Spice Girls album of 1997 and was certified 8× Platinum by the IFPI for sales in excess of 8 million copies. That same month the Spice Girls attracted a crowd of 500,000 when they switched on the Christmas lights in Oxford Street, London. At the same time, Simon Fuller started to set up million pound sponsorship deals for the Spice Girls with Pepsi, Walkers, Impulse, Cadbury's and Polaroid. In December 1996, the group won three trophies at the "Smash Hits" awards at the London Arena, including best video for "Say You'll Be There". In January 1997, the group released "Wannabe" in the
Sugar and Spice (The Searchers song) Sugar and Spice (The Searchers song) "Sugar and Spice" is a 1963 song by Merseybeat band The Searchers written by Tony Hatch under the pseudonym Fred Nightingale. It made number two on the UK charts (on Pye) and number 44 in the USA charts. The composer and producer of "Sugar and Spice": Tony Hatch, had produced the precedent Searchers' single: a cover of the Drifters' "Sweets for My Sweet" which had afforded the Searchers a #1 UK hit. Hatch, having written "Sugar and Spice" on the template of "Sweets for My Sweet", pitched his original song to the Searchers as