Classic_Pop_Issue_30_July_2017

STEPS

71

was going to sound. We just left it again

with Pete and our management.”

The standout track of the album was the

moody club track Deeper Shade of Blue,

which became the song that once again

pushed them toward credibility. And the

new direction was just what the band felt

they needed. “We were over the moon that

we could go in slightly clubby direction,”

Faye squeals. “We went down a more

credible sounding route, something that

would match what was going on in the

charts. Up until then we had always felt

like we didn’t have a place in the charts.

Although that was our triumph in the end,

that we were doing our own thing.”

The mature sound continued into the

band’s third album Buzz, which again was

a massive selling chart-topper. The album

featured a divisive cover of Kylie’s Better The

Devil You Know. While die-hard Minogue

fans were appalled, the band and their

younger fans loved it.

“I actually think it’s better than Kylie’s

version,” Claire, a devoted Kylie fan herself,

boasts. “Actually someone who worked at

PWL for years told me they liked our version

more than her’s, too. I can no longer hear

Kylie’s version in my head anymore.”

Like Steptacular, Buzz continued to

embrace club and dance sounds inspired

by the likes of Ultra Nate, but it was

the album that gave the band their fi rst

opportunity to fl ex their writing muscles.

Given an opportunity to choose a

producer or songwriter they would like to

work with individually, Faye opted for 80s

legend Cyndi Lauper. After some initial

one would touch us with a bargepole. It

was a bit upsetting, if I’m honest! We really

didn’t understand why we didn’t get the

recognition from the industry.”

The group maintain that their enduring

success is fan-driven. “The fans have stuck

by us and have given us everything. They

loved us, they love us still and don’t care

about what the industry says,” Claire adds,

looking genuinely touched by the support.

“That’s the most important thing that we

can take away from the early days and this

time round it’s opened our eyes as to how

incredible the fans are, and that’s how they

have always been for 20 years.”

EVERY STEP YOU TAKE

I’LL BE WATCHING YOU

After Step One and a sell-out arena tour,

work started on the group’s eagerly

anticipated second album Steptacular. With

a stronger and more cohesive sound, the

album stormed in at No.1 and shifted well

over one million copies. Input from the band

was once again minimal, but that was fi ne

with them.

“We were so busy going from country to

country, “ Faye remembers. “It was a crazy

time in our lives. We were busy performing,

enjoying ourselves, meeting amazing

people and going to amazing parties. I

don’t think we had any idea how the music

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE SPLIT?

Claire co-hosted SM:TV with H, then disappeared

from public view after the misfi re of their album.

Then after being rediscovered by OK! Magazine, she

become a celeb weekly favourite as fans followed

her ongoing battle with weight. She married an old

record company colleague Rees, and appeared on a

variety of TV shows: Celebrity Masterchef, Popstar

To Operastar and Celebrity Big Brother as well as

publishing an autobiography.

Ian H Watkins moved home to Wales to live

with his partner Craig and began the process of

having a surrogate child. Sadly they lost the baby.

H appeared in Celebrity Big Brother and attended

a music college in London, launched himself as an

artist and eventually welcomed two children into his

life in 2016.

Lisa Scott-Lee was so keen to keep her hand in

music that she signed up to MTV’s Totally Scott-Lee,

a mean-spirited reality show (think a real life

Comeback!) that saw her pledge to quit pop if she

failed to achieve a Top 10 hit. Her song Electric

made No.13. Ouch!

Lee Latchford-Evans relaunched himself as a

rocker-type with The Latch. Although hits never

materialised he says he loved the freedom of fi nally

doing what he wanted to do. He also appeared on

doomed MTV show Totally Boyband but was fi red by

the other ex-boybanders in the group – which was

probably a blessing. He married Kerry Lucy in 2002.

Faye Tozer made her professional musical theatre

debut in 2004 during a national tour of Andrew Lloyd

Webber’s one-woman musical Tell Me on a Sunday

and focused mainly on stage work.

After Steps split

Ian “H” Watkins

formed a duo with

Claire Richards

and released the

album Another You

Another Me in 2002,

while Lisa Scott-Lee

released her debut

solo album Never Or

Now in 2007

WILDER

NESS

YEARS

THE

CP30.steps.print.indd 71 07/06/2017 17:11