Claire Richards

Claire Richards (born 17 August 1977) is an English singer-songwriter and dancer best known for being the lead singer in the pop group Steps from 1997 until Richards left the band resulting in the band splitting shortly after in 2001. The group reformed in 2011 and went on a comeback tour and released a greatest hits collection followed by their fourth studio album Light Up The World in November 2012.

Richards was a contestant on the second series of Popstar to Operastar before being voted off in the semi finals. Richards possesses the vocal range of a soprano. On 3 January 2013, Richards entered Celebrity Big Brother and came fourth place. From April to June 2014, Richards was a regular panellist on Loose Women.

Early life

Richards began her career in the pop trio TSD. They had little success and were dropped by their record label AVEX after the release of their second single "Baby I Love You". Richards went on to work as a receptionist for seven months, winning the temporary worker of the month award for May 1997.