Steps

British pop quintet Steps were brought together in 1997 from the thousands of applicants who responded to an advertisement placed in The Stage magazine. The marketing idea behind the group (and name) was that each music video would be choreographed and the dance steps included with the single; an idea so successful that the group sold over 15 million records and had 14 consecutive chart hits. Their debut single “5-6-7-8” just missed getting into the UK Top Ten, although it stayed in the charts for over four months. Producer Pete Waterman quickly got involved and decided he wanted the group to copy the sound of ABBA with a more modern twist and so their next single was a cover of Bananarama's “Last Thing on My Mind” in 1998. It reached Number 6 in the UK but the group's biggest hit came later that year with “One for Sorrow,” which topped the UK Singles Chart and heralded the release of their first album Step One. The album stayed in the Top 20 charts for 50 weeks and went platinum five times over. The group's success flourished with many more hit singles, albums, tours and even TV shows until 2001, when sales began to wane and, after months of speculation, they announced on Boxing Day that they were splitting. In 2011, the band were the subject of a four-part documentary series that looked at their individual lives and careers since their breakup. They also released The Ultimate Collection of their hits in 2011, which went to Number 1, and performed some of their best-loved hits on a promotional tour. After the tour, they took another break to focus on their own careers. In 2017, after another five years, the band announced a brand new album titled Tears on the Dancefloor, which spawned the single “Scared of the Dark.” Preceded by the Sia-penned title track and the Jenny Silver cover “Something in Your Eyes,” the release of What the Future Holds (2020), the group’s sixth album, was announced via social media alongside a subsequent 2021 UK tour with pop songstress Sophie Ellis-Bextor.