Facts

By the end of 2001 STEPS had played their concerts to over a million people, they had sung and danced their way around the UK, wowing audiences and winning over more and more fans. Ever since the first heady days back in 1997, when they were performing in night-clubs and dreaming of stardom, there was no way anyone could ignore the all-smiling, all-technicolour popsters!

They were brought together through an advert in The Stage magazine, but back then little did CLAIRE RICHARDS, LISA SCOTT-LEE, LEE LATCHFORD-EVANS, IAN WATKINS (H), and FAYE TOZER know they would change the face of pop music and win themselves a place in the record books.
The second they landed on Planet Pop in a flurry of glitter, big smiles and even bigger tunes, they captivated pop fans and left everyone wondering what they were going to do next.
And what they did next was become the brightest, glitziest, most entertaining band in the pop world!
They're an award winning, number one scoring band and there was no stopping them as they went from strength to strength to become the nations best loved pop act!
So how did they get to this point? Let's have a quick look back at STEPS history...

STEPS released their first single 5,6,7,8 in November 1997 and the line dancing extravaganza immediately gripped the attention of the nation. The single stayed in the Top 40 for a whopping three months and sold an incredible 300,000 copies in Britain alone, and left pop peeps begging for more. And they soon got it in the shape of the fun packed dance along hit LAST THING ON MY MIND in April 1998.
In August 1998 they released the huge summer tune ONE FOR SORROW which had every fashionable finger in the country dancing around in the air.

But the public wanted more still, and they were only satisfied when the band released their debut album STEP ONE in September 1998. It went on to become one of the most successful albums of the 90s and went five times platinum! There was no stopping them!
Likewise there was no stopping the incredible TRAGEDY/HEARTBEAT double A side which was released in November 1998, it reached the top spot after nine weeks and spent a stonking sixteen weeks in the Top 40. It created yet another fantastic dance move which had such an impact that to this day TRAGEDY is one of the most played tracks at clubs and parties up and down the country.

Shortly afterwards the gang joined the likes of B*Witched, Billie and Cleopatra on stage at the BRIT Awards where they all performed a stunning ABBA medley!
BETTER BEST FORGOTTEN certainly wasn't forgotten when it was released in March 1999 and became another enormous hit.
The STEP ONE tour kicked off at the same time, instantly captivated audiences up and down Britain and won STEPS a whole new breed of fan - parents!
LOVE'S GOT A HOLD ON MY HEART was released in July and became the summer anthem of 1999, reaching number 2 in the charts.

That summer FAYE, LISA, CLAIRE, H and LEE jetted off to the USA to where they'd been invited to support their pal Britney Spears on tour, and were welcomed with open arms by the fun loving Americans.
STEPS returned to Britain and prepared to release their second album. With the public's appetite whetted pop lovers were crying out for another album. So when AFTER THE LOVE HAS GONE hit the charts in October 1999 they were close to tears with anticipation. All their dreams came true when STEPTACULAR was released two weeks later. Needless to say it flew straight to the number one spot and rocketed STEPS even higher up the pop chart!

What happened next scored STEPS a place in the record books, and won them a prestigious BRIT award. After the STEP ONE tour word spread about STEPS' outstanding live performances, and the band completely sold out a 33-date arena tour - the largest arena tour in British pop history!

Christmas 1999 was made all the more sparkly and enjoyable with the release of the double A side single SAY YOU'LL BE MINE/BETTER THE DEVIL YOU KNOW. STEPS also sold more albums in 1999 than any other British artist, notching up 1.82 million sales of STEP ONE and STEPTACULAR. What a brilliant end to a brilliant year!

While 1999 was without a doubt STEPS' year, who could have predicted that 2000 would be even better?!
In February the group were honoured for their incredible sell out arena tour at the BRIT Awards when they were presented with a special award for Best Selling Live Act. LEE and H had to guard the ever-glamorous LISA, FAYE and CLAIRE closely due to the fact that the girls were wearing over one million pounds worth of diamonds! They truly are pop gems!

The popped-up club track DEEPER SHADE OF BLUE was released in April 2000 and was accompanied by one of the coolest and most talked about videos of the year. Shortly afterwards they were also presented with the Recording Artistes Of The Year Award at the Variety Club Showbusiness Awards ceremony.

The whole band showed off their presenting skills on MTV and The Pepsi Chart, while individually FAYE appeared on the Disney Channel, LEE strutted his stuff on The Pepsi Chart, LISA took over SM:TV and H and CLAIRE presented STEPS To The Stars, the BBC talent show that became the most watched children's programme. Is there no end to STEPS' skills?!

The band had another massive hit in July 2000 with a double A side single which brought together the beautiful ballad WHEN I SAID GOODBYE and the latino flavour of SUMMER OF LOVE in one of the best partnerships since apple pie and custard (a STEPS favourite!). In May and June STEPS also completed another breathtaking 32-date arena tour which brought joy to everyone who got see one of their stunning performances.

October 2000 saw the release of STOMP, a discotastic glitter fuelled extravaganza that literally stomped it's way to the to the top of the UK charts and gave STEPS their second number one single!
It also saw the release of STEPS third album BUZZ which showcased the bands writing talents for the first time and included tracks penned by H, CLAIRE, LISA, LEE and FAYE.

At the end of 2000 STEPS launched a range of merchandise that covered everything possible! You can now own your very own H, LISA, FAYE, CLAIRE and LEE buying either one of STEPS' fashion dolls or singing dolls! You can read all about them in the various books that have been written about them, you can wear the T-shirt, watch the live videos and even eat the chocolate!
You could count down the days to christmas with your very own STEPS advent calendar the list is endless!
Also counting you down to Christmas 2000 was the amazing STEPS Into Christmas tour which swept the UK in November and December 2000 spreading even more magic than their usual shows, STEPS really turned out a Christmas extravaganza that audiences will remember forever!

