Spice Girls tried to audition for Simon Cowell

The Spice Girls once staged an impromptu audition for music mogul Simon Cowell when they were trying to get signed.

When the five girls, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm, Emma Bunton, Geri Horner and Victoria Beckham were scouting for a record deal in the early 1990s, they approached the music executive hoping to get signed. As they hadn't scheduled an audition or meeting they simply resorted to ambushing him with a spontaneous performance in a parking lot.

"Funny story: Spice Girls actually auditioned for (Simon)," Mel B tells chat show host Jimmy Fallon on Monday night (06Jun16). "Not actually auditioned, we actually bamboozled him...

"He was coming out of work, and we kind of hijacked the car park that he was trying to get his car out of and just sung for him. And we were like, 'Look, we're gonna be famous one day. Can you sign us?' and he went, 'No, it's not gonna work.'"

The Wannabe singers eventually signed with manager Simon Fuller and Virgin Records and went on to become the biggest-selling girl group of all time.

In 2013 Simon admitted he had made a serious error in judgment about the group, but made no mention of the parking lot meeting.

"Spice Girls was probably my biggest mistake," he told presenter Jay Leno. "I knew they were gonna be big but I was just too late on the deal and I offered them a deal but they didn't want to sign to me. That kind of hurt at the time."

However, Victoria has a different version of events, and once when she guest judged alongside him on American Idol in 2009 she raised the issue with him.

"He is the only man in the music industry who turned down the Spice Girls - and said we would never work. I like that fact," she said.

Mel B has since worked alongside Simon on The X Factor U.K. and the current season of America's Got Talent.