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Claire
Richards was born on the 17th of August 1977 in
Hillingdon,
Middlesex at 1.30 in the morning. At school she
was
a bit of a goody two-shoes, managing to stay out of
trouble.
Although she was once caught out at lunch time
without
her lunch pass when she went to buy some chips. It
may
not have been all that bad, but the matter was made
worse
by the fact it was the first time she had done it and
she
got caught while her friends did it everyday and got off
scot-free!
Her favourite lesson at school was P.E., and she
also
liked pottery class, while she considers the least fun
lesson
to be R.E. The first ever item of clothing that Claire
bought
herself was a super-baggy pair of trousers which
she
got on a shopping trip to London with her Mum. Clearly
the
fashion sense has stayed with her to this day as Claire is
always
dressed in the coolest clothes, and refuses to leave
home
without a pair of trainers!
Claire's
career was sparked off after she was nominated to be
the
lead in her school musical, which was 'The Sound Of Music'.
This
gave her a taste for singing and led to prizes being won in
Karaoke
contests. She was so good at Karaoke that she not
only
got barred from the local pub for winning too often but
also
won an inter-brewery competition! The first record Claire
bought
was "Into The Groove" by pop legend Madonna.
Destined
for fame, it wasn't long before Claire met her first
celebrity,
comedian Frank Carson when she went along to the
local
theatre to see his comedy act, as well as meeting Michael
Barrymore
later at an audition to his show. Rick Astley was her
first
celebrity crush because of his good looks and lovely voice.
However
it wasn't long before she got over him and fell in love
with
New Kids On The Block front man, Jordan Knight. From an
early
age Claire knew she wanted to be in the entertainment
industry
as initially the Stepper wanted to be in musicals.
Although
other thoughts were to be a chef or beautician!
Luckily
for us she chose the correct route, her biggest triumph,
STEPS!
Food
wise you wouldn't expect Claire's favourite meal to be
hamburgers
and junk food, but she can't get enough of the
stuff!
She says that if she could, her main diet would consist of
take
aways. Would you also believe that she used to eat
crackerbread
with sugar on, and toast with Branston pickle? A
bizarre
combination to say the least! Luckily this is as daring
with
food as Claire will be as she dislikes all fish and spicy
foods,
and simply will not eat food such as pigeons and veal,
and
who could blame her, eurgh! One other little thing you
should
know is that Claire's favourite sweets are fizzy red
laces
and the candy that pops in your mouth. She used to buy
packets
of them in their tens.
She
may be a member of the busiest and hardest working
band
around, but claire still finds time to branch out into other
areas
of entertainment. After doing such a remarkable job at
presenting
the programs 'Electric Circus' and 'CD:UK', she is
going
on to work along side band mate H on a new program
called
'STEPS To The Stars'. The two popstrels will present the
program,
which is an entertainment show, with competitors
showing
off their talents in a bid to be one of the lucky finalists
who
will appear on the popular Saturday morning show 'Live &
Kicking'
for the finale. 'STEPS To The Stars' is due to air at the
start
of the new millenium, with a run of 7 shows. To make the
whole
event even more Steptacular the whole bunch of
Steppers
will be popping into the studio to round off the show
with
a different STEPS song at the end of each episode. The
whole
package makes for un-missable viewing.
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Ian Watkins, was born on May
8th 1976 although at what
time he has no idea. If
you hadn't already realised from
seeing him on TV he is
completely hyper-active! Which of
course is where he got
his nickname from, H. Thats not to
say he doesn't have a
serious side, it's just that he doesn't
let it show very often!
He grew up in Llwyniphia in Rhondda,
Wales and retains that
lovely welsh accent. As a child H was
exactly how you would
expect him to be, up to lots of
naughty tricks! One of
the most notable things he got up to
in his spare time was
buying a terrapin and letting it lose
amongst a tank full of
tiger fish and barb sharks. The
outcome was inevitable,
the terrapin ate the lot and drove
his mum up the wall in
the process!
The first ever item of
clothing that he bought himself was a
rather fetching pair of
jeans with Fred Flintstone on one leg
and Barny Rubble on the
other. Luckily for him (and us!) his
taste in clothing has
certainly improved over the years,
although he still maintains
the cartoon on clothes theme, with
the top he made famous,
the monkey T-shirt!
