Top-selling pop quintet Steps has called it quits, ending a blockbuster five-year career during which they sold 12 million records and flooded the “tweeny” market with kitsch merchandise.
“We have decided it’s time to move on to new challenges,” the band announced in a joint statement Wednesday. “We have always said that when the time came, we would leave as good friends and go out while we were on top.” And on top they were.
Their aptly titled greatest hits disc Gold debuted at number one in October and has since sold 1.4 million copies. “Steps are the hardest working band I’ve known,” says Pete Waterman, the pop producer who helped launch the supergroup.
But insiders suggest their reputation as less-than-serious artists was behind the breach. “They were great entertainers,” counters Waterman. “Everybody knocked it, but sooner or later copied it. At the end of the day, they were great at what they did.”
Steps came together in 1997 after answering an advert in The Stage magazine. Dubbed “Abba on speed” by Waterman, they emerged as a line-dancing band but quickly morphed into a best-selling pop act. Their debut disc Step One sold well, mainly on the strength of their Bananarama cover Last Thing On My Mind. But it was their 1998 take on the Bee Gees classic Tragedy that made Claire Richards, Faye Tozer, Ian “H” Watkins, Lee Latchford-Evans and Lisa Scott Lee household names. All told, they had five 12 consecutive singles reach the top five.
The fab five branched out into TV presenting, hosting the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party in 1999 Steps To The Stars in 2000. They took home three gongs at the British Smash Hits Awards this year, including Best Live Act and a Hall Of Fame prize.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
