STEPS
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses of "steps", see Step.
| Steps | ||
|---|---|---|
 Their 3rd Album.
Left to Right: Claire, H, Lisa, Faye, Lee |
||
| Background information | ||
| Origin | UK | |
| Genre(s) | Europop | |
| Instrument(s) | Singing | |
| Years active | 1997-2001 | |
| Label(s) | SonyBMG/Jive | |
| Former members | ||
| Claire Richards Lee Latchford-Evans Faye Tozer Ian 'H' Watkins Lisa Scott-Lee |
||
Steps were a highly successful British pop group who achieved a series of charted singles between 1997 and 2001. Their name was based around a simple marketing gimmick. Each of their music videos were carefully choreographed, and the dance steps were included with most of their single releases. Steps formed on 7 May 1997 and disbanded on 26 December 2001.
Contents |
[edit] History
Steps were formed by Barry Upton & Steve Crosby (writers of 5,6,7,8) after auditioning hopefuls who answered an ad in The Stage newspaper.
Their first single "5,6,7,8" was a techno line dance and though not typical of what would become their style, it became their first hit, and later found its way onto a video game, "Dancing Stage Euromix 2," the European version of the popular Dance Dance Revolution Series. The single then went on to become one of the highest selling singles to never actually reach the top 10.
Pete Waterman's stated intention was to try to recreate the sound of ABBA and blend it with a more modern style. The hit singles continued, with their cover version of Bananarama's "Last Thing On My Mind", and the most ABBA-flavoured of their singles, "One for Sorrow", reaching the UK Top 10, peaking at No. 2. Their next single, a double A-side, with a cover version of the Bee Gees "Tragedy" and original track "Heartbeat" became their first number one single in January 1999, although released in November 1998.
Over the next year they hit the top 10 several times, with songs such as "Better Best Forgotten", "Love's Got a Hold on My Heart", "After The Love Has Gone", "Deeper Shade of Blue" (originally intended for Tina Cousins) and a double A sided single of "Say You'll Be Mine" with their version of Kylie Minogue's "Better The Devil You Know". Their second and final number one single "Stomp" reached the number one position in October 2000. They continued releasing singles and reached number two with both "It's the Way You Make Me Feel" and "Chain Reaction" (originally recorded by Diana Ross) before disbanding on 26 December 2001. Their run of 14 consecutive top 5 hits is a considerable achievement for a British act, bettered only by The Beatles and, more recently, Oasis. Steps also toured America with Britney Spears during 1999, before the launch of the American version of their debut album 'Step One'.
Steps were part of the ensemble that released "Thank ABBA for the Music" (a medley of ABBA's "Take A Chance On Me", "Dancing Queen", "Mamma Mia" and "Thank You for the Music") in March 1999, as performed at the BRIT Awards. The other artists singing were Tina Cousins, Cleopatra, B*Witched, and Billie, known collectively as the Supertroupers. In the same year, STEPS were at the centre of a controversy surrounding the 'Best Newcomer' gong at the BRIT Awards. Pete Waterman, the mastermind behind the group, claimed to have been told days before the ceremony that STEPS had won the award, as voted for by listeners of BBC Radio 1. However, on the night the award was handed to the Scottish band Belle & Sebastian, who were assumed to be rank outsiders. Despite the allegation that a significant number of votes for Belle & Sebastian were traced to one location (two computers sited in a particular UK university campus), the band held onto their award as foul-play was denied by organisers of the BRIT Awards. In 2000, Steps were awarded the BRIT Award for Best Selling Live Act of the year.[1]
Steps also had their own talent show named "Steps To The Stars", in which 3 acts, consisting of young people, performed for the public vote. It was revealed on the next show who would go through to final. This was shown on CBBC1 in 1999/2000. It aired for 2 series' and was presented by H and Claire although the group performed one of their classics at the end of every show. The show featured a young Danny Jones (McFly) in a band called "Y2K" in which he played guitar with his sister and their friend and also Gareth Gates, before he found fame on Pop Idol.
[edit] Criticisms
Steps received some criticism for their tendency to cover other bands' tracks rather than develop original scores. They were also frequently criticized by fans, critics and other musicians for their very frequent lipsyncing, and were sometimes accused of being marginally talented or non-talented singers because of this fact.
More seriously, Lee Latchford Evans was criticised for the following allegedly racist remarks in an interview: "Foreign people and people from ethnic minorities should all go home so that there can be more jobs for proper English people." Steps responded that the quote was taken out of context.