He got his first taste
for showbiz when he was only nine years
old, as he always enjoyed
being on stage. The first celebrity he
met was a Welsh guy called
Max Boyce, who used to sing with
giant leeks. He also claims
to have met Super Ted, but we can
assume that this was at
one of his more hyper-active
moments! The first record
that H bought was by Rick Astley
(who is also band mate
Claire's first celebrity crush) called
"Never Gonna Give You
Up". The first celebrities that he fell for
were Tiffany and Debbie
Gibson. H thinks that STEPS' US tour
buddy, the gorgeous Britney
Spears is like the new Debbie
Gibson. The lovely Britney
was also the last person H fancied.
As with the rest of the
band, H always wanted to go into
entertainment. Although
when he was younger he also
wanted to become a vet.
His house was said to be like a zoo,
jam-packed with a vast
array of animals ranging from Boris the
pet tarantula, Ben the
dog, his terrapin, and the fish that were
left over after it had
got to them, and a big fluffy lop-eared
rabbit!
Getting to number one
with the song "Tragedy" is H's biggest
triumph in life so far,
and this opinion is shared among the rest
of the fab five. His biggest
regret was haveing to give up
playing the guitar, and
advises everyone who plays an
instrument to stick with
it. So far, the most expensive thing H
has bought is his own
house in London. Decorating has just
been finished on it and
he loves it loads. He gets on well with
the whole group but has
a special bond with Lisa as they both
met early on and both
come from Wales. The two of them are
constantly messing about
on and off stage and are always
rolling around with laughter.
This can cause problems on TV
interviews as H is always
trying to put Lisa off by pulling faces
at her behind the interviewer's
back!
If you simply can't get
enough of H you will be overjoyed to
hear that he is teaming
up with fellow Stepper, Claire for an all
new entertainment program
on CBBC in January of the new
millenium called 'STEPS
To The Stars'. The rest of the band will
be joining the other two
at the end of each episode to perform
a different STEPS song
to round off the program. Bringing you
a total of 7 performances
of your favorite pop songs as well as
seven weeks of Stepping
heaven. Ahead of this and
afterwards you will of
course be able to find H with the rest of
STEPS as they perform
their songs on TV and radio. He isn't
new to presenting, as
he joined Faye recently to present an
episode of the most popular
MTV show, 'MTV Select'. They put
together a truly unique
experience with the both of them
proving they cannot only
sing and dance but entertain too,
with a hilarious two hours
of presenting. This wasn't the first
time he got to present
a top music show though, he joined
Lisa, Claire, Lee and
Faye on the hit music program CD:UK for
an Easter special, winning
over yet more fans in the process.Place Ian's Biography here
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On the 14th of November 1975
at 5.30am in the town of
Northampton Faye Tozer
was born. At school Faye was a bit
of a trouble maker, and
was once caught scaling the walls of
a toilet cubicle! The
headmistress made her and her friends
clean down the walls after
the mess they made. Her
favourite lessons at school
were art and drama, but she
disliked History and Geography.
She started school a year
early so later in her
academic career was held back at the
age of eight. Up until
then her best friend was Jenny Swain,
and after she changed
years she became close friends to
Lisa Valentine.
As a street-wise individual
Faye spent time with her friends
anywhere that she could
get away with it. Her first item of
clothing that she bought
herself was a simple pair of jeans
when she was 14 years
old. She has developed a good taste
in clothing as she can
always be found in the most fashionable
gear around. She is very
adventurous with her look and
changes her hair style
more often than the band's colour
scheme! This always pays
off though, as every new do looks
fab, who can forget those
wicked dreadlocks that were simply
the best! Although you
wouldn't guess it now she was never
allowed to pierce her
ears until the age of 16, always the rebel
she didn't hold back and
got three piercings on each ear as
well as having her belly
button pierced, ouch!
Faye's first ever showbiz
experience was when she was at the
very young age of six.
This was when she performed her first
song and dance to a rabbit
on stage, it was the song by
Michael Jackson, "Ben".
The first celebrity who Faye met was a
member of the massive
60's band The Monkees, Davy Jones.
They met when she joined
the cast of a pantomime, which
incidentaly was the first
pantomime she did at the age of 6. He
gave every member of the
cast a Christmas present which
consisted of some bubble
bath, a little picture of a cat and a
signed photo of himself.
Her first crush was on 80's pop star,
Adam Ant, she thought
he was gorgeous. She always wanted
to go into the dancing
profession, and would have become a
ballerina if she hadn't
been told that she wasn't the right
shape. Now she has had
those early dreams realised by
becoming a member of undoubtably
the biggest dancing
sensation in the world,
and effectively contributing to what is a
new genre of dance.
There are a few things
that Faye simply cannot live without
whenever she goes on tour
with the band. In her bag she
always carries her lip
balm, mascara, purse, her mobile phone
and the one item that
the fashion conscious can't be seen
without...sunglasses!
