Mel C – who has a seven-year-old daughter with Thomas Starr – admits it’s difficult going out on tour while raising kids. But she tries her best to make everything work out and often considers asking the little one to join in on occasion.

She explained to the Express and Star newspaper: “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.”

The 42-year-old musician is still deeply in love with her career, admitting that playing live is what keeps her going after these years.

“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 said.

And Mel tries to care for her vocal cords and restricts alcohol consumption in order to improve her performances: “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.”