Steps’ Claire Richard has criticized record companies for the grueling way they treated the band during their ’90s heyday.
The singer, 46, was a member of the hit group alongside Lee Latchford-Evans, 48, Lisa Scott-Lee, 47, Faye Tozer, 47, and Ian ‘H’ Watkins, 47, and topped the charts between 1997 and 2002, before meeting in 2011.
Talking about the Table Manners Podcast Claire explained that at the height of their fame the band, who have been represented by half a dozen labels throughout their career, would only have two weeks off a year, saying it was “work, work, work.”
“There wasn’t any respite, I think the most time we had off was maybe two weeks and that would have been it.”
Criticizing the lack of regard for the group’s well-being, he said: “The rest of the time someone is sitting in a record company office doing programming and not thinking about the human beings on the other side.
Claire Richard, 46, of Steps, criticized record companies for the grueling way they treated the band during their 90s heyday.
The singer was a member of the hugely successful group alongside Lee Latchford-Evans, 48, Lisa Scott-Lee, 47, Faye Tozer, 47, and Ian ‘H’ Watkins, 47, and headlined the lists between 1997 and 2002, before meeting. 2011 (pictured in 1998)
He also revealed there how the workload and behind-the-scenes “friction” with his bandmates led to the group’s initial split.
“I think ultimately it’s probably just exhaustion, you know, there was friction and I guess things happened that became massive because we were so compressed all the time.”
The band reunited in 2011 and has since released four albums and five tours, including one to celebrate their 25th anniversary.
Speaking of his drunken antics backstage, he said: ‘Well, it’s mostly wine. Normally there are two bottles of Prosecco, a couple of bottles of rosé and white, we don’t have red, and then it used to be a bottle of gin and some tonics for ‘H’, but now it has tequila.
Claire previously reflected on leaving the band, after she bombed out with H, revealing she was “embarrassed” by their waning success despite the band claiming they were splitting up to “leave on a high”.
It was not publicly revealed until later that the duo had left before the split.
Speaking to Vicky Pattison on her podcast The Secret To, he said: “I think the reason H and I left in the end was an accumulation of all that (constant little arguments)…
“You know when you’re somewhere like the Jungle (I’m a Celebrity) or Big Brother, everything escalates into something huge because you can’t escape it…
Claire explained that at the height of their fame the band, who have been represented by half a dozen labels throughout their career, would only have two weeks off a year, saying it was “work, work, work” (pictured 2000).
He also revealed there how the workload and behind-the-scenes ‘friction’ with his bandmates led to the group’s initial split (pictured in 2017).
Claire previously mused about leaving the band after she left the band explosively with H, revealing that she was “embarrassed” by their waning success despite the band claiming they were breaking up to “leave on a high” (Claire and H in 2002).
The band reunited in 2011 and has since released four albums and five tours, one of them celebrating their 25th anniversary (seen in 2017).
‘We have 3 top 10 singles, but the album didn’t really chart very high. That traumatized me. I was so embarrassed. (…) the last things we had to do, I simply said ‘I’m not going to do it’. Can’t. I’m too embarrassed.’
“After that, I guess I hid and just didn’t do anything for years (…) After the wedding and everything, I remember sitting down and saying, ‘Oh, I don’t know what to do with that myself’…
“And I probably sat on the couch for a couple of years.”
During the talk, Claire revealed her heartbreaking battle with anorexia following cruel comments from record bosses in the 1990s.
She talked about how she developed an eating disorder when she was put on a 900-calorie-a-day diet that included fish fingers and peas.
Having been in a band called The Scan-Dolls before rising to fame with Steps, Claire’s weight issues came from the beginning of her career when she was ordered to lose weight despite being a size 10-12.
The ’90s gave rise to the ‘Heroin Chic’ look, pioneered by Kate Moss, in which stars desired incredibly slim silhouettes – something Claire revealed her record label imposed when they told her to lose kilos.
Having begun her struggles on The Scan-Dolls, Claire revealed: “It happened when I was in TSD. They did it to all of us because we were all pretty curvy girls. I was probably a (size) 10 or 12 and I wasn’t big at all (…)
Claire revealed her heartbreaking battle with anorexia following cruel comments from record bosses in the Nineties (pictured in 1999).
He explained that Kate Moss’ ‘heroine chic’ look was the heart of the problem (Kate pictured in 1995)
Her weight became synonymous with her stardom after she spoke openly about going from being “dangerously thin” to obese, tipping the scales at 16.5 at her heaviest (Claire pictured in 2013).
“But in the music world and at that time all that Kate Moss, heroin-chic, existed and they wanted everyone to be very, very thin…
So they put us all on a diet. That diet was interesting because we were encouraged to eat fish fingers, peas and baked beans and have a 900 calorie diet.
NHS guidelines state that women should consume around 2,000 calories a day and men need more and should consume approximately 2,500.
Of her being introduced to Steps and being shocked, she continued: “The audition for Steps was in 1997 and at the time I had cut my hair very short, stupidly, and I was wearing this striped catsuit that I wore in the video for “Lo last thing on my mind.”
“And I always used to tie a hoodie around my waist because I was so conscious of my butt because I thought I had a huge butt…
“They sat me down, did my audition and said, ‘Oh, we really like you.’ We want you to be in the band, but you’re going to have to lose weight’ (…) it put me on the path of not eating for 4 and a half years.” .
She continued: ‘Yeah, I mean I haven’t managed to (get my confidence back) yet.’ I think I’m much better than I was. But I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get rid of it completely because it’s played such a big part of my life for so long…
And I think she was probably anorexic. You know, I managed to stop doing what I was doing to myself, but that went from not eating at all to overeating.’
Her weight became synonymous with her stardom after she spoke openly about going from “dangerously thin” to obese, tipping the scales at 16.5 at her heaviest.
She took fourth place and jumped to a size 20 after Steps, and in 2017, she lost sixth place, revealing that she stays fit by limiting herself to about 1,000 calories a day and eating small portions of yogurt and fruit.