Claire Richards

Claire started life in the pop lane in 1995 when she teamed with Cossie and Bonnie to form TSD. After their two singles – Heart and Soul and Baby I Love You only reached number 69 and 64 respectively they were dropped by their record company. Bonnie promptly quit the group and Mariama, who, later went on to Solid Harmonie and then went on to replace Heavenlii in the Honeyz, joined the group, though TSD soon spilt and it emerged their producer only wanted to work with Cossie. After a 7 month stint working as a receptionist – and winning the coveted ‘Temp Of The Month for May 1997’ it was Claire’s mum Nina who spotted an ad for Steps in the Stage newspaper. After initial nerves, Claire went along, taking younger sister Gemma along for support. Although she almost didn’t make it too the audition after getting lost on the way. Singing Tina Turners ‘River Deep, Mountain High’ and Eternals ‘I Am Blessed’ for her audition, she not only impressed Tim, but the other audtionees (including Faye) some of whom were sat 3 rooms away! It was at this audition she wore the now infamous catsuit, which made its one and only appearance in the video for Last Thing On My Mind. After getting through the terrifying experience of both the singing and dancing auditions Claire finally got into the group we now know as Steps. They released the line dancing classic 5,6,7,8 in December 1997, peaking at 14 it is officially one of the highest selling singles never to make it into the British top ten, selling almost 200,000 copies. However it was 5,6,7,8 that also became Steps first ever number one, hitting the top spot in Australia. Back in Britain over 4 years they achieved 13 consecutive Top 5 singles (a feat bettered only by the Beatles) and sold over 12 million singles and albums. In early 2000 Claire went side by side with band mate H to present the young talent show Steps To The Stars. You may have noticed a young pre Pop Idol Gareth Gates in the last series of the show. Claires TV presenting career goes further than just Steps To The Stars, she was the first female guest presenter on SM:tv/CD:uk filling in for Cat whilst she was on holiday, she’s presented Electric Circus, MTV Select and a show I think she’d rather forget – Stars and Their Doubles 2001 with Des O’Connor. During her time in Steps she achieved 2 number one singles with Heartbeat/Tragedy and Stomp as well as a coveted Brit Award in 2000, when Steps were recognized at the biggest selling act of that year! After a greatest hits Gold tour in November/December 2001, they announced their split on Boxing Day 2001 – breaking the hearts of many fans across the world. January 26th 2002 saw H and Claire’s first TV appearance since the Steps split. Appearing on SM:TV and then with Cat on CD:UK they announced their plans to carry on as a duo. Only weeks later they signed a £4 Million record contract with WEA (Warners) Records. In the May they released their debut single as a duo – DJ which peaked at number 3 in the British charts. Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus rewrote some of the lyrics to Another You Another Me which was originally recorded by Swedish duo Gemini. With songs from Sam Watters (Anastasia), John Reid (Nighcrawlers), Topham&Twig, Jorgen Elofsson and of course H and Claire themselves, the album was always going to be a varied one. Released in November 2002 it only reached 58 in the UK charts, despite this low position it is still loved by the fans. Reece, Charlie and Claire During this time they also had a 5 month stint at presenting SM:tv, joining in April 2002 they co-presented the show alongside Tess Daly and Big Brother 2 winner Brian Dowling. After the dissapointment of their albums chart position, H&Claire took a break from recording to persue other projects. H persued his love of acting, taking up the role of Joseph in Joseph and his amazing technicolour dreamcoat. Claire took time out to plan her wedding to former STEPS and H&Claire backing dancer Mark Webb. The couple were married on August 2nd 2003, however split up 18 months later. Following the break-up of her marriage, Claire rekindled her relationship with her first love Reece. Claire gave birth to their first child Charlie on May 8th 2007. Following Charlies birth Claire began to lose the weight she'd gained before during and after her pregnancy, in preperation for her return to the public eye in 2008. Claire is currently preparing herself for her wedding to Reece in November, aswell as a number of projects taking place later in 2008 and 2009. Wife, Mummy, singer, tv presenter and whole lot more . Also known as Claire from Steps! Xx Contact Info@fascinationmanagement.com