In 2001, following their shock Boxing Day split, the group were heavily criticised by their own fans. Many UK tabloid papers published the fans' disgust on their front pages, displaying quotes taken from Steps message boards. After the group spent much of 2001 strongly dismissing claims of a split, fans were furious and accused the group of capitalising off the success of a host of merchandise released in the lucrative pre-Christmas market. However, it has since come to light that both H and Claire left the group on the last night of the Steps "Gold: Greatest Hits" tour, due to their ongoing unhappiness within the band, although Steps' official statement stated that the split was caused by their belief that they should end on a high, while they were at their best and could be remembered for being the best of their kind.
However, there is a conspiracy that the reason for the split was more 'fiscal' than 'we want to go out on a high'. Tim Byrne, the band's manager (who was in a sexual relationship with H for ten years until 2006), saw H and Claire as the 'talent' in the band and orchestrated the split. By splitting, he was able to tout H and Claire around the major labels (Jive Records were a notoriously tight label) before finally getting the duo signed to Warners for a reputed £4 million (over 5 albums)
[edit] After split
Since disbanding, Watkins and Richards (billed as 'H & Claire') released three top 10 UK singles and a poorly performing album, which led to the duo going their separate ways.
In 2003, Ian Watkins took the lead role in the London production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Subsequently, he gained his own reality programme, "H Side Story".
In January 2007 H announced that he is gay. H had already informed fellow, former band members and his family at the age of 21. 'H' also took part in the controversial series of Celebrity Big Brother, in early 2007. He was one of the few housemates not to be caught up in the race scandal which dogged this years program. He finished in fourth place and was one of the few housemates that season to, upon their eviction, receive a positive reaction from the studio audience. Host Davina told him he'd "gone into the house as "H" but left as Ian".
Claire Richards married former Steps dancer Mark Webb, but the couple have since split. In December 2006, Claire revealed that she was 5 months pregnant to her partner Reece.
Faye Tozer reached #10 in the UK with Russell Watson on the track "Someone Like You". In the same year she married her Danish boyfriend Jesper Irn, and a year later toured the UK in the theatre production of Tell Me On A Sunday. She also toured the UK as a cast member of the musical Love Shack with Noel Sullivan from Hear'Say and Jon Lee from S Club 7. Faye then joined the cast of Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens, which is a futuristic musical, the show began touring on November 24th 2005. Faye and Jesper have now spilt up. In 2006, Faye took the role of Sally in the UK tour of Me And My Girl.
Lee Latchford-Evans has appeared on UK reality shows The Games, The Match and Celebrity Fear Factor. He is also in a low-key band called The Latch, whose sound deviates greatly from the sound of Steps. In July 2006, MTV UK announced a new TV programme called "Totally Boyband" would involve Lee, the TV programme is based on fellow Step's star Lisa Scott-Lee's "Totally Scott-Lee". Due to disagreements with the other band members, Lee was sacked from the group.
Lisa Scott-Lee has released four singles as a solo dance artist. Lisa was dropped from her initial record contract in 2003 after just two singles, with a third single and album consequently cancelled. In 2004, she signed a new record deal, married boyfriend Johnny Shentall, and released the single 'Get It On' as a guest vocalist for the dance act Intenso Project. In November 2004, it was confirmed that MTV had commissioned a reality show following Lisa in the same vein as The Osbournes and Newlyweds. It was called Totally Scott-Lee & it aired in the UK in October 2005. As one of the premises of the show, she was challenged to have her next single, 'Electric' debut in the British Top 10 after her previous singles peaked at 6, 11, and 23 respectively. If she did not accomplish this, then she would have to quit the music business. Unfortunately, 'Electric' peaked at #13, falling to #47 the second week and by the third week it had dropped out of the top 75 UK Singles Chart. According to her Manager, Nathan Moore, Lisa will continue singing and promoting her music in countries such as Japan, Australia, and South Africa.
In 2006, Lisa revealed in an interview with an Australian radio station that earlier rumours of a Steps reunion offer are true. She states that at the end of 2005, they were given such an offer, but "the time didn't feel right". Countering arguments that other 90s groups, such as Take That and East 17 were reuniting for tours in the near future, also in regard to the rumours regarding the much in demand and rumoured Spice Girls reunion, Lisa says that Steps have only been separated for 4 years, while both Take That and East 17 have each been separated for at least a decade. Faye has also recently said: "The record companies have been asking us for years. But because we are all busy, it hasn't happened. "We meet up regularly and the connection between us is still thriving. "I think we will come around to reforming at some stage, but it will happen when everyone has time."
