Once upon a time, three incredibly
talented, very sexy girls and two
equally incredibly talented and
similarly sexy boys were unknown to each other. A year later,
they had sold 300,000 copies of
their debut single "5,6,7,8"
in the U.K. alone and had No. 1
records in both Belgium and
Australia. They followed up this
achievement with the undisputed
pop highlight of Spring'98, a
song called "Last Thing On
My Mind" which taught the
World to sing and dance in that
funny 'washing your hair' kind of
way! We know these five young
people as STEPS!
Steps began in the
Spring of 1997. Lisa Scott-Lee
had been touring the UK and
abroad as a professional singer
and dancer; Faye Tozer was the
star of a cabaret band at a major
London hotel; Claire Richards was
biding her time after the
collapse of her first group, TSD;
Lee Latchford was performing in a
variety of theatre productions,
having almost become a
professional footballer; and Ian
Watkins (more affectionately
known as H for hyperactive) had
completed summer seasons as a
holiday camp kids entertainer.
Lisa met H and then
hooked up with Lee, Faye and
Claire. They became Steps and
their lives changed forever. The premise behind
Steps was that life is always
sunny in StepsWorld, and Steps
would almost always be found
partying. They recorded a song
called "5,6,7,8",
taking its essence from the huge
line-dancing movement which had
swept across Britain during the
90s but imbuing it with great
helpings of pop to appeal to
teenagers.
They found a producer,
"The Hitman" Pete
Waterman, and record label, Jive,
who released "5,6,7,8"
in November 1997. It entered the
UK charts at No. 18 and hung
around the Top 40 for 3 months,
outselling Peter Andre,
Jamiroquai, Louise and many
others.
The band appeared on
Top of the Pops, Blue Peter and
This Morning and with every tv
appearance, more fans bought this
single. It was out of control!
Smash Hits described Steps as
"five gorgeous poppettes",
while the video to "5,6,7,8"
sped up into the Box's Top 10 and
took up residence. "5,6,7,8"
then took Europe by storm and
went Platinum in Australia.
Soon, Steps were a
global phenomenon. But now they
had a small problem-how to follow
up! The solution: one of the
greatest pop gems ever recorded:"
Last Thing on My Mind".
"Last Thing on My Mind"
was released on 20 April 1998,
with a fantastic video which was
shot in Cuba. The following week
it burst into the UK Top 10 at No.
6. Three weeks later it was still
in the Top 10 having sold 200,000
records.
Steps appeared on
Top of the Pops twice! They
toured the country bringing joy
wherever they went. Meanwhile,
the group were comtemplating
their next move: an album. They
locked themselves away in a
studio with a producer, some
Ribena and a make-up bag, and
began work on a record so
fabulously ambitious and so
totally pop that even those close
to the group were amazed. Steps
emerged occasionally to perform
concerts, bring joy to
journalists, visit foreign
countries and sometimes forage
for food. But the album was their 1st priority!
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