How Steps pulled off pop's most unlikely reunion after bitter split

British pop group Steps, circa 1998; from left to right Lee Latchford-Evans, Lisa Scott-Lee, Ian H Watkins, Faye Tozer, Claire Richards. Photo / Getty Images

"My boot scootin' baby is drivin' me crazy

My obsession from a western, my dance floor date

My rodeo Romeo, a cowboy god from head to toe

Wanna make you mine, better get in line

5, 6, 7, 8!"

Those lyrics, set to the bizarre Hi-NRG techno / linedancing soundtrack that was Steps' 1997 debut single 5,6,7,8, hardly inspired confidence the British pop act had a long career ahead.

And yet, 22 years later, Steps are as big as ever, enjoying a second life as 40-something pop stars after pulling off one of music's most unlikely reunions.

Next year, they'll tour Australia and New Zealand for the first time, on the bill alongside fellow noughties acts like Samantha Mumba and Sophie Ellis-Bextor for the So Pop music festival, aka I Can't Believe It's Not Rumba.

And Steps member Lisa Scott-Lee assures news.com.au that their oh-so-cheesy debut single — a number one hit here in Australia — will get an airing.

"Every time I hear it, it takes me back to the Steps audition when I was 20 years old, with thousands of other hopefuls. It was very much like X Factor without the cameras: Hours of auditions and rehearsals.

"I'll never forget the day they played 5,6,7,8... I thought, what on EARTH is this song? It's either going to be a massive flop or a big hit, and thankfully it was the latter," she says.

Indeed. And while Steps only enjoyed a handful more hits on our shores — among them the ABBA-esque One For Sorrow and the triumphant Bee Gees cover Tragedy — in their native UK, they were huge. Between 1998 and 2001, the group scored 13 top five singles in a row.

And then … it all fell in a heap, the group suddenly announcing they'd disbanded on Boxing Day 2001. The official line was that it was a unanimous decision from a group wanting to bow out while they were still on top; in reality, members Claire Richards and Ian "H" Watkins had told the rest of the group on December 22 2001 – their final night on tour – that they both wanted out.

It was a decision that gutted Scott-Lee and fellow band members Faye Tozer and Lee Latchford-Evans – and was made all the worse six months later when Claire and H formed a musical duo, even releasing an album together.

Did she ever expect Steps would actually get back together?

"Gosh, well … that's a good question. The way things abruptly ended, no, I don't know I'd ever seen this coming. It was a tricky time, but amazingly, the friendships survived. We managed to discuss what happened at that time and work on it, and just become friends again," she says.

They worked through their issues publicly in the gripping 2011 reality series Steps Reunion, equal parts group therapy and Real Housewives. Much of the series showed the estranged members of Steps sat around a dinner table, wine flowing, as they raked over the issues that had led to the group's disintegration a decade earlier.

H and Claire in particular copped quite an on-camera bollocking for forcing the split.

"We had to go through that process and discuss the past in order to move on. We had a lot of unanswered questions, especially from myself, Faye and Lee. We had no idea that the other two were going to resign and go off as a duo — it came as a shock to us, and the rest of the world," Scott-Lee recalls.

"We'd gone from being one of the biggest bands, touring and number one albums, to everything stopping. That was really hard for me, personally and emotionally."

She explained she felt a duty to expose the truth behind the band's split.

"Once we'd all become friends again, I felt the fans deserved to know. Having spoken to fans over the years, I knew a lot of them felt in the dark about why we split. H and Claire were sorry about the way it all happened, and recognised that it was badly managed.

"With age, you can be honest. Once you get that apology, it's closure, and after that we became really good friends again. But it was very, very raw to film; it was very honest."

Many of the issues that led to the split — a lack of communication, petty jealousies and the exhaustion that comes with insane schedules — have felled many a successful pop act before and after Steps. Is there any avoiding these hazards of the job?

"It's really interesting. Having known and been friends with a lot of big bands, the politics are the same. The issues are the same. And when you're 20, they seem really important. It's only when you're older you look back and realise they're not," says Scott-Lee.

"For us it was down to even issues over styling – they're not major issues! Communication is definitely the key … whether you're in a pop group or whether you're in a friendship."

After airing their dirty laundry on TV, Steps slowly but surely picked up where they'd left off in 2001. First came was a greatest hits collection — a surprise UK number one.

Then came a ho ho ho-hum Christmas album. But it didn't feel like they'd really hit their stride once more until the release in 2017 of their first full album of new material in 17 years, Tears On The Dancefloor. Lead single Scared Of The Dark set the tone: an impossibly camp banger and instant Steps classic.

"We actually recorded (the album) separately so we weren't seen together. It was only ourselves and our management that knew about it — We had a WhatsApp group where we'd discuss everything in secrecy," Scott-Lee continues.

"When it came out, we were blown away that people 20 years on still like us and still want us. It's such a sweet feeling, to have the ability to do what you love all over again. We definitely appreciate it a lot more than the first time around."

It's an especially sweet victory for Scott-Lee, who suffered a very public humiliation in the aftermath of Steps' split. Still devastated her career had been pulled out from under her, she gamely ventured out solo, scoring two UK top 10 hits before an ill-fated turn in a 2005 fly-on-the-wall reality show, Totally Scott-Lee. My mere mention of the series elicits a loud groan.

"Ohhhh no. That's my honest reaction," she sighs.

It's no wonder. The show – eerily released at the same time as The Comeback, Lisa Kudrow's brutal satire about a female star trying to claw her way back into the public's affections via reality TV — was not kind to Scott-Lee, trading on her desperation to cling on to her solo career as her later singles underperformed on the charts.

It lives on as a cult classic, beloved by pop fans — this 15-minute highlights package is worth a watch to witness some of the most toe-curlingly awkward scenes ever shown on reality TV — but don't count Lisa as one of its cheerleaders.

"When somebody brings it up, I do get prickly. The way I look at it, I'm very passionate about being a performer. I love being on stage singing, dancing – I trained from a young age to do that, and it's my happy place," she says.

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This weekend marks TWENTY ONE years since #OneForSorrow was released!! We still love performing it and seeing you all join in the routine 👆

A post shared by Steps Official (@officialsteps) on Sep 1, 2019 at 3:16am PDT

"For me, I saw it as an opportunity to continue what I love to do, especially after the H and Claire break-up. So I went into it in good faith, and along the way, the premise changed, as did the outcome.

"It wasn't a pleasant experience for me – I felt like I'd been lied to. And I just find it fascinating that people still talk and ask me about it all these years on … I have heard it's a bit of a cult thing, and I've got NO idea why.

"A lot of my gay friends tell me about all these sayings that have spawned from that show. It's not something I'd do again … it's all about having the right management. If you don't have the right representation in this industry, it can definitely be a pitfall."

Still, she got the last laugh, with Steps' reunion proving enormously successful beyond that initial wave of nostalgia: The group have embarked on four UK tours since getting back together, and are excited for the 2020 Aussie visit they say is "long overdue".

With so many fellow late-90s pop stars on the bill, So Pop Festival is also an opportunity for them to catch up with peers they used to perform alongside back on Top of the Pops some 20 years ago.

"H in particular was amazing; he'd go up to any artist for a photo, then keep in touch with them, he's great like that. His little black book is pretty full," says Scott-Lee.

Such was his networking power, when Steps supported Britney Spears during her mammoth 1999 US tour, H soon became besties with the headline act.

"They became such good friends that we were all on a tour bus for three months while he was on her private jet! See, and it's things like that that can create waves when you're in a pop group," Scott-Lee says.

"Whereas now I look back at that and laugh and think, 'Well, good on him!'"