Sadly, us four hardly saw any of it," she said."I would have loved to have retired when the band split, I would have loved to have spent all day cooking, washing up, gardening and taking kids to school and all that, but that's not going to happen," she said."So it's back to the grindstone. I will have to make music just for the money, because of the state of my bank balance."Blatt, 26, apparently intends to record with her boyfriend Stuart Zender, formerly of Jamiroquai, with whom she has a two-year-old daughter, Lilyella. There are also plans to team up with her former colleague Shaznay Lewis, the band's songwriter.And there are claims that Lewis and Blatt have been offered a huge advance to write a book spilling the beans on the band and life with their fellow members, Nicole and Natalie Appleton, now girlfriends of Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher and The Prodigy's Liam Howlett, respectively.The band sold more than 10 million copies of their first album and scooped a clutch of number-one singles, including "Pure Shores", which featured on the soundtrack of the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach. All bar Shaznay Lewis also appeared in Dave Stewart's film Honest, where their performances won some praise even if the movie did not.A record industry insider said he would be surprised if Melanie Blatt had not made lots of money.
But it was common for bands to be hugely in debt to the record labels that signed them and artists often felt as if they were handing over most of their earnings to them. He said very few bands were clever enough not to be in hock to the record companies, such as Oasis, who were signed to Creation for £30,000 and therefore only had a comparatively small amount to repay before they reaped the benefit themselves."Melanie wouldn't have had any publishing money because Shaznay wrote all the songs," the insider said. (Lewis was the only one of All Saints to make it on to this year's Sunday Times Rich List, with an estimated fortune of £7m.) "The way bands make their money is in publishing and merchandising. But I'd be very surprised if her manager didn't get a huge amount against royalties to begin with. She's just spent it."A spokeswoman for London Records, which signed the band in 1996, refused to discuss their contract or Blatt's claims to be broke But she did not seem to be taking it too seriously. "I can't really comment on private financial matters," she said. "All I will say is that Mel does have a wicked sense of humour.".
Talks are in progress to try and stop the threat of national postal strike. So far 10,000 Royal Mail workers have walked out in defiance of their union, disrupting deliveries to millions of homes and businesses. Talks are in progress to try and stop the threat of national postal strike. So far 10,000 Royal Mail workers walked out in defiance of their union, disrupting deliveries to millions of homes and businesses.Royal Mail managers were locked in talks with union bosses to end the action as sorting offices ground to a halt and post boxes were sealed ahead of the first nationwide stoppage since 1996.
