Emma Bunton reveals the Spice Girls would knock back ‘cheap’ Asti while they recorded debut album

Emma Bunton has revealed the Spice Girls would drink Asti while making their first album, Spice.

Appearing on the forthcoming episode of Shopping With Keith Lemon, Emma, 44, joined Keith for a woodland walk, and admitted the girl group were ‘probably drunk’ when writing and recorded the tracks.

‘We were writing the album. We used to drink Asti in the studio. It is the cheapest sparkling wine,’ Emma said.

Cheers to that! Emma Bunton has revealed the Spice Girls would drink Asti while making their first album, Spice [Pictured: Mel C, Geri Horner, Mel B, Emma and Victoria Beckham in 2012]

‘So are you drunk on some of the tracks?’ asked Keith, to which Emma replied: ‘Probably!’

‘Is that when Zig-a-zig-ah happened,’ Keith asked, referencing the group’s famous line from their debut single, Wannabe. 

‘Yes!’ Emma laughed.

The Spice Girls famously lived in a house together in the 1990s in Maidenhead, where they wrote music and prepared for stardom.

Slurry Spice? Appearing on the forthcoming episode of Shopping With Keith Lemon, Emma, 44, joined Keith for a woodland walk, and admitted the girl group were 'probably drunk' when writing and recorded the tracks

Slurry Spice? Appearing on the forthcoming episode of Shopping With Keith Lemon, Emma, 44, joined Keith for a woodland walk, and admitted the girl group were ‘probably drunk’ when writing and recorded the tracks

Confessions: 'We were writing the album. We used to drink Asti in the studio. It is the cheapest sparkling wine,' Emma said

Confessions: ‘We were writing the album. We used to drink Asti in the studio. It is the cheapest sparkling wine,’ Emma said

Debut: The Spice Girls famously lived in a house together in the 1990s in Maidenhead, where they wrote music for Spice, which was released in 1996

Debut: The Spice Girls famously lived in a house together in the 1990s in Maidenhead, where they wrote music for Spice, which was released in 1996

Emma, Mel B, Geri Horner, Victoria Beckham and Mel C bunkered down ahead of the release of Spice, which came out in September 1996.

Emma told Keith that she shared a room with Victoria, which was ‘calm’ compared to the other three.

‘Was she posh back then?’ Keith asked, referencing Victoria’s Posh Spice moniker.

‘She had posh clothes, well, back then we thought they were posh!’ Emma said, before revealing she used to make her own dresses.

Emma’s appearance comes as Geri also revealed stories this week, from back in the day.

She recalled a troubling ordeal in which she was warned she’d be shot on stage at the BRIT Awards due to her friendship with the late George Michael and her love of ‘camping it up’.

Zig-a-zig-ah! 'So are you drunk on some of the tracks?' asked Keith, to which Emma replied, 'Probably!'

Zig-a-zig-ah! ‘So are you drunk on some of the tracks?’ asked Keith, to which Emma replied, ‘Probably!’

Drinking buddies: The girls are pictured in 2013, minus Victoria, at a cocktail party at Harvey Nichols

Drinking buddies: The girls are pictured in 2013, minus Victoria, at a cocktail party at Harvey Nichols

The star, 48, was advised by police to pull out of her first solo performance at the 2000 ceremony after they intercepted plans by David Copeland to assassinate her, but she refused to give in to the threat.

Copeland, a paranoid schizophrenic, was jailed for life later that year after setting off a series of explosive devices across London. 

Recalling the time, Geri said: ‘It was before my first ever performance as a solo artist that he issued me with a death threat. He threatened to shoot me, and hated the fact I hung out with the gays, and was friends with George Michael.’

Heartbreaking: Emma's appearance comes as Geri also revealed stories this week, from back in the day. She recalled a troubling ordeal in which she was warned she'd be shot on stage at the BRIT Awards due to her friendship with the late George Michael [pictured in 2000]

Heartbreaking: Emma’s appearance comes as Geri also revealed stories this week, from back in the day. She recalled a troubling ordeal in which she was warned she’d be shot on stage at the BRIT Awards due to her friendship with the late George Michael [pictured in 2000]

Geri, who was close friends with George up until his heartbreaking death from dilated cardiomyopathy in 2016, went on: ‘He hated me for camping it up, for loving the gays and for being friends with George. I told him to do one.

‘Scotland Yard were involved, and the police had to come round to my house, to warn me officially. They said they had to give me the freedom to choose whether I performed or not, but that they advised me to pull out of the ceremony.’

The Spice Girls star defied the advice to perform at the ceremony because she felt it was important to ‘stand with’ her friends, no matter what.

She added in an interview with The Sun newspaper: ‘But I said ‘I’m sorry, I’m not going to be bullied by this’. We are judged by what we do, not what we say – and I will always stand with my friends.

Shocking: Geri was advised by police to pull out of her first solo performance at the 2000 ceremony after they intercepted plans by David Copeland [pictured] to assassinate her, but she refused to give in to the threat

Shocking: Geri was advised by police to pull out of her first solo performance at the 2000 ceremony after they intercepted plans by David Copeland [pictured] to assassinate her, but she refused to give in to the threat

Look at me! Geri is pictured during her first solo performance since leaving the Spice Girls at the BRITs, where Copeland was said to be planning his attack

Look at me! Geri is pictured during her first solo performance since leaving the Spice Girls at the BRITs, where Copeland was said to be planning his attack

‘It’s about spirit, not sexuality – I feel so protective of any person who has had prejudice against them.’

Copeland was given six life sentences in June 2000 for three charges of murder and three counts of causing explosions in order to endanger life over a two-week spree in April 1999.

His final act of terrorism was to let off a bomb containing 1,500 nails at gay pub the Admiral Duncan, which killed Andrea Dykes, who was pregnant, John Light, and Nik Moore.

He was trialled for murder after his plea of guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of suffering paranoid schizophrenia was rejected.

Shopping With Keith Lemon airs 10PM on Sunday on ITV2.