H AND CLAIRE: THE TRUTH
Smash hits magazine
EXCLUSIVE
H AND CLAIRE HAVE BEEN cast as the villains who split Steps and broke pops heart on Boxing day. But, fresh from announcing that they were to continue as a duo, the pair gave Planet Pop their side of the story, telling us why Steps split and what they really think of the other members of the band.
According to Claire, it was the other threes lack of enthusiasm for Steps music that actually forced the split. In interviews, Faye had made it clear that she didnt like the music.
It is almost insulting to the fans to say We are launching this music on you, but I dont actually like it or believe in it, Claire sighed. The fans will feel betrayed. H and I are a little bit younger than the others and we grew up in a pop environment so we were more comfortable with it.
Certain people forgot where they started. OK, people do grow up and change but if there’s an inkling that you dont believe in it any longer, you shouldnt carry on. And it was becoming obvious that people wanted to go off and do something cooler– go to the NME awards (Faye attended in 2001) instead of Smash hits awards and stuff like that. But thats not what being in a pop band is about. I enjoy pop and I would much rather do that than be in a grungy rock band. Just imagine H in a band like that- it wouldnt work!
H admitted that leaving had been difficult. It was really, really upsetting and Im not really over it yet, he said. It wasn’t supposed to come out until a press conference in January, but the papers got hold of it and we had to get it out. I didnt want it to happen on boxing day, but we wanted to be honest with the fans.
Claire, though, was angry at the way her and H have been portrayed. We’ve been made out to be the nasty ones in all of this, she said. The attention has been focused on the letters we gave to the rest of the band. But we were contractually obliged to give a letter of notice. It wasn’t all cold and business-like- there were lots of tears and lots of hugs. We certainly didnt have an argument, there was no bad feeling.
Claire also stressed that the decision to continue with H had only been taken after they had left the band. We talked about it over Christmas, after Steps split. We spent a lot of time together just as mates instead of colleagues and we realised that we really like each other and would still really like to work with together.
We’re going to be making good quality pop and not try to be anything we are not,” added H. There wont be any drastic image changes or anything like that. We just want people to listen to our music and enjoy themselves.
AND THE REST?
Claire on Lee:
Lee always enjoyed song writing so he might continue doing that. He also said for a long time that he wanted to act. Who knows?
Claire on Lisa:
I think Lisa would be good at the pop thing, but she likes people like Natalie Imbruglia so I think she might go down that route. I know it will be very different from Steps.
Claire on Faye:
I doubt Faye will do pop. Her fiancé is very much into rock, and the demos she had recorded were a bit more eclectic, really. She even mentioned once that she would even be happy just sticking to song writing.
H and Claire present SMTV live
28th February 2002
Here is even more info about H & Claire presenting SM:tv Live in the form of the official press release.
H and Claire will begin presenting SM:tv Live with Brian Dowling and Tess Daley from Saturday April 13th at 9.25am and as always there will be the usual blend of madness, mirth and mayhem.
Old classics such as Wonkey Donkey and Eat My Goal will remain in the morning mix, alongside new favourites like Brians Brain and Men In Black spoof Men In Splat. There will also be a whole host of brand new sketches to keep viewers entertained.
At 11.30am every Saturday, Brian, Tess, H and Claire will hand the reigns over to Cat Deeley to host the nations fastest moving chart show, cd:uk, which has recently played host to exclusive live performances from Oasis, Britney Spears, U2, Will Young and Alanis Morrisette.
H and Claire have already enjoyed considerable success as presenters of two series of CBBCs Steps to the Stars and in many other guest presenting roles. After a frantic bidding war between record labels, last week H and Claire signed a £4 million record deal with WEA Records. Their first single DJ will be released on May 6.
Conor McAnally, Director of Entertainment Programming at Blaze Television says, H and Claire have been SM:tv regulars for years and are extremely popular with our viewers. They have a wide appeal and have both guest presented the show before. They have a great sense of humour and really enjoy what they do, proving to be good comedy performers when appearing in sketches in the past. They are the perfect choice to join the SM:tv team and continue our success story.
Claire says I’m so excited and can’t wait to get started. Being an SM:tv presenter is a dream come true.
H says, I enjoyed presenting the show so much last year, that’s when I realised it was something I really wanted to do. It’s a real privilege to be able to be a pop star and a TV Presenter at the same time.
SM:tv Live and cd:uk have been a phenomenal success story over the last three and a half years. Since September 1999 SM:tv Live has been the number one rated Saturday morning show in the UK. The show has won numerous awards including a British Comedy Award for Best Entertainment Show 2000, a TV HITS award for Best Teen Show, two Children’s BAFTA Awards and two TV Quick awards for Best Childrens Show. In addition, this month cd:uk was voted Best Music and Arts Show at the TRIC Awards 2002 and SM:tv Live won Best Childrens Show at the INDIE Awards 2002 for the second consecutive year.
VIDEO SHOOT DIARY BY H
25TH March 2002
taken from official website
Hellooo to you all. Thanks for logging onto HandClaire.com - we promise to make this a fantastic site for you with loads of exclusive news and information. As you know we are currently in Miami and were having the time of our lives. Its so amazing over here- our new record company is really looking after us. Claire and I had a great time on the flight watching movies on individual video players. Claire watched American Pie 2 and I watched a really scary horror movie, 13 Ghosts. I love any vampire or spooky ghost movie. We were met at Miami airport by a huge white stretch limo which took us to Miami Beach where we are staying in a fabulous hotel overlooking the beach with an incredible swimming pool. Theres an amazing fitness centre I have visited every day for my daily work out (well, everybody is so body-conscious over here, youve got to do your bit havent you?).
Wednesday we chilled out and spent Thursday at a dance rehearsal studio working with our new choreographer, Dan Karaty. Dan is only 22 but has already choreographed NSync, Britney Spears and Kylie Minogues In Your Eyes. He is incredible and has devised such a cool routine to DJ - much harder than any previous routine we have done but it looks amazing. We have 4 dancers from Los Angeles in the video - some of the top dancers in the whole world. At the end of the choreography day I was so knackered I went for a jacuzzi and massage but Claire went out with Jackie, our makeup artist, for dinner on Ocean Drive which is crammed full with amazing restaurants and art deco hotels.
On Friday we headed out to the video shoot location in Fort Lauderdale. We hired a huge, very glamorous, Italian-style villa on the waterfront. It is owned by the Budweiser beer family and looks like the kind of place Donatella Versace would throw a party at. The video starts with Claire stepping off a huge white speedboat on the dock alongside the house; she then joins me in an Italian garden. We had 40 extras including the most incredibly beautiful models chosen from agencies in Miami and all looking like supermodels! The styling in our video is stunning. Our stylist Faye Sawyer got most of the clothes from Dolce & Gabanna and spent a fortune -Claires shoes alone cost over £1,000. She also wore some incredibly valuable diamonds lent to us by Mouawad.
The second half of the video is based by a swimming pool with swimmers in the pool and a really cool DJ playing at the decks. Fat Boy Slim is in town but we couldnt find him to get him to do a cameo role... Director Patrick Kiely (who also directed Chain Reaction for Steps) had a waterfall built and stood a girl swimmer underneath as water poured all over her. We did the dance routine with dancers by the pool and all the extras around us as the director filmed through the waterfall. A late finish at 4am and headed straight to bed.On Saturday we filmed an interview with BBC Liquid News on the beach then hit the shops with Jackie, Faye, our hair stylist Jenny and manager Tim Byrne. Claire splashed out on new sunglasses and I picked up a shirt by Swedish designer J Lindeberg having seen the exact same one in his shop in Stockholm last week. Claire and I are getting on even better than ever- she is a fantastic best friend. We are in Miami for another week to have meetings with songwriter Andreas Carlsson (who wrote Here and Now and Words Are Not Enough) and producer Brian Rawling - we're going with Brian to meet Barry Gibb at his Miami home. How cool is that! Actually we know we are very, very lucky and we really appreciate how fortunate we are. If it wasnt for the people who support us (you!) we wouldnt be here so thank you, thank you, thank you!Loads of love,H xx
ONE STEP BEYOND
Sunday 31st march
Taken from Sunday Express Magazine
CLAIRE RICHARDS HAD 13 CONSECUTIVE TOP FIVE HITS WITH STEPS, A RECORD ONLY BETTERED BY THE BEATLES. BUT THEN THE BAND SPLIT AT THE HEIGHT OF FAME. SO WHAT WILL SHE DO FOR AN ENCORE?