Lucky for Faye she doesn't require much
sleep, with only six hours
of snoozing she can be up and fresh
the next day, which is
bound to come in handy with all those
overnight trips when travelling
the world. The highlight of
going on tour for Faye
is that she gets the chance to get out
there in front of all
the fans and prove to the world that STEPS
can actually sing live.
While on stage Faye says that the most
fun song to perform was
the revamped version of "5-6-7-8".
She loved the fact that
they could take the mickey out of
themselves by putting
on total hoedown, and she had a great
laugh doing so. Before
going on stage she likes to do a bit of
group bonding by doing
somthing really silly like making jokes
or saying something completely
ridiculous to each other like
"You rooooock!". She does
get a little nervous about going on
stage but considers this
to be a healthy way of preparing as it
focus' her mind on the
performance ahead. One embarrasing
moment was when she tripped
over her shoe lace live on
stage when the band played
a gig at Nottingham. Always the
professional, she stopped
herself just before hitting the floor
and pretended it was part
of the dance routine!
So what lies ahead for
Faye? Well she will be meeting up with
the rest of the Stepsters
on the CBBC program 'STEPS To The
Stars' which is presented
by H and Claire. The whole band will
be performing a different
STEPS song on each episode, thats a
total of seven poptastic
tracks! Faye isn't new to a bit of
presenting either as she
has done a truly Steptacular job of
filling in for regular
presenter Kat Deeley on 'SMTV Live', joining
H to present 'MTV Select',
and teaming up with Lee to present
the Pepsi Chart. Plus
you can catch Faye on tour with the guys
in May 2000 as well as
finishing off the current record breaking
33 date Next Step arena
tour. And don't forget to tune into the
various TV shows in the
run up to Christmas as she will be
showing off her naughty
side when she puts on her devil horns
and performs the new double
A-side single "Better The Devil
You Know" and "Say You'll
Be Mine" with the band.Place Faye's
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On the 28th of January 1975
in Chester at exactly 5.25 in
the morning a member of
STEPS was born. Infact Lee
Latchford Evans was born
at precisely the same time as his
sister with the only difference
being that she was born in
the evening. As with the
other four members of the band Lee
managed to get into trouble
when he was younger. Although
he didn't actually do
anything really bad he did break a few
windows whenever he was
playing football! At school he
really enjoyed his CDT
lessons because he got the chance to
make all sorts of things
like video cabinets. He didn't mind
school as long as he never
had to do anything really boring!
Instead of having one
really close friend, Lee had a gang of
mates who always used
to hang around Seymour Drive which
was where he lived at
the time. From the age of 14 onwards
however a guy called Simon
Grisdale became a close friend of
his. Lee and his friends
could always be found on the football
pitch having a kick around.
And every Saturday night his
parents would go out and
leave his friends to watch videos
and generally have a good
time. They wisely left bin bags
around for rubbish so
the house didn't look like a bomb site
when they got back in!
The first time Lee got
into showbiz was when he was at infant
school. He played King
Herod in the Nativity play. He wasn't all
to happy about playing
the baddie though, and went home
crying to his mum because
he didn't want to be the one that
killed Jesus! Lee always
knew how to attract attention as he
proved to pop star Danni
Minogue at one roadshow. Despite
the crowd being told that
they must be deadly silent because
the show was to go out
on air live, he took no notice. Just as
everyone had settled down
ready for the performance and
were all quiet, he jumped
up shouting "Daaaaaniiiii!". Luckily
the celebrity didn't mind
and blew him a kiss and waved to him,
something that has remained
in his heart ever since! The first
records Lee bought were
pop anthem "Karma Chameleon" by
Culture Club and "Pass
The Dutchie" by Musical Youth. His first
crush was on Helena Christiansen,
and his latest was on
actress Salma Hayek.
When he was younger Lee
wanted to become a professional
footballer, and came very
close to achieveing that goal (did you
get it?). Still, he may
not be a footballer but he is a member of
STEPS and he loves it.
It is his biggest triumph in life as he had
always wanted to leave
his mark on the world and now he
has. He does feel that
he didn't push himself enough when he
was younger and believes
that he missed out on a lot of things
because of it. His favourite
TV program is the comedy Friends,
he also loves funny movies
and will laugh until he cries if
someone tickles him!
Lee has presented numerous
shows on TV including the Pepsi
Chart twice, doing a magnificent
job. He has also presented
CD:UK with the rest of
the band for a Steptastic Easter special
earlier this year. You
will be able to see more of Lee in the
coming months as he and
the other four Steppers will be
leaving the millenium
with the biggest party known to man on
their 33 date record breaking
tour. On which Lee performs a
song written by himself.
