Claire Richards

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1:05Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and we're in New Cross today. And it's still bloody grey. What is going on? I've had enough. I had to have enough of the heating on last night. I was frozen. I know. It was nine degrees, six degrees at night. Well, I am going to Barcelona tomorrow, so... Oh. And you're looking after my children. Oh, that's right. Yeah, yeah. Thanks, dear. How are you, Mum? I'm okay. You sure about that? I've been looking after your brother, who's doing his exams today. Oh, you love it. What have you been cooking him? Have you wished him good luck? No, I should do.

1:40Well, he's in the middle of an exam. Oh, shit. I could start at ten. Well, you won't know when I've sent him. Four exams today. What have you been cooking him? I cooked him... Oh, I made Nisha's prawn curry. How was it? Well, I think my mustard was out of date, and so I had to ditch him. I bought new mustard. It was delicious. In fact, he made me freeze it and he took it home. So it was a crowd pleaser? I don't think my mustard was right. Was it Coleman's? Yeah, but it was too old, the mustard. So it wasn't strong. It was kind of quite vinical. So maybe that was the problem. But it was all delicious.

2:18And then I thought I had a big bunch of coriander. So I just added that. And I made a vegetable masala curry as well. You've been canvassing, haven't you, Mum? phone banking, darling. And you know what the biggest concern in the whole of Britain, it seems to me? What? Potholes. That's interesting. Potholes. Mind you, I was ringing people... With a landline. With a landline. Yeah. And it was Sunday afternoon. So the demographic was mostly over 90. They weren't at a bottomless brunch. They weren't. So we have a gorgeous woman coming on today. She is... Do you think she'll sing? Yes. I'm ready for it.

3:00She also really likes karaoke. Like so much so it's part of like her DNA. It's Claire from Steps. Tragedy. When the feeling's gone and you can't go on, it's tragedy. Isn't that how they do it? Yeah, but I feel like maybe you should not sing the Bee Gees song. Oh. I feel like you should sing. Now it's one for sorrow. Do you know that one? I don't know that one. Great. What other songs do you like? Claire Richards, what a voice. Just tell me some other songs, darling. Then booze, booze, baby, you're driving me crazy. My exhaustion from a question. You dance for days. Now I'm a deeper shade of blue.

3:43I don't know that one. Wow, you're not a Steps fan then. You're a Claire Richards fan. I love Claire. Because you met her. I met her and she was completely gorgeous. Yeah, she's coming on to talk about Everybody Dance. It's her brand new concert show, which is touring the UK this October and November and it features an amazing cast of dancers and vocalists and it'll be celebrating the greatest dance and disco hits of all time. She's doing 17 cities across the UK, including London, Birmingham. She's got a fab voice. She's amazing. Also, we can talk about Here and Now, Steps Musical, that's in the works.

4:14I am in charge of food. What have you made, darling? I've made that... I'm slightly worried it's too easy. What? It's strap-at sarder. Yeah. For anybody that doesn't know, it's kind of quite popular in Greece, Italy, Turkey, and everyone does a variation on it. But basically it's cooked tomatoes and you scramble in eggs with it. Sounds great. Do you think? Yeah. So it kind of, the egg is within the tomato. So it just looks like a thick tomato sauce. And then you put on a cheese. My friend's boyfriend who's Turkish, he shaves in, grates in halloumi. nigella suggests wensleydale oh because um it would usually be a greek cheese which is called how do you say the x in okay so it's like it's like chris so chrisula is spelt with an x oh okay fine but so she says to use wensleydale or feta i thought i always use feta so i've got wensley Dell I'm not a big fan of Wednesday Dell oh I love it but I think once melted in lovely it's chalky and sharp oh I'm glad that you're excited about it so anyway you just do that and it's so simple that I'm slightly worried it's too simple then producer Alice's brought me some Dusty Knuckle sourdough I have to say what Dusty Knuckle it's time that you came to South London and I will keep on saying this yeah why are they not in South London I can't get a good loaf around here like dusty knuckle it's really annoying um and then for pud i've done it was from the ocado magazine which i always think has some good gems oh i love the ocado this month yeah i didn't think it was so good this well because we had a debate about cardamom i thought i'd put some cardamom in my uh pud today so i've done cardamom poached apricots yeah because they're in season I think yeah and with whipped yoghurt which is cream and yoghurt and it's got cardamom in it with pistachios and I'm slightly worried that I made the syrup slightly too thick so maybe it's more like jam or toffee who fucking knows it tastes good though so that's what we're having for pud so it's quite light and simple today oh I'm going to do some streaky bacon with breakfast so it's a brunch it's a brunch it's 11 o 'clock Clare Richards is here I think Clare Richards coming up on Tableman's.

