Claire Anne Richards (born 17 August 1977) is an English singer who is best known for being in the pop group Steps. Richards was a contestant on the second series of ''

Popstar to Operastar ''Popstar to Operastar'' is a British television programme in which pop stars were trained to sing opera. The show began airing on ITV on 15 January 2010 at 9pm. The show was repeated on TV3 Ireland on Saturday evening. The programme was produce ...

'' before being voted off in the semi finals. She possesses the vocal range of a

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

. On 3 January 2013, Richards entered ''

Celebrity Big Brother ''Big Brother VIP'', is an adaptation of the '' Big Brother'' reality television series. It is the celebrity version of its parent franchise ''Big Brother'', the celebrity version airs in several countries, however, the housemates or houseguest ...

'' and came in fourth place. From April to June 2014, she was a regular panellist on ''

Loose Women ''Loose Women'' (previously known as ''Live Talk'' from 2000 to 2001) is a British talk show that broadcasts on ITV1 weekdays from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm. The show focuses on a panel of four female presenters who interview celebrities, talk about ...

''.

Early life

Richards began her career in the pop trio TSD. They had little success and were dropped by their

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

Avex after the release of their second single "Baby I Love You". She went on to work as a

receptionist A receptionist is an employee taking an office or administrative support position. The work is usually performed in a waiting area such as a lobby or front office desk of an organization or business. The title ''receptionist'' is attributed t ...

for seven months, winning the temporary worker of the month award for May 1997.

Career

Steps

Richards auditioned for the lineup that would become Steps. She was offered a place in the group on the condition that she lost weight. Steps were formed by Steve Crosby & Barry Upton (writers of " 5, 6, 7, 8") alongside Manager Tim Byrne after auditioning hopefuls who answered an ad in ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...

'' newspaper. She joined the group in 1997 along with

Ian "H" Watkins Ian Watkins (born 8 May 1976), known by his stage name as H, is a Welsh singer and actor. He is known as a member of the British pop group Steps. In 2020, he competed in the twelfth series of '' Dancing on Ice''. Career Steps In May 1997, W ...

Lisa Scott-Lee Lisa Scott-Lee (born 5 November 1975) is a Welsh singer and member of the pop group Steps, formed in 1997. Scott-Lee signed a record deal with Mercury Records and launched a solo career in 2003 although her success was limited after the release ...

Faye Tozer Faye Louise Tozer (born 14 November 1975) is an English singer, dancer, and actress, best known as a member of British pop group Steps. Career Music Steps are a pop group that have had a series of charted singles between 1997 and 2020. Their ...

and

Lee Latchford-Evans Lee Latchford-Evans (born 28 January 1975) is an English singer, dancer, stage actor and one of the five singers of the British pop group Steps. Early life From Ellesmere Port, Evans was born as Lee Latchford Evans, with his middle name Latc ...

, and the band enjoyed considerable popularity across the world over the next five years. Steps reformed in May 2011 for a four-part documentary series on

Sky Living Sky Living was a British pay television channel owned and operated by Sky. The channel's programming was aimed mainly at women and young adults. It originally launched as UK Living in 1993 and closed 25 years later, being replaced by Sky Witness. ...

titled ''Steps: Reunion''. The series started airing on 28 September, following an announcement of a second greatest hits album, '' The Ultimate Collection'', that was released on 10 October 2011. The album entered the charts at number one, becoming the band's third album to achieve this feat. The second series of ''Steps: Reunion'' titled "Steps: On the Road Again" aired on

in April 2012; the series followed the band as they embarked on their sellout 22-date UK tour. On 24 September 2012, the group confirmed they would release their fourth studio album '' Light Up The World'' on 12 November 2012, alongside a six-date Christmas tour, starting from 30 November and ending on 5 December. The group reformed for a second time on 1 January 2017 in celebration of their 20th anniversary, and later announced their fifth studio album ''

Tears on the Dancefloor ''Tears on the Dancefloor'' is the fifth studio album by British group Steps. It was released on 21 April 2017, by Absolute and Fascination Records. The album is the group's first album in five years since ''Light Up the World'', and their fi ...

