and able to sing and dance?" After receiving hundreds of replies, the management had narrowed their search to a group of five girls: Victoria Adams, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm, Geri Halliwell, and Michelle Stephenson. The group moved to a house in Maidenhead and received the name Touch. Stephenson was eventually fired because she lacked the drive of the other group members. She was replaced by Emma Bunton. In November, the group—now named Spice—persuaded their managers to set up a showcase in front of industry writers, producers, and A&R men at the Nomis Studios in Shepherd's Bush, London, where they received an "overwhelmingly positive" reaction. Due to the large interest in the group, the Herberts quickly set about creating a binding contract for them. Encouraged by the reaction they had received at the showcase, all five members delayed signing contracts on the legal advice from, amongst others, Victoria Beckham's father, Anthony Adams. In late March 1995, because of the group's frustration at their management's unwillingness to listen to their visions and ideas, they parted from Heart Management. In order to ensure they kept control of their own work, the group retrieved the master recordings of their discography from the management offices. The next week they were supposed to meet with Sheffield-based songwriter and record producer Eliot Kennedy. Chris Herbert arranged the session weeks before the group's departure. Writing and recording Without access to Herbert's address book, the only information the group had about Kennedy was that he lived in Sheffield. Brown and Halliwell drove there the day after their departure from Heart Management, then looked for a phone book in a service station, and called recording studios in the area, Eliot was the third Kennedy they called. That evening they went to his house and persuaded him to work with them, the rest of the group travelled to Sheffield the next day. Kennedy commented about the session: None of them played instruments, so I was left to do the music and get that vibe together. What I said to them was, 'Look, I've got a chorus—check this out.' And I'd sing them the chorus and the melody—no lyrics or anything—and straight away five pads and pencils came out and they were throwing lines at us. Ten minutes later, the song was written. Then you go through and refine it. Then later, as you were recording it you might change a few