6:48Claire Richards is in my kitchen. A lot of my friends would be very jealous about this scenario. Really? How are you? I'm really good, thanks. How are you? I'm all right. I was just saying your hair is amazing and we were just talking about toners. Yeah. Because I just dyed my hair and I'm regretting it. and I can't be fucked with it. And your hair looks beautiful. It's like a little pinky. It's meant to be peach. I can't really put my finger on what the colour is, but this is like four toners just to get it to this. How long does that last? Probably two washes. It's so annoying. That's what you should have done, two washes and alcohol.

7:31But then I've got the blonde. My roots are coming through now, so I need to get the blonde done to then be able to do this. Honestly, it's a nightmare. I mean, I'm, this is not about food, but I'm so grey now, hence why I lighten my hair, because my hair colourist was like, your greys are coming through so badly that we can keep on doing the permanent, but maybe we should lighten it so it's less obvious. I really want to go grey. Do you? Because it saved me a fortune on trying to get it blonde. I'd love it to go white. Why don't you try a blue tint on there and see how you feel? She's not grey, though.

8:07You're dark. You're not grey at all. I'm so grey. Chelsea, don't let Silas say about grey. Just be mad. Says the 72-year-old that is... With dark hair. I'll go in my box with dark hair, I'm telling you. Death of Venice. What is it? Death of Venice. Oh, no. Well, I don't do that anymore. When will you go grey then, Lenny? Not ever going grey. So, Claire, you've met Lenny before. Yes. And, you know, we're thrilled to have you. Let's start from the beginning. Okay. Where did you grow up? who was around the dinner table and what was a very memorable dish from your childhood so I grew up in Middlesex which a lot of people think is Essex but it's not I don't even sit it's not it's like northwest like Heathrow Uxbridge oh that way oh right so I grew up there and there was just me and my sister and my mum and dad most of the time and dinner dinner time was always sit at the dinner table.

9:05There was never kind of, it was always that at the kitchen table. We never, ever strayed from that most of the time. And then I think a memorable Friday night would always be, my auntie would probably come over with my cousins. My dad always works late on a Friday. What do you do? Yeah, what do they both do? My mum worked for Xerox for years in the pensions department. What's Xerox? You know, like the photocopying machines. Oh, okay. But in the pensions department. so she had nothing to do with photocopies and my dad was in air freight so Friday night so I think he would have to package up stuff to send over the weekend to ship out on the weekend and so he would work late on Friday and my mum's sister my auntie would come over with my cousins and we'd have either fish and chips or cauliflower cheese cauliflower cheese and crusty bread and that would be it, that would be our dinner and it's the best, it was my favourite it.

