Record label dumps Mel C

Former Spice Girl Mel C is set to be dropped from her record label Virgin after her last two singles flopped.

She will be dumped following disappointing sales and a knee injury that left her out of the spotlight for weeks.

The 29-year-old Liverpudlian singer was regarded as the most musically successful of all the Spice Girls after they split to pursue solo careers in 1998.

But music industry sources said her latest releases sold nowhere near enough to cover the huge marketing costs involved, according to the Sun.

'Mel is still a big name but record companies have to look at the bottom line,' a source told the newspaper. 'Virgin are no longer convinced she's got the potential to carry on.'

As a solo artist Melanie Chisholm, the former Sporty Spice, sold three million albums and had a string of top ten hits.

But her latest single Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh only crawled into the charts at No 27 last month and went largely unnoticed by radio stations.

Virgin staff had told her the single had to be a hit or she would face the sack, since her previous effort had only reached No 14.

Her career took a nosedive when she snapped three ligaments in her knee on Channel 4's athletics show The Games.

She was badly injured when she was floored by Miss World Azra Akin, 21, in a judo bout for the show in September. She was forced to have surgery and was off work for weeks.

Her departure from Virgin means she will follow in the footsteps of fellow Spice Girls Mel B, Emma Bunton and Victoria Beckham who were also dumped by the label.

However, Victoria today releases a single called This Groove - a collaboration with hip-hop producer Damon Dash - that she hopes will give her the No 1 hit she craves.