And if that isn't enough for you, the
band will be hitting the
road again in May 2000. He will also be
joining the rest of STEPS
on the new series of TV shows
starting in January 2000
on CBBC, 'STEPS To The Stars'. You
will be able to catch
him on a different episode each week in a
run of seven shows.
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Lisa Scott-Lee was born on bonfire
night, November 5th
1975 in the smallest city
in the UK, St. Asaph in Wales at
precisely 8.20 in the
morning. At school Lisa was always up
to the usual tricks, and
once was given a note by her
headmaster to summon a
boy called Barry to his office.
Knowing she couldn't keep
the rest of the class in the dark
about what was on the
note she went to the bin when the
headmaster had left the
room, picked out the note and read
out what was on it to
her friends. As you can expect she was
caught as the headmaster
returned. He shouted at her so
much that she almost cried...almost!
Her favourite subject
at school was performing arts, as she
always liked to entertain
people. Her least favourite was
history because she found
it so boring. Her best friend was
Louise Jones who even
went along with Lisa to give her moral
support at the auditions
for STEPS. When it came to hanging
out with friends she had
a more scenic location than the other
Steppers as she always
went to Rhuddan castle in Wales.
They used to explore the
dungeons and old stair cases. It is an
amazing memory for her.
As a member of the band
that is most up to date with the
latest trends and fashions,
Lisa had to start her good sense of
style at an early age.
The first item of clothing she bought
herself was a pair of
jeans. The make-up she always wears
are Bourgeois, MAC and
Clinique and simply can't live without
eyeliner and mascara.
Lisa's top tip for make-up is to always
cleanse and moisturise,
and to treat your skin well - so you
know what to do! As far
as clothes go she doesn't think that it
is neccesary to spend
huge amounts of cash on one item, and
prefers to go out and
buy lots of clothes than blow all her
money on just one big
thing. Out of all the fabulous STEPS'
costumes the least popular
amongst the girls was for
"5-6-7-8", Lisa really
hated her red lycra dress. One night she
was out on the town with
Claire and they lost it (by accident of
course!) which was a huge
relief for her. She says that her
biggest fashion mistake
was when she permed her hair. It
wasn't so bad when she
was younger, but when it was done
last year she felt it
just didn't suit her. To stay in shape Lisa
likes to do the usual
routine of sit-ups and a lot of swimming
and also dancing, which
is handy considering her job
description!
Her first celebrity experience
was with the boxer Barry
Mcguigan when she was
16. She told him then that she too
was going to be famous
and she was right! From an early age
Lisa knew what she wanted
from life, fame and fortune. This
attitude and determination
has payed off as she is now part of
a band known worldwide,
STEPS. She only has one regret
which was having to give
up playing the piano. But shes
putting that mistake right
now by having piano lessons, and
can play a cool rendition
of ABBA's "The Winner Takes It All".
Her biggest triumph so
far has been reaching her ambitions.
Lisa's first crush was
on the lead singer from INXS, Michael
Hutchence, she was really
upset when he sadly died. The last
person she fancied was
the pop sensation Robbie Williams,
although she has gone
off him a bit now. The first record she
bought was the fantastic
single by Billy Joel "Uptown Girl". Like
the millions of viewers
that tune into it every week her
favourite TV program is
the soap Eastenders. The most
expensive thing she has
bought so far was her Suzuki jeep
which she bought from
her brother.
Recently Lisa showed everyone
that she could stand up to the
big boys when she joined
the set of celebrity contestants on
the comedy quiz show 'Never
Mind The Buzzcocks'. She proved
that there was more to
this Stepper than just singing and
dancing as she got the
whole audience rolling with laughter
with her answers to questions.
In the future Lisa is going to be
busy with all things STEPS.
They are still on their record
breaking tour and will
be touring again in May 2000, so catch
Lisa live at one of the
band's gigs. You will also be able to see
Lisa singing all the latest
songs with the rest of your fave band
on TV shows and on the
radio as they perform the new single.
And keep an eye open for
Lisa as the five of them will feature
in a number of articles
for all the most popular music
magazines. All this and
a performance at the end of every
episode of 'STEPS To The
Stars' presented by her band mates
Claire and H. Lisa will
be able to offer the two of them advice
as she has had a go at
presenting too on the 'Pepsi Chart',
doing a wonderful job
with Lee. She is an experienced
presenter and has also
entertained viewers of the popular
Channel 4 program 'Late
Lunch' impressing everyone with her
natural confidence and
vitality.
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