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Album | UK | AUS | NED | PHI | NZ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Step One" (Jive/Sony-BMG1998) | 2 | 4 | 28 | 1 | 6 |
| "Steptacular" (Jive/Sony-BMG1999) | 1 | 25 | 48 | 1 | - |
| "Buzz" (Jive/Sony-BMG2000) | 4 | 7 | 46 | 3 | - |
| "Gold - The Greatest Hits" (Jive/Sony-BMG2001) | 1 | 88 | - | - | 17 |
| "The Last Dance" (Jive/Sony-BMG2002) | 57 | - | - | - | - |
US Albums
[edit] Singles
| Single | UK | AUS | NED | BEL | NZ | GER | PHI | LEB | CHE | SWE
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "5,6,7,8" (1997) | 14 | 1 | 22 | 1 | 7 | - | 1 | - | - | 17 |
| "Last Thing on My Mind" (1998) | 6 | 5 | 11 | 1 | 24 | - | 7 | 12 | - | 59 |
| "One for Sorrow" (1998) | 2 | 34 | 24 | 1 | 13 | - | 1 | 3 | - | 34 |
| "Heartbeat / Tragedy" (1998) | 1 | 10 | 22 | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | 1 | - | 4 |
| "Better Best Forgotten" (1999) | 2 | - | 79 | - | - | - | - | 14 | - | - |
| "Thank ABBA for the Music with Cleopatra, Tina Cousins, Billie Piper, B*Witched" (1999) | 4 | 9 | 14 | - | 6 | 97 | - | 5 | - | 8 |
| "Love's Got a Hold on My Heart" (1999) | 2 | 29 | 57 | - | 18 | - | - | - | - | - |
| "After the Love Has Gone" (1999) | 5 | 47 | 63 | - | - | - | - | 20 | - | - |
| "Say You'll Be Mine" / "Better the Devil You Know"(1999) | 4 | 21 | 47 | - | - | 98 | 10 | - | 93 | - |
| "Deeper Shade of Blue" (2000) | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | 5 | 2 | - | - |
| "When I Said Goodbye / Summer Of Love" (2000) | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3 | - | - |
| "Stomp" (2000) | 1 | 66 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| "It's the Way You Make Me Feel" (2001) | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | 3 | 17 | - | - |
| "Here And Now / You'll Be Sorry" (2001) | 4 | 71 | - | - | - | - | 6 | - | - | - |
| "Chain Reaction" (2001) | 2 | 41 | - | - | - | - | 9 | - | - | - |
| "Words Are Not Enough / I Know Him So Well" (2001) | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
In total STEPS have sold over 25 million records, including 15 million albums worldwide.
U.S. Singles
- "One For Sorrow (US Remix)" (1999)
- "Tragedy" (2000)
- "Mars & Venus (We Fall in Love Again)" (2001)
B-Sides, Bonus Tracks and Other
- Words of Wisdom (B-Side - 5,6,7,8)
- A Love To Last (B-Side - Last Thing On My Mind)
- Why? (B-Side - Better Best Forgotten)
- To Be Your Hero (B-Side - Love's Got A Hold On My Heart)
- In It For Love (B-Side - It's The Way You Make Me Feel)
- Just Like The First Time (B-Side - Here and Now/You'll Be Sorry Bonus Track - Buzz (Australian Version))
- Too Busy Thinking About My Baby (A-Side - It's The Way You Make Me Feel Motown Mania)
- Stop Me From Loving You (B-Side - Chain Reaction)
- Bittersweet (B-Side - Words Are Not Enough)
- Human Touch (Bonus Track - Buzz (Asian and European Version))
- I Know Him So Well (B-Side - Words Are Not Enough ABBAmania)
- Lay All Your Love On Me (ABBAmania)
- Merry Christmas Everybody (Platinum Christmas)
- Thank ABBA For The Music (STEPS, Tina Cousins, Cleopatra, B*witched and Billie - Performed Brits 99) ABBAmania
[edit] Lisa Scott-Lee, Faye Tozer & H&Claire Singles
| Single | UK Chart |
|---|---|
| "Lately" (Lisa Scott-Lee) | #6 |
| "Too Far Gone" (Lisa Scott-Lee) | #11 |
| "Get It On (Intenso Project Feat Lisa Scott Lee) " | #23 |
| "Electric" (Lisa Scott Lee) | #13 |
| "Someone Like You" (Russel Watson Feat. Faye Tozer) | #10 |
| "DJ" (H & Claire) | #3 |
| "Half A Heart" (H & Claire) | #8 |
| "All Out Of Love / Beauty And The Beast" (H & Claire) | #10 |
[edit] Notes
- with Tina Cousins, Cleopatra, B*Witched and Billie (1999) #4 UK, #9 AUS