10:02I've never heard about a Friday night cauliflower cheese but I like it. I don't know why. Growing up they didn't have, my mum and she's one of six, they didn't have a lot of money. So it was all, and she always said they'd fight over who got the meal or got the meal. She said they'd have bread and pull it for dinner. So I think it was like, it was a luxury for them to have cauliflower cheese and it's just that with crusty bread and loads of butter. It's like, mmm. That's a really good idea. It is delicious. So delicious. Do your kids like? cauliflower cheese Daisy does Charlie doesn't like cheese which is I find really stressful how old is he 17 oh yeah so he really knows and he was so fussy when he was little so fussy all he would eat for years and years and years and I would have to cook him something separate for years was either fish fingers or sausages broccoli boiled rice and potato waffles that was it for years his packed lunch for years was sliced cucumber cucumber um strawberries and like a packet of crisps or something my daughter keeps on trying to get me to do pat lunch for her and i'm like sadiq khan has let us all have free school meals you haven't yeah i'm sorry i'm not doing pat lunch every day she says it's awful it is awful i don't know they pretend i don't know where all this jamie oliver stuff that it's all been fixed is absolute nonsense and it's crap.

11:27Yeah, she's not a fan but she's, yeah, I just can't be doing with the packed lunch every day. No, I would have loved to have school dinners because you could have a burger or slice pizza for lunch every day and I always had a packed lunch. What was in your packed lunch? Normally a sandwich. I love a sandwich. Me too. Love a sandwich. What's your best sandwich? Really fresh white bread. Yeah. Preferably like thick crusty. Yeah. Cheese and plain crisps. and loads of butter. In crisps? Yeah, crisps inside. But if you had that for your packed lunch, they would go soggy, wouldn't they? No, I'd put the crisps in.

12:02Okay, later. You'd assemble it. But she would never do that. I'd always have cheese. Oh, I used to have, do you remember that sandwich spread that's basically really chopped up, tiny vinegary coleslaw? I used to have that in a sandwich, just that. That with cheese. I love a cheese and coleslaw sandwich. That's my favourite sandwich. Which cheese is your favourite cheese? Oh, God, that's a question. I love cheese I don't know, I love all cheese Me too But it can't be a really strong lovely cheddar I absolutely agree, where it's slightly crunchy Because it's so aged We're all hungry aren't we I'm going to just prepare And mum is going to carry on asking questions Because I would like to eat Claire, who did most of the cooking in your house?

12:49My mum did most of it She could cook? Yeah, she was a good cook. We had a lot of mince-based dishes, I remember growing up. Shepherd's pie. Yeah. She used to make this thing that she used to call risotto, and it wasn't risotto at all. It was like mince with peas in it, and then it had rice mixed in it. Yeah, I think people would call that risotto. Would you call that a risotto? I think they did. It's not like an Italian nice... I think anything with rice in it, and it was mixed all together. There was no sauce in it. It was quite dry. Was it nice? I loved it. It was one of my favourites. So what did she season it with?

13:24I don't know. She doesn't... At one point growing up, I think when salt became quite bad, she doesn't put salt in vegetables and stuff. So she didn't... She must have done. It was always tasty. She used to make liver and bacon, which was my worst. No, I wouldn't want that. And I would chop it up so small, tiny, tiny, tiny, mix it in with everything else and smush it on the plate. Did she expect you to eat your dinner? Yeah. I wasn't allowed to leave the table in two weeks. And I did. Yeah. Always finish. My sister never. She would be stuck there until it was stone cold. And she would never eat it.

13:59But my mum would make her. Stay in one place, yeah. Did she make spaghetti bolognese with her mints? Yeah. And was it good? Why are you laughing? So when I was little, and I must have only, because it was in our old house. I was probably only four or five, I reckon. And I loved spag bol. and she would make, that was one of her dishes. Yeah. And she, one, I've got this really strong memory of we had spaghetti bolognese one night and I asked to leave the table. I finished mine and I was allowed to leave the table. I went into the living room on my own and I started jumping from the, don't ask me why I was little, I suppose, jumping from the sofa to the coffee table, which was the same height as the sofa.

