Claire Richards

About Claire Richards

Claire Richards is best known as one-fifth of Steps, the UK’s most successful mixed-sex Pop group of all time. With Steps, Claire scored 14 top five singles, four number one albums, 21 million record sales, 500 million streams, and embarked on 11 sold-out national arena tours. The band’s hits include number one singles Tragedy/Heartbeat and Stomp, the gold-certified One For Sorrow and Better Best Forgotten, and the silver-certified 5,6,7,8, Last Thing On My Mind, Love’s Got A Hold Of My Heart, Chain Reaction, and many more.

In 2011, the band scored another number one album, Ultimate Collection, followed by a Sky 1 documentary series Steps Reunion—the highest-rated original programme on the network that year. More recently, the band released three number two charting albums: 2017’s gold-selling Tears On The Dancefloor, 2020’s What The Future Holds, and 2021’s What The Future Holds Pt. 2. They also released multiple hits including comeback single Scared Of The Dark, the ABBA-penned Story Of A Heart, the Sia-penned What The Future Holds, and the Michelle Visage duet Heartbreak In This City.

In 2022, Steps celebrated their 25th anniversary with a headline summer tour and released the number one album Platinum Collection, which means they join ABBA, the Rolling Stones, and Stereophonics as the only groups in UK history to score number one albums in four consecutive decades. The band will launch their first official musical, Here & Now, in November 2024 at the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham, before it hits London’s West End and tours across the UK in 2025.

Known as one of the greatest voices in modern Pop, outside of Steps, Claire released her first-ever solo album My Wildest Dreams on Sony UK in 2019, which reached the official UK album chart top ten. Claire embarked on a sold-out UK tour in support of the album and was the special guest for Celine Dion’s performance at British Summertime, playing to 65,000 people in London’s Hyde Park.

More recently, Claire’s 2023 hit album Euphoria reached number two on the official UK album chart while hitting number one on the download, vinyl, and independent album charts. Claire performed in Liverpool as the closing act at the Eurovision Village on the night of the final, and she continues to headline festivals in support of the album, including Mighty Hoopla and Manchester Pride in 2024.