'', which was released in April 2017 and entered the charts at number 2. On 5 March 2017, the group confirmed the release of the new album, alongside its lead single, "

Scared of the Dark "Scared of the Dark" is a song recorded by British group Steps for their fifth studio album, ''Tears on the Dancefloor'' (2017). On 6 March 2017, the group announced their twentieth anniversary celebrations in the form of a new single, album ...

", and a 22-date tour, Party on the Dancefloor. A deluxe edition of the album, titled ''Tears on the Dancefloor: Crying at the Disco'', was released on 27 October. In November 2017, Tozer announced that the reunion was no longer just a 20th-anniversary celebration and that the group intends to continue after their 2018 Summer of Steps tour. In April 2018, Richards announced that following their summer tour, they would begin work on their sixth studio album. In February 2019, Richards announced the group would begin recording their next album during the summer months. On 7 September 2020, via their social media accounts, Steps announced the release date of their album entitled ''

What the Future Holds ''What the Future Holds'' is the sixth studio album by the British group Steps and was their first album to be released with their new record label BMG on 27 November 2020. They had originally intended to release the project in the Spring, how ...

''. The album was released on 27 November of the same year, with pre-orders available from 8 September. The next day, they confirmed a new 14-date UK tour (with special guest

Sophie Ellis-Bextor Sophie Michelle Ellis-Bextor (born 10 April 1979) is an English singer and songwriter. She first came to prominence in the late 1990s as the lead singer of the indie rock band Theaudience. After the group disbanded Ellis-Bextor went solo and ach ...

) starting in November 2021. The first single from the album was the

Greg Kurstin Gregory Allen Kurstin (born May 14, 1969) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2017 and 2018, and written and produced four songs t ...

-and-

Sia Sia Kate Isobelle Furler ( ; born 18 December 1975) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Adelaide, she started her career as a singer in the acid jazz band Crisp in the mid-1990s. In 1997, when Crisp disbanded, she rel ...

-penned "

", released on 9 September 2020. It was followed by " Something in Your Eyes" on 27 October 2020. " To the Beat of My Heart" was released as the album's third single in January 2021. The first single of ''

What the Future Holds Pt. 2 ''What the Future Holds Pt. 2'' is the seventh studio album by the British group Steps. The album was released on 10 September 2021 by BMG Rights Management. Background In April 2021, Steps announced what was intended to be a deluxe edition o ...

'' was confirmed as a reworked version of "Heartbreak in This City" featuring

Michelle Visage Michelle Lynn Case (nee Shupack), better known as Michelle Visage (born September 20, 1968), is an American singer, television host, actress, radio DJ and producer. She first gained recognition as a member of the musical group Seduction which ...

Solo career

After Richards and her fellow group mate

resigned during the last leg of their final tour, the two continued singing as the duo

H & Claire H & Claire were a pop duo, consisting of Steps members Claire Richards and Ian "H" Watkins. They scored three top 10 hits on the UK Singles Chart in 2002. Career Following the split of Steps on 26 December 2001, H & Claire formed the duo ...

. The pair experienced success with their debut single " DJ", which reached No. 3 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, and their next two singles, which both charted in the top 10. While the duo had initial success, their album ''Another You, Another Me'', which was released in 2002, did not chart high. Richards also co hosted alongside Brian Dowling and

Tess Daly Helen Elizabeth "Tess" Daly (born 29 March 1969) is an English model and television presenter who co-presented the BBC One celebrity dancing show ''Strictly Come Dancing'' from 2004 to 2013; she has been the show's main presenter since 2014. ...

SMTV Live ''SMTV Live'' (an abbreviation of ''Saturday Morning Television Live'', and also stylised as ''SM: LIVE'') was a British Saturday morning children's television programme, produced by Blaze Television for ITV. Operating on a similar format to o ...

in 2002. She took a break from singing to plan her wedding to Steps dancer Mark Webb. H & Claire disbanded in 2003. After leaving her music career, Richards wanted to take a break from music and concentrate on other projects; she was set to release a debut solo album but due to falling pregnant Richards decided to not pursue music any further. In 2013, she announced on Twitter that there was a possibility of her producing a solo album to the success of Steps. Richards released her first solo material, a cover of the Steps track " One for Sorrow" on 30 July 2015 via her official SoundCloud. The acoustic version of the track was recorded for an event honouring Steps' producer

Pete Waterman Peter Alan Waterman, (born 15 January 1947) is an English record producer, songwriter, radio and club DJ, television presenter, president of Coventry Bears rugby league club and a keen railway enthusiast. As a member of the Stock Aitken Waterm ...

