ABOUT STEPS
Steps were formed in 1997.
Producer Tim Byrne was approached by Steve Crosby and Barry Upton, who had a line-dancing
song and were looking for a boy/girl group to front it.
After auditions, five young people were chosen - Welsh pair Ian Watkins
and Lisa Scott-Lee, plus three others called Maddie, Mitch and Degs. Ian and Lisa
remained, but it was decided to replace the other three. More auditions were held and
Claire Richards, Lee Latchford Evans and Faye Tozer were chosen to make up the quintet.
The group toured many clubs and colleges promoting their song,
'5,6,7,8', and it was finally released in November 1997. It reached it's highest position,
No.14, in the U.K. charts in January 1998 and became the biggest selling non top ten
single of the 1990's.
The group were signed to Jive Records, where legendary pop producer
Pete Waterman was working.
Their second release was a cover of 'Last Thing On My Mind', a minor hit for well known
girl trio Bananarama. It was released in April 1998 and reached a very respectable No. 6
in the charts.
Their next release did even better, when 'One For Sorrow' reached the dizzy heights of
No.2, and soon after, the group's debut album 'Step One' was released and was a great
success.
A double A-Sided single, 'Heartbeat/Tragedy', was released that
November and hung around the top ten for ages, finally hitting the No.1 spot in the first
week of 1999.
There was 'tragedy' and controversy at the Brit Awards for Steps in
early 1999. Despite being huge favourites for the 'Best Newcomer' award (and apparently
being told they had won it), they lost out to Scottish indie band Belle & Sebastian.
Later it was revealed that there had been some vote rigging, with loads of votes coming
from the same place.
Steps had two further singles that reached No.2 in 1999 - 'Better Best
Forgotten' and 'Love's Got A Hold On My Heart'. In the autumn, they embarked on the Next
Step Tour, which was the biggest ever pop arena tour in this country. They also had a top
five hit with 'After The Love Has Gone'.
Soon after, 'Steptacular', the fabulous second album, was released and
hit the No.1 spot in the album charts. The group's Christmas single, the double A-sided
'Say You'll Be Mine/Better The Devil You Know', charted at No.7 and eventually climbed up
to No.4.
Steps continued with their success right through the year 2000. They
won a well deserved Brit Award for their record-breaking tour and hit No.4 again in April
with 'Deeper Shade Of Blue', which has one of the strangest promo videos ever!
In the early summer the group embarked on the Steptacular tour, which
was even bigger than the last. They also released another double A-sided single, the
lovely ballad 'When I Said Goodbye' coupled with the dynamic Latino-sounding 'Summer Of
Love', which reached No.5 in the charts.
In October, the disco-tastic 'Stomp' gave the group only their second
No.1 single. Steps also sold their millionth concert ticket, for the Steps Into Christmas
tour at the end of the year. Their third album in as many years, 'Buzz' also came out and
was, as usual, excellent.
Steps began 2001 in style with the great ballad 'It's The Way You Make
Me Feel' (I think one of their finest records), which reached No.2 in the charts. Oddly,
it was sold by some record stores the week before the official release date, which meant
it made No.72 in the charts that week!
