incredible Ben Forster, he's playing Phantom in the West End now. He's gone on to do great things. Then there Chris Moyles, who lives up the road from me and has become a great friend. After that, there was Tim Minchin. I would never have imagined we'd hit it off but we did. The whole cast just bonded and we all keep in touch and we get together for little reunions. We were like a family when we were touring on the road."

"When you're on the road with a show or a tour you kind of get in a little bubble, which is really good fun. You're away from the real world, you're eating with and sleeping with the guys – and I mean sleeping, it's not a euphemism!"

The filthy laugh returns. "You know, you get your head down in the bunks on the bus. I've been with my band for many years. I'd much rather be in a bed. But bunks are fine. . ."

The clock's ticking and there's still much to discuss. So we instigate a quickfire round. Has there been a single day since 1994 when you haven't heard the word Spice?

She laughs. "There have been days, yeah, but usually ones when I've not left the house. Being continuously asked the same questions day-in day-out year after year can become tedious, but it's where I came from and what enabled me to have a great career. I'm just happy to have had that experience."

Highlights? Just pick one.

"I'd pick the most recent, really, so I'd go for the closing ceremony of the Olympics in 2012. That was such an incredible night. That will always be number one."

And how about Tabloid life? Today's top picks for Mel C on Google are: Little Mix Wars, The Day Victoria Met Dad and, remarkably, Mel C's Accent Is Too Posh. . . It isn't, at all, she can be a deliciously common-speaking Scouser. How do you stay sane amid all that madness?

"I think kind of getting older and being a parent and having more important things to spend my time and energy on has been very helpful. It gets frustrating sometimes but you're a writer, you know how that world works. There's lots of misquoting and Chinese Whispers where things escalate at quite some pace. The great thing is there's so much media that although those stories get blown out of proportion, they blow over quickly too."

Tell us what comes next.

"The exciting thing about this record is that it's been well-received internationally. I want to get back into Europe and North America and South East Asia. I want to be an international artist again and not just work in the UK.

"I've been so lucky in the past. There's something about being a British artist and it's exciting to experience new territories. Every audience has a personality and performers crave that. You're learning about different people."

And, finally, what's the best thing about being Mel C, rather than Sporty Spice?

"I enjoyed all my time with the Spice Girls. We had a level that not many people experience. But I love being a solo artist. There is no compromise in any way. The things I say don't reflect on anybody else anymore. I can just be myself."

Funny, driven, talented and attractive; when Mel C focuses on being 'herself' the public loves her all the more.

Mel C's album Version of Me is out now. Mel C will be performing at the O2 Institute in Birmingham on Sunday, April 9, 2017 at 7pm. Tickets cost from £27.25. Visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2institutebirmingham/events/all. Call the box office on 0844 477 2000.

By Andy Richardson