14:48So I was jumping back and forth. And then at some point, I obviously slipped and knocked myself out. Oh, my God. But from that day, I never... I didn't touch spaghetti polonais for about 25 years. I refused to eat it. You thought then? I refused to eat it because I was convinced that that was what made me sick. But it wasn't. It was the concussion. But I just refused. And I loved it before that. But I never... And I eat it now. it's delicious but yeah for years do you make your own spag bol i do and what's your well i make ragu bolognese all right tell me what's your ingredients um beef mince pork mince oh you have both minces yeah okay um onion carrot and celery yeah white wine white wine not red no white wine okay um passata and stock stock and that's and then um a cup of milk near the end yeah i put milk in mine now i cook it for like four hours and you cook it for a long time yeah really long time on a low heat and then and then the milk how many how many tins of tomatoes would you put with 500 grams of mince i put you know those oh your big passata the big passata so they're about 750 Yeah, and just let it cook down for a really long time until you get that really nice.

16:14And it's so, no garlic, nothing like that. What's your favourite pasta? Which shape? Do you like spaghetti? Penne? I like taggetelli. Me too. I used to make this thing called, and it ended up being called pasta alla clara, which was a thing. Go on. We did it on a video once, years and years ago. And it's, back then, it was taggetelli, packet crappy, packet ham, onion, garlic, cheese, and a tin of Heinz tomato soup. I don't even know what to say. It's delicious. Was it delicious? It's delicious. But now I make it posh, if I make it. I do it with pistachio and mascarpone. Not sure. What's your best recipe that you cook?

17:00I think your spag bol sounds great. I don't know, I think because I do lasagna with that. that's good and maybe a Thai green curry tell me how you do that I used to make the paste but life's too short to make the paste just get a green paste coconut milk and you put whatever you want in it and you put peas and chicken in it this is going well Jess I'm sorry I'm sorry it always happens Alice it will be Oh, Jesus Christ. She's a performer, Jessie. You're going to kill her. Ruin her bloody ears. I reckon I'm half deaf anyway. Oh, my God, I'm sorry. So I want to know. Yeah. You're touring a lot. Yeah.

17:48How many of you are there? Five. Five. So what's on your rider? Well, it's mostly wine. Oh, what a good thing. Girl, after my own heart. There's normally two bottles of Prosecco, a couple of bottles of Rosé and white. We don't have any red. And then a bottle of, it used to be a bottle of gin and some tonics for age, but now he has tequila. Yeah. So what's he have with that? Tonic. Has tonic with his tequila? Is that a thing? I don't know, but he likes it. I don't drink tequila. Do you? Not really. Only if it's in a cocktail. Okay. Or I can do one shot. If I have more than one shot, it's bad. Okay.

18:29It's really bad. Does it taste different to gin? is it a different sort of taste if you get a really good tequila you can sip it and you don't get drunk apparently and you don't have a hangover oh maybe I better start on that maybe that's why he drinks it, he's got to be a really good one though and then food, we don't really have food we don't really have food do you have someone to cook for you? if we're on tour we've got catering obviously have you? yeah and Stuart who's he's been with us for years whenever we go on tour he's always the chef so he's kind of and we drive him mad because we all pretend to be healthy on tour.

19:05And we all, at the end of the day, are like, can we just have a bit of salmon or some grilled chicken and vegetables? It don't last very long, though. But you're moving about a lot, dancing. Yeah, well, less so now. Less so. Not as much as we used to. I try and get out of even more every time. Do you like touring? I love touring. I hate dancing. Do you? I'm rubbish at dancing. You're not. Oh, God, I am. I hate it. I think you look fab. It's always been my worst thing. Because I'm not... The dancing. I think you're an amazing dancer. So do I. I'm not trained, so I didn't... So it's always a struggle.

19:44It's hard work. It's like really messes my... And back in the day, I would just sulk in the corner because I could never get it as quickly as the others. It was so moody. Who's the best dancer then? Faye. Faye's the best. I think, yeah. Oh, she was on Strictly, wasn't she? Yeah, but isn't it quite satisfying when you do get it and you're like, I'm a fucking pop star and I'm doing my thing. And then I think that I'm going for it, like, full on on stage and then I watch a video and there's hardly any movement at all. I'm not, like, doing nothing. And I think I'm like Beyonce. Who looked after your kids when you went on tour?

