Throughout the years,
naturally the group’s
dynamics changed. H to
me was like an annoying
little brother and he
would make a point of
winding me up. I knew
his heart was in the
right place but I found
him quite hard work. He
won’t mind me saying
so as he’s one of my
dearest friends now and
I love him to bits.
12
around the roundabouts. So much fun!
As a family we were members of The
Dunstable Little Theatre group and I
did my first straight play at the age of
12. Mum did costumes, dad built and
painted the sets and Clare and I would
be on the stage. If I didn’t end up on
the stage I would have been more than
happy behind the stage. I spent hours
in front of the mirror experimenting.
Make-up, wigs and costume were always
obvious choices for a plan B. Mum
persuaded me to stay on at school to
do A-levels to make sure I had decent
qualifications to fall back on. As soon as
my exams were done I got straight out
to audition. By the end of the summer I
was working as a dancer in a theme park
in Denmark and I’ve pretty much been in
work since. Dancing, acting, singing and
three times as a magician’s assistant!
How did Steps come to be together?
There was an advert in ‘The Stage’
newspaper looking for 18-22 yr olds to
front a Girl/Boy band. It said: ‘Must be
good looking and sing and dance well’
(or words to that effect). We had to send
in a photo and a vocal demo cassette.
Then the letter arrived in the post inviting
me to the open audition in Epsom. There
must have been hundreds of hopefuls
there on the day. We were given a paper
number to safety pin to our tops. I wore a
white vest top and copper PVC trousers
which I was very proud of at the time!
We started off the day with dancing.
They immediately started cutting people
and whittling us down. By lunchtime
there must have been 50 of us left and
they started the vocal auditions. We were
taken to a room and asked to sing two
songs accompanied by Barry Upton
who was busking the backing music on
his acoustic guitar. I sang Moving on Up
by M-People and Think Twice, Celine
Dion… cringe!
Then the double doors at the back of
the hall burst open and in walked H and
Lisa who were original band members.
In my eyes, they were already Pop Stars
which I found exciting! The management/
creative team had brought them in to
literally line us up together, swapping us
in and out in different combinations until
they’d made their decision. I remember
going to the payphone at around 5pm
to call mum. “I think I’m in a Pop Band’ I
said. “That’s nice darling” mum replied.
What was the early part of the journey
like?
In the beginning everything was exciting
and unknown. We got the record deal
with PWL, signed the contract, recorded
the album and began promoting our
first single ‘5,6,7,8’. We worked our little
socks off. We’d all be picked up in turn
in by our Tour Manager and taken to the
day’s events. Then taken back home and
dropped off one by one. I was usually the