. The track was arranged and produced by Steve Anderson with whom Richards was now working on a full album. In September 2015, after much fan demand, Richards released a stripped back version of "

Deeper Shade of Blue "Deeper Shade of Blue" is a song by British dance-pop group Steps, released as the fourth single from their second studio album, '' Steptacular'' (1999), on 3 April 2000. The song was originally recorded by English singer-songwriter Tina Cousi ...

". The track, which was recorded in one take was released on Amazon, iTunes and streaming services on 4 September. It was announced on 3 August 2018 that Richards was to release her debut solo album, ''

My Wildest Dreams ''My Wildest Dreams'' is an American sitcom that aired on Fox on Sunday nights at 9:30 pm from May 28 to June 25, 1995. Plot The series centered on Lisa McGinnis, a mother of two, who worked at a recording studio and had fantasies of being a roc ...

'' on 2 November 2018. It was preceded by the lead single, "On My Own", which was released on 6 August. It was announced on 8 October 2018, via her official Twitter, that the album had been delayed until 1 February 2019. The album reached #9 in the UK Albums Chart and was promoted with a small theatre tour across venues in the UK.

Television

It was announced in May 2011 that Richards would be taking part in the second series of ''

'' making it her first major high-profile appearance in nearly ten years. The series started on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

on 5 June. She appeared on

OK! TV ''OK! TV'' is an early evening magazine programme which was broadcast on Channel 5 between 14 February 2011 and 16 December 2011. It was a brand extension of celebrity title ''OK! Magazine''. It replaced the former magazine and discussion sh ...

on 6 June to promote the show. Despite a much-praised performance of the Queen of the Night aria from Mozart's ''Magic Flute'' in the semi-final, she lost out on a place in the final to

Cheryl Baker Rita Maria Stroud (''née'' Crudgington; born 8 March 1954), known professionally as Cheryl Baker, is an English singer and television presenter. She was a member of 1980s pop group Bucks Fizz, who won the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest and now p ...

. Richards was a contestant on eleventh series of ''

'' and came fourth place as the show ended on 25 January 2013. On 1 and 7 April 2014, Richards was a guest panellist on the

lunchtime chat show ''

''. Following this, she became a permanent panellist, making her debut on 10 April 2014. She subsequently made a further seven appearances, with her last being on 23 June 2014. On 8 August 2017, Richards made a cameo appearance as herself on the BBC Scotland soap opera ''

River City ''River City'' is a Scottish television soap opera that was first broadcast on BBC One Scotland on 24 September 2002. ''River City'' follows the lives of the people who live and work in the fictional district of Shieldinch. In November 2017, a s ...

''.

Personal life

Richards has a younger sister called Gemma, who appears in the 'Tragedy' video as her bridesmaid. Richards married her first husband Mark Webb, a backing dancer with Steps, in 2003. The couple divorced in 2005 when Richards rekindled her romance with Reece Hill. Richards' first child, Charlie, was born on 8 May 2007. In January 2008, Richards and Hill announced their engagement and were married 1 November 2008. Richards announced in the 30 June 2009 edition of ''Woman'' magazine that she was expecting her second child with her husband, and gave birth to a girl named Daisy on 29 December 2009. On 13 September 2008, she performed "Tragedy" on the show ''Everybody Dance Now'' without the other members of Steps. Richards appeared on ''

Celebrity MasterChef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking reality show produced by Endemol Shine UK and Banijay and broadcast in 60 countries around the world. In the UK, it is produced by the BBC. The show initially ran from 1990 to 2001 and was revived in 2 ...

'' on 25 June 2009 as part of the programme's "comeback" week. ''Claire Richards: My Big Fat Wedding'', a programme following Claire on her journey to lose weight before her wedding, was shown on

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, curre ...

in May 2009. The programme featured her wedding and a reunion of all Steps members and drew an audience of over 763,000. Richards released a fitness DVD ''Five Step Fat Attack'' on 26 December 2008.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

References

External links

Official websiteClaireRichards.Net – original fansiteGeneration STEPS
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Claire 1977 births English women singers English sopranos Living people People from Hillingdon Popstar to Operastar contestants Steps (group) members People from Uxbridge