20:23Your husband? Yeah, my husband most of the time. Can he cook? I don't know. He's not allowed. Oh, why? Because you're a control freak. Yeah. Really? The kitchen is your kingdom? I mean, I love food and I love cooking. And I always have. Even when I was a kid, I used to say to my mum and dad, do you want to have a dinner party? And I would cook when I was 13. And I baked a lot. Oh, you're a baker. That was what I would do for fun on a Saturday. What, cakes or bread? Cakes, desserts, not so much bread. I've tried bread. It's hard bread, yeah. Yeah, it's boring because you have to wait for it to do stuff.

21:00And so not so much bread, but cakes. I used to go through them on Biro recipe book on a Saturday. Biro? I remember Biro. It's the name of a flower. Yeah. She had that and a stalk. Yeah. It's like a leaflet. I used to make everything from that. Yeah, it's funny that. Yeah. I'd never eat them. And I haven't really got much of a sweet tooth, but I used to love baking. How many children have you got? Two. And I've got a stepdaughter, but she's 25 now. Oh, goodness. So there's a 25-year-old. Yeah. There's 17-year-old Charlie. Yeah, and Daisy's 14. Daisy's 14. So everyone's at home? Yeah. Except your stepdaughter?

21:40Yeah, she lives in America. Oh, does she? Yeah. When did you discover you had a wonderful voice? Did you sing when you were little? I sang when I was little. But I'm not from a family that anybody's ever done anything like that at all. and when I was little I used to put on little shows for my mum and dad I used to get my little stool and I used to do a costume change even then for every costume change I used to sing somewhere over the rainbow and had a dress that had a rainbow on it to change my outfit and sing like songs from Annie and and Mary Poppins and stuff and it wasn't until I went to secondary school at the end of every year you had to do a music exam even if you yeah if you weren't taking music and if you couldn't play an instrument you had to sing so and i'd become obsessed with the carpenters by then and i'd been and bought myself a like a music book with all carpenters songs in it and i sang a carpenter song for that first exam goodbye to love oh which is a really weird choice because there's like a three minute instrumental in the middle of it and i just kind of stood there waiting for it to finish songs were fabulous oh so good unless she's got one of the best voices ever.

22:55Quite sad. Yeah, really sad. But I loved it. I love a song that makes me cry. That's not Steps. No, it's not at all. It's a complete contradiction to what I do for living. So you sang Goodbye to Love. I sang Goodbye to Love and then about a week later and I got 99%. I don't know why I didn't get 100 % but I got 99%. What a witch. I know. That's really mean. What a bastard. And then my music teacher stopped me in the corridor about a week later and said, I think you've actually got a really good singing voice and I want you to sing in assembly next week. And I absolutely shit myself because I'd never sung in front of anybody before, apart from my parents and that.

23:39And after that, he used to make me sing in assembly all the time. So which song did you sing? I sang that song. You sang Goodbye to Love. And then I used to sing Greatest Love of All. He used to take me with the orchestra to junior schools and I would sing You'd be the singer Okay, so we've got this thing that mum suggested I made it's called strapazza it's kind of scrambled eggs with tomatoes and it's all done together and then you put, well I put Wednesdaydale cheese on it so it's just kind of scrambled eggs but with tomatoes and bits and bobs and no anchovies or fish in the sight or olives Thank you I tried olives.

24:20I tried to get on board with them and I just cannot do it. You don't like olives? No. Oh, I love them. I just can't. I love olive oil and I can eat olive bread, but I can't eat an olive. I just can't do it. You might need spoons.

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25:26No rigid long-term contracts. Just the right expert right when you need them. Work smarter and faster with Upwork. Go to Upwork.com now and find your freelance expert. That's U-P-W-O-R-K.com. Post a job for free and get started today.