STEPS proved that 2001 was going to be another amazing year for them, they released IT'S THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL in January 2001 and it went straight in to the charts at No.2
CLAIRE and H presented yet another amazing series of their kids TV show STEPS II The Stars and managed to find even more stars of the future. Then of course FAYE announced she was to marry her long term boyfriend Jasper Irn and LISA soon followed suit by setting a wedding date for herself and boyfriend Johnny Shentall.
Then in March and April the whole band set about a massive international promotion campaign for their album BUZZ.
They covered among others, Belgium, Japan and Spain, then in May they jetted off to LA to film a TV special for Nickelodeon that will hopefully help them in their bid to crack the US.
In between all this they've been in the recording studios in the UK re-recording their singles for a Greatest Hits GOLD that was set to be released at the end of 2001.

The next release from STEPS camp was the double A side single, HERE AND NOW/YOU'LL BE SORRY, this was to be the last release from STEPS third album BUZZ and marked the end of the STEPS story Chapter one in true STEPS style!
HERE AND NOW is arguably one of the best tracks they have released as far as vocals are concerned and YOU'LL BE SORRY was a brilliant dance tune with H on leads, in fact it earnt STEPS some unlikely new fans in the guise of UK clubbers when it topped the dance chats!
Sadness tinged the happy go lucky STEPSters when CLAIRE admitted that she had been living with the fear that she was suffering from cancer after discovering she had a lump in her breast, thankfully CLAIRE was given the all clear and the bubbly babe soon got back on her feet.
STEPS became very involved with raising money for breast cancer charity's and CLAIRE was made a patron of the Breakthrough campaign.

So now the scene is set for the start of the STEPS story Chapter two and this began with a radio roadshow tour that the band embarked on across the UK in the summer of 2001.
At the end of August they joined some celebrity greats in the history books by turning on the lights in Blackpool. And in true STEPS style they performed to a crowd of 170,000 before flicking the switch!

Their next single was CHAIN REACTION which was a massive hit and out sold many of their earlier singles! The saucy video which showed the girls dressed as naughty nurses helped make it one of the favourite tracks amongst STEPS fans across the world.

STEPS got ready to release their biggest album yet - GOLD and embarked on a huge publicity push which saw them doing album and book signings up and down the country and appearing on every TV and radio show possible.
When their Greatest Hits album GOLD was released in October it rocketed straight to the top of the UK album charts, it's accompanying video and DVD did equally as well and also sat at the top spot of the chart.
H presented a huge concert called Showtime At The Stadium at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, South Wales. STEPS performed a track from the West End musical Chess called I KNOW HIM SO WELL and H announced that this was to be STEPS new single alongside the fab new track WORDS ARE NOT ENOUGH.

When their new single WORDS ARE NOT ENOUGH/I KNOW HIM SO WELL was released in December, STEPS had already started a tour of the UK with their GOLD - THE GREATEST HITS tour. Both won amazing reviews from the critics and WORDS ARE NOT ENOUGH/I KNOW HIM SO WELL provided STEPS with yet another top 5 hit when it entered the charts at No.5.

The band also did amazingly well at the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party, an annual music awards show. Previously, despite being the top UK pop act, they had come away empty handed, well except H who hd won 'The Funniest Person In Pop' award consecutively for 2 years.
In 2001 however STEPS were honoured for their amazing achievements by being the first pop act ever to receive the 'Smash Hits Hall Of Fame' award - yet another one for the history books! They also won 'Best Live Act' for their stunning shows and FAYE walked away with 'The Best Female Hairstyle' award.

Then came the day that every STEPS fan in the world had dreaded - the day STEPS decided to split! It couldn't have come at a worse time when the band announced on Boxing Day 2001 that STEPS were no more. It was a shock decision by a band that had just days earlier finished a sell out arena tour and been presented with an award for their last album, GOLD, going 4x Platinum!

There followed a huge backlash by their adoring fans who were upset and hurt that STEPS had constantly denied that they would split and had promised them a new single and yet another tour in 2002.
Newspapers rounded in on the story and began rumours that all had not be well in STEPS camp for sometime, stating that H and CLAIRE had often rowed with LISA, LEE and FAYE and the split was forced upon the group when H and CLAIRE handed in their notices at the end of the GOLD Tour in Manchester on the Friday before Christmas.

Whatever the reasons for the split the 26th December 2001 was a sad day in pop and one that no STEPS fan will ever forget. Tears and heartbreak as the best band on Planet Pop split were inevitable, but it's not the last we'll see of of fave STEPSters.

In fact a month to the day that they announced the split H and CLAIRE broke the shock news that they were going to continue with STEPS in the form of duo, called simply H & CLAIRE! Fans rejoiced as CLAIRE told how they wanted to keep the STEPS spirit alive and would take their experiences and music with STEPS on to the next level together as the most poptasic pair on the planet!

FAYE and LISA also announced that they would be recording as solo artists and LISA's boyfriend Johnny even got in on the act when he was named as being the new member of pop act Hear'Say!

LEE is yet to decide what move to make but he wants to make his dreams to become a big name actor in Hollywood a reality.

There's no doubting that STEPS were Britain's premiere pop band. Male or female, young or old, sensible or bonkers, everyone was a STEPS fan and they will live on forever in their music and in our hearts!
The future is brighter than ever for CLAIRE, H, FAYE, LISA and LEE, and you can bet there'll be plenty more incredible tunes, top dance routines, and fantastic fun moments to come from each one of them as they launch their solo careers. So stay tuned and keep stepping!


				*www.solosteps.com* *Facts*



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