Steps

Formed in 1997 as a prefabricated British dance-pop quintet, Steps drew their lineup from thousands of hopefuls who answered a casting notice in The Stage magazine, ultimately selecting vocalists Lisa Scott-Lee, Ian "H" Watkins, Claire Richards, Lee Latchford-Evans, and Faye Tozer after extensive auditions. Their first release, the single "5-6-7-8," arrived soon afterward and narrowly missed the U.K. Top Ten while claiming the top spot in Belgium; a cover of Bananarama's "Last Thing on My Mind" followed in spring 1998 and peaked at number six on home soil. "One for Sorrow" marked Steps' strongest showing yet and paved the way for the debut album Step One, after which the double-sided Christmas single "Heartbeat"/"Tragedy" delivered the group's inaugural U.K. number one in early 1999. The hits "Love's Got a Hold of My Heart" and "After the Love Has Gone" set the stage for the sophomore set Steptacular. Following the 2001 release of the compilation Gold: Greatest Hits, the group declared its dissolution. Steps reunited in 2011 for a handful of live shows and a four-part television documentary chronicling their career. The following year they embarked on a tour and issued their fourth studio album, the holiday-themed Light Up the World. After a further five-year hiatus, the band reconvened on its twentieth anniversary to unveil the fifth studio album Tears on the Dancefloor. Another record followed in short order, with What the Future Holds appearing in late 2020 after a brief Covid-19 delay and the sequel What the Future Holds, Pt. 2 arriving the next year.