25:48are you the most foodie out of your bandmates yeah i'm the one who kind of cooks the most and stuff and when we were getting back together back in 2011 everyone would come to mine and i would do dinner and kind of i would be the one that would host all the time because especially back then no one else cooked at all i mean you've got you've got i love that you've got the same caterer that you have a chef that you know that you have all the time that's amazing when he first came on he worked for someone else as well so it was like he was just a chef on it and we just got on really it must have been our kind of age maybe a little bit older than us but he's so laid back and just and he's still in the business still doing it and he's and he's come away from working from other firms to come and do stuff for us because he just loves being on us must be nice to work with well i hope so um about your tour discos great i mean explain to everybody it's happening in October and November explain the premise of the tour so it's basically a big old glitzy dance show of just all hits from the 70s up until now of disco and dance and it's I mean and it was just going to be a big old show there's dancers I think they're going to have other kind of performers and stuff as well and then I'm the singer I'm the hired singer which I'm really looking forward to because it's like I'm doing all the things I love without having to worry about all the other stuff speaking about finding your voice yeah let's talk about karaoke for a second because it's played quite an important part yeah in your in your career and your how you started yeah so when I years and years and years ago I must have only been about 15 or 16 and in the local pub, which was the Heath Tavern, they started doing a karaoke on a Wednesday night that no one went to.

27:46And me and my friends went in there with a Coke. I don't know how we got in. How old are you? I must have... So my birthday's in August, so I'm always a bit younger than everyone else. So I think we were like 15 or 16. And we only went to go to do karaoke. Yeah, you weren't interesting. No. And then the karaoke swapped from a Wednesday to a Sunday and it was, it ended up being massive. And eventually, so there was like an interbrewery competition, which I, so I got through to go to, to do that. And then I won that. An interbrewery competition? Yeah, so all the pubs with the same brewery all came to this one karaoke competition, which I won and I won a trip to New York.

28:31But again, I was like 17 and I begged them to give me the money instead of the trip to New York, which they did I think they gave me 500 quid and then I got barred from the Heath Tavern Carrier competition because you're too good well they said you're not giving anyone else a chance so I was like well let someone else let someone beat me yeah you were like Tyson Fury yeah come on then but then they said it's okay you can be a judge so they let me be a judge which was the worst night ever so they made me sit by myself with my little baileys on the side of the thing and all my friends were over there having a lovely time and I was just being really judgy and I didn't want anybody else to win.

29:10What was your crowning song? I Will Always Love You. Jesus. You went for it then? That was my... That I'll think twice. Did you get the note? Oh my God, okay. These are divas. Yeah. And I never did up tempos then and then some competitions forced you to do an up tempo and I would do flash dance or I wanted to dance with somebody. and I won another competition and the prize was a recording session which I made my demo tape which is what I sent off two steps. What was on the demo tape? Greatest Love of All and Evergreen, Barbra Streisand You've still got it? I still got it. You've still got it? Somewhere, somewhere I haven't got anything to play on so God knows what it is Claire were you on a TV programme doing jiu-jitsu with someone?

30:02I did Popstar to Opera Star oh yes where they trained you to be an opera singer a load of pop stars and you had to did you win that? no I don't ever win anything apart like singing or cooking I win quizzes but I don't win singing or cooking competitions which cooking competitions have you been in? Masterchef how was that for you? twice because you did so well the first time no because they had like a wild card series and they got people back who hadn't who were good telly so what was your dish that you cooked I made God what did I make I made like steak with like a mushroom sauce and a potato rosti and a cheesecake and then I the reason I got kicked out the first time is because the classic dish was a fish pie and I really messed up my mashed potato because I was I was trying to get the lumps out and I just kept putting more and more milk in I didn't I feel I feel like these they've all been learning experiences for me so now I never make crap mashed potato but I could I poured it out of the pan onto the top of the fish pie and it was smooth yeah luckily it tasted nice it's the rest of it tasted nice but it was like liquid yeah and it just had this you know when it crisps over on the top and when it was just slop on the plate.

