Stepping up
There was a slight misunderstanding, for one member of Steps anyway, when the band were informed that they’d be receiving the Icon honour at the Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards 2021, powered by Jaguar.
“Do you know the story?” Lisa Scott-Lee asks, with a giggle. “I genuinely thought we were presenting it. So, when it hit home that we were actually the winners, I was over the moon!” Lisa is and will forever be the moment.
Bursting onto the scene in 1997 with their camp-as-tits anthem 5, 6, 7, 8, Lisa, now 45, Claire Richards, 44, Ian ‘H’ Watkins, 45, Faye Tozer, 45, and Lee Latchford-Evans, 46, brightened up our lives with primarycoloured outfits, sugar-coated songs and exquisitely accessible, Two Brewers-friendly armography. Sourpuss critics may have dismissed Steps as naff, but with three number-one UK albums, 14 UK top-10 singles, a new record — What the Future Holds Pt. 2 — and an upcoming tour, Steps are having the last laugh (H’s hoot is especially infectious).
Crammed into a hotel conference room, the group reminisce about their early days (they’ve come a long way from fashioning headsets from coat-hangers); their queer fanbase – “The LGBTQ community have been our biggest fans,” Faye gushes. “They’re going, ‘We still love you, we got ya!’”; touring with Britney; run-ins with Christina; and yes, their acrimonious 2001 split. By no means Better Best Forgotten, they make light of the drama and stress that it fuelled their shining comeback. “It does still hurt, though. I tell H every time,” Lisa quips, with a wicked smile.
The fivesome celebrate their 25th anniversary next year, and we’ll be there every step of the way as they continue to climb the stairway to pop heaven.
“I’d rather be here, 25 years on, winning this award than all the Brits in the ’90s”
Claire
How does your Attitude Award compare to other prizes you’ve won over the years, like your Brit [for best live act in 2000], for example?
H: Which we paid for.
Lee: We didn’t pay to win it, we just paid to get one.
Claire: To have a trophy.
