Steps' Claire Richards SLAMS record label for the iconic pop group's treatment during 90s heyday and admits to 'frictions' behind the scenes with her bandmates
Steps' Claire Richard has slammed record companies for the gruelling way the band was treated during their 90s heyday.
The singer, 46, 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 topped the charts between 1997 and 2002, before reuniting 2011.
Speaking on 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 was no respite from it at all, I think the most time we ever got off was maybe two weeks of and that would have been it'.
Hitting out at the lack of consideration for the group's well being she said: 'The rest of the time someone's sitting in an office in a record company doing the schedule, and not thinking about the human beings at the other end of it.
Steps' Claire Richard, 46, has slammed record companies for the gruelling way the band was treated 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 topped the charts between 1997 and 2002, before reuniting 2011 (pictured 1998)
She also revealed there how the workload as well as 'frictions' behind the scenes with her bandmates led to the group's initial split.
'I think ultimately, it's probably just burnout, you know, there were frictions and there were just kind of things that I suppose happened that became massive because we were so compressed all the time'.
The band reunited in 2011 and have since released four albums as well as five tours with one to celebrate their 25-year anniversary.
Discussing their backstage boozy antics she said: 'Well, it's mostly wine. There's normally, it's two bottles of prosecco, a couple of bottles of rose and white, we don't have any red, and then it used to be a bottle of gin and some tonics for 'H' but now he has tequila.'
Claire previously reflected on leaving the band, after she explosively departed with H, revealing she was 'embarrassed' by their dwindling success despite the band claiming they were splitting to 'leave on a high'
It was not publicly revealed that until later that the duo had left before the split.
Speaking to Vicky Pattison on her The Secret To podcast she said: 'I think the reason why H and I left in the end, was a build-up of all that [small and constant arguing]...
'You know when you’re in somewhere like the [I’m a Celebrity] Jungle or Big Brother, everything is exacerbated to a massive thing because you can’t get away from 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 have only two weeks off a year, saying it was 'work work work' (pictured 2000)
She also revealed there how the workload as well as 'frictions' behind the scenes with her bandmates led to the group's initial split (pictured 2017)
Claire previously reflected on leaving the band, after she explosively departed with H, revealing she was 'embarrassed' by their dwindling success despite the band claiming they were splitting to 'leave on a high' (Claire and H in 2002)
The band reunited in 2011 and have since released four albums as well as five tours with one to celebrate their 25-year anniversary (seen in 2017)
'We have 3 top-10 singles but then the album didn’t really chart very high. I was traumatised by that. I was so embarrassed. […] the last lot of stuff we had to do, I just said ‘I’m not doing it. I can’t. I’m too embarrassed’.
'After that, I kind of went into a hiding I suppose and just didn’t do anything for years […] After the wedding and everything, I remember sitting down and being like ‘Oh, I don’t know what to do with myself’...
'And I probably just sat on the sofa for a couple of years.'
During the chat Claire revealed her heartbreaking battle with anorexia following cruel comments from record bosses in the Nineties.
She spoke about how she developed an eating disorder when she was put on a 900-calorie a day diet comprising fish fingers and peas.
Having been in a band called The Scan-Dolls prior to soaring to fame with Steps, Claire's weight struggles came from the very start of her career when she was instructed to shed pounds despite being a size 10-12.
The Nineties gave birth to the 'Heroin Chic' look, pioneered by Kate Moss, in which dauntingly thin silhouettes were desired among the stars - something Claire revealed was enforced by her record label when she was being told to lose pounds.
Having started her struggles in The Scan-Dolls, Claire revealed: 'It happened when I was in TSD. They did it to all of us because we were all quite curvy girls. I was probably a [size] 10 or a 12 and wasn’t big at all […]
Claire revealed her heartbreaking battle with anorexia following cruel comments from record bosses in the Nineties (pictured in 1999)
She explained Kate Moss' 'heroin chic' look was at the heart of the issue (Kate pictured in 1995)
Her weight became synonymous with her stardom after she spoke openly about going from 'dangerously thin' to obese - tipping the scales at 16.5st at her heaviest (Claire pictured in 2013)
'But in the music kind of world and at that time that whole Kate Moss, heroine-chic, was a thing and they wanted everyone to be really, really skinny...
'So, we were all put on a diet. That diet was interesting because we were encouraged to eat fish fingers, peas and baked beans and have like a 900-calorie diet.'
The NHS guidelines state that women should consume around 2,000 calories a day and while men need more and should have roughly 2,500.
On her introduction to Steps and she was impacted, she went on: 'The audition for Steps was ’97 and by that time I had cut my hair really short, stupidly, and I was wearing this stripey catsuit which I wore in the video for ‘Last Thing on my Mind’.
'And I always use to tie a hoodie around my waist because I was really conscious of my bum because I thought I had a massive bum...
'They sat me down, did my audition and they said ‘Oh, we really like you. We want you to be in the band, but you’re going to have to lose weight’ […] it set me on a pathway of not really eating for 4-and-a-half years.'
She went on: 'Yeah, I mean I still haven’t managed to [regain my confidence]. I think I’m much better than I was. But I don’t think I ever will get rid of it completely because it’s played such a massive part of my life for such a long time...
'And I think I probably was anorexic. You know, I managed to kind of stop 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 16.5st at her heaviest.
She gained 4st and soared to a size 20 after Steps and in 2017, she lost 6st, revealing she stays in shape by limiting herself to around 1,000 calories a day and snacking on small portions of yoghurt and fruit.