31:30So I've never made cracked mashed potatoes since then. Do you use a rice in it? A rice is the... No, do you know what I do? I steam my potatoes now. Steam them? Steam them. And then I use a hand whisk to mash them before I put... This is a very unique... Who taught you this? Not John Turow. No, I googled it. And it was a technique that came up. It does work. and then so I mash the potatoes before I put anything else in it and then I put just loads of butter and don't put milk in anymore I think the best mashed potatoes baking your potatoes first in the microwave oh my yeah I've never done that I've heard that's good I think the potato tastes nicer kind of more you can really taste the potato I just want to talk about big brother oh yeah your best friend and you were in it yes well that's where we met and did you was it love at first sight I think so who's your best friend Ryland oh of course who we had on recently yeah so the first day in the Big Brother house nothing much happens really and they didn't show any of this on the telly but we sat at the breakfast bar opposite each other and he sang every single step song from every single album at me.

32:49So you were locked in with a superfan. I was locked in with a superfan and we just sat there and songs that I hadn't even remembered. Every single one from every single album he sang at me. Does he play you a lot on the radio? Yeah, I think he does. Heartbeat's his favourite. Whenever I used to ring him he would answer the phone singing Heartbeat down the phone at me. And that wasn't off-putting him just singing at you? No, because he I kind of felt like I knew him already because he'd been on the telly yeah right and then the night before you go in the Big Brother house you're all in a hotel and you have a chaperone they take the phone out of your room you're not allowed to contact anyone anymore they go through all of your stuff to make sure you're not taking any contraband in and they make you cover up every single brand name on even eye pencils and things ridiculous and there was a knock at my door and his chaperone he was in the room opposite me no one's meant to know who else is going in and he got his chaperone to come and knock on my door and say that he had his fake tan lady coming in and did i want to go in and have a fake tan no thank you very much i'm all right thank you but i'll see you tomorrow and that was it i know i still i never met him until we got in the house can you tell everyone what your first job was my first job was i worked in a fabric shop but then so i was in a band before i was in steps so hold on so this was post winning the best brewery karaoke singer and join a band i was in so i signed my first school when i was 17 i did a levels but i was still only 17 because my birthday is in august so i left the school in the june and then i signed into my first record deal on my 18th birthday and you didn't want to carry on with academics no because you think school i didn't mean i thought at one point that i would i was i was gonna i did sport science for a levels and i thought i was gonna go train to be a p teacher which would have been the worst idea ever because i don't like children apart from my own especially teenagers they're horrible so yeah so you got a record deal when you were 18 yeah and it was all just pure luck it was like through someone through someone I've met at karaoke who then took me and we became friends and then she took me to meet this producer and then I met someone who was an agent who and then and then we were kind of socializing with them and I remember we went out for a a birthday meal for somebody and I was chatting to Paul Fitzgerald who became our agent for years after that and he was like oh I'm working with this record company they're a Japanese label they they want to put together a girl band because they're trying to set up here and he's like are you interested around that time were there other girl bands that were doing good things not really before the Spice Girls this was 95 1995 so just before the Spice Girls were kind of probably forming so how old were you Jessie nine I was 10 or something yeah so and he was like oh I'll ring you on Monday no mobile phones then obviously I'll ring you on Monday and you can go down and meet them he'd heard me sing at karaoke and I thought oh he's never going to ring me but he did Monday morning he rang and he said they want to see you can you go up again it was in Soho Square that's where the office was and I went on the train with my mum I was 17 what did you wear?

36:27I wore a little matching it was satin like this it was white with blue flowers on it and a little matching like cropped sleeved shirt that matched and I had really long hair down my back and it was really spotty as well you've got the clearest skin I've ever seen I've spent a long time trying to get it I would say well I wasn't then it was I was like proper had a mono brow it was I was not the most attractive 17 year old were you feeling good that day in your in your you know i've had my little co-ord on and we went we went up there and i just had a meeting with this this guy who and at the end of it i was chatting and he went so do you want to do it then and i went did you have to sing no not at that point okay and i said well yeah of course and they already had two other girls and then they he sent me off to a studio in Fulham Broadway to sing for this the single for this producer called Boris and he um what was the song called it was called Heart and Soul it was a dance track was it good can you remember any of it yeah go on like just go on I don't because I'm gonna be able to sing now it was like it was a real kind of dancing and it was basically you are my heart you are my soul it went like that it sounds a bit take that yeah okay probably was a bit yeah and there wasn't much i don't care what people say uh oh no i can't remember i know that was my first line and for the video i had yellow hair extension and then he sent me to the studio the guy said if you want to be a pop singer you need to stop sounding like julie andrews because i've pronounced my words a little bit too nicely and that was it and that did you meet the other girls no didn't meet the other girls that day and then they kind of stuck us in a studio so you were kind of you were main you were the lead you were the beyonce within destiny's child you were the clare riches within sex they kind of just blended all our voices together one of the girls couldn't sing at all and there was a Cozzy she could sing she was a really good singer and we just we spent a whole year I feel like it was my training I spent a whole year touring what was the name of the band?

38:50TSD TSD yeah it's quite close to LSD and what was the other one we got called STD STD STD the presenter on Nickelodeon called us STD on Christmas Eve and when we did a little performance it was why were you called TSD? because it was a Japanese record company they wanted to call us the scan dolls oh and everybody here went oh no no you can't call them that so we'll shorten it i don't know i honestly don't even know and so they shortened it to tsd and then the story we would tell everybody was um that we'd all picked a letter out of a scrabble bag and that was it did you have management by then yeah so paul so the record company paid our agent to be our manager it was so weird and it was good training and whenever anybody asked us what TSD stood for, we'd tell them it was through strapping dykes.

39:44So then how do you get into steps from that? Because I'm presuming you jumped ship from TSD. Oh, no, we got dropped. Oh, okay. So we did that for a year. We supported Boyzone on tour. We did... What were they like? Generous? Generous to their support? Yeah, I guess so. The Rydale, Gemrass? I don't remember having a ride back there. Did you fancy any of Boyzone? Yeah. I fancied Roman. Did you? Make eyes with each other he was going out with Vernie from maternal at the time so Esther and Vernie were there all the time because Esther was going out with Shane and Vernie was going out with Ronan oh my god and then Shane and Esther got married at some point after that but I yeah and then we did we supported Ant and Dick we did one tour when they were still PJ and Duncan and one when they were Ant and Dick and on that tour the other support act was the Backstreet Boys oh wow Did you fancy Nick?

40:39No, I fancied Kevin. Oh, interesting. I really fancied Kevin. Did you, like... Did you go out with any of them? No, nothing. Because I was so rubbish. I'd never even had a boyfriend up until that point. I was such a loser. I just used to... My biggest crush back then, which I... Because then we did, like, Smash It's tour, and we'd do all these magazine tours. My biggest... Who I was in love with was Peter Andre. I was in love with him. Everyone was, weren't they? And I used to hang around corridors just hoping to notice me. And he never did. So, yeah. Big mistake. So I was 18. Huge. What was his song?

41:16Whoa, whoa, whoa. Mysterious girl, I want to get close to you. Yeah. True. And Flavor. Was there one called Flavor? And he had like that oversized baseball. No, American football like jerseys and stuff on him. He had a lot of grease in his hair. A lot of gel. Yeah, it was very sharp hair. But like you fancied that That was a bit I don't know Does he know that Or is that an exclusive I've never actually had A face to face conversation with him But I have mentioned it many times I don't know why Because it makes me look a bit I love that But I just have been crazy And he used to just do press ups everywhere Oh my god I just You know He knew what he was doing Oh god yeah So he'd whip off his shirt And get down on the floor Before he went on stage He'd be like Do press ups in the corridor Why?

42:03He wanted to get all the muscles pumped. Yeah. I mