Singer/songwriter Ne-Yo was approached by the Spice Girls to write tracks for their recent Greatest Hits album - but he turned them down in favour of working with Rihanna.

The So Sick hitmaker was busy working with the Umbrella songstress when he received the call from the newly reformed girl band.

And the R+b star was forced to say no as he couldn't fit them into his hectic schedule.

He says, "The Spice Girls asked me to write some songs but I couldn't find the time."

"They wanted something for their comeback album but I never got round to getting it done. I was recording songs for Rihanna at the time."