Claire Richards wants to set the record straight. When STEPS announced they were splitting up, rumours started that it was all Claire’s fault. Supposedly she handed in her notice on the penultimate day of the bands Greatest Hits tour, H (Ian Watkins) followed suit, and Lisa, Lee and Faye were left feeling hurt and betrayed.
Not strictly true, says Claire. Speaking for the first time about the real reason behind the split, the 24-year old explains: We were planning to make another album, but as the tour went on we would go on stage every night and say, It isn’t going to get any better than this. Personally I began to realise that we shouldnt carry on.
Obviously I disscused it with H, because we are very close. We initiated the conversation with the others, but it wasnt just our decision. As far as I was aware, on the last night of the tour everyone was cool about splitting up; it just took one of us to say, Enough is enough.
After a couple of months break from the music business, Claire seems happy and refreshed. While she is sad about the split, she admits being in the band was no longer a challenge.
It had got to a point where it was always the same thing- record an album, promote the singles, go on tour. Right from the start we said that we wanted to go out at the top, not drag things out. I hope we will always be friends, but we are all going in different directions now.
She is still close to H though. After co-presenting the BBC talent show Steps II the stars, they have just signed a record deal- ruptedly worth £4m- as a duo. Their first single is a feel-good disco track called DJ, and Claire says they aim to be poppy like Steps, but a bit cooler. Not only that, but the duo are soon to take over as presenters of SMTV, replacing James Redmond.
As one fifth of Britains most successful band since the Beatles, Claire is no stranger to hard work, which is just as well. Just back from a holiday in the Maldives with her boyfriend, dancer Mark Webb, today she has interviews to do, then flies to Sweden with H to write songs. After that they are off to Miami to film a video.
Claire admits it would be tough if she didnt have H at her side. It is her dream to be a solo artist eventually but, she laughs, We’re both too chicken to do it on our own just yet. We got talking about solo careers and it was like, I can’t do it on my own, Im too scared. That’s where the idea of being a duo came about. I would like to be like Celine Dion, but I dont feel Im old enough to be able to sing a ballad with total conviction.
The reason she became best mates with H, Claire explains, is because they were the babies of the band. As the youngest, we formed an immediate connection she says. We have simlar personalities, we like the same kind of music- we just clicked. H isnt percieved as being laid-back, but we would both rather chill out than go on mad benders- whereas Lisa is a real party animal, Faye is too, and Lee did a good job of keeping up with them. That has never been my scene . I dont think I had ever even had a hangover before Steps. They corrupted me.
She laughs now, but there was a time when she was smiling through her tears. Two years ago she was branded as a home-wrecker when she dated record exec Reece Hill behind his fiancees back.
A lot of stuff happened that I regret, but it made me a stronger person she says Im not using this as an excuse, but I was young and it was my first proper relationship. I thought I am never going to find anyone again, but I was wrong. Mark is perfect for me. He loves me for me and not because I am a pop-star.”
Mark and Claire met while he was dancing on one of the Steps tours. He is passionate about healthy living and a good influence on Claire, who admits to a fondness for junk food.
I love eating she says. Some people can eat whatever they like and it makes no difference, but I cant. I dont think I am overweight, but nothing in my wardrobe fits me at the moment, so I have made a pact with myself, that I am going to loose a stone.
She laughs at press reports a couple of years ago that claimed she had gained so much weight she must be pregnant, but being labelled fat really upset her. Things like that make people anorexic. Not everyone has a perfect figure. I am a size 12 and I am 5ft 6in, so I am average. Yes I have got hips and a bum, but I think people prefer a shapley figure. Claire comes across confident, but says she was painfully shy as a child. Born and raised in Hillingdon, Middlesex, she used to hide behind her mum, until she had to sing for a music exam and so wowed the teacher that he encouraged her to sing with the school orchestra.
After completing her A-levels, she did odd jobs before joining girl trio TSD, who toured with Boyzone but didnt last long. Then she auditioned for Steps and the rest is chart history.
Im still quite shy though she says I panic about speaking to people I dont know on the phone. I couldnt even ring for a pizza at one point- I used to make my mum do it
Shy or not, she is thrilled about being back at work. She looks around at the paraphernalaia of our photo shoot, smiles and says: I’ve had a nice break but I missed all this.
H and Claires single DJ is out on 6 May
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Note: This cover is a fake image, and will be updated when i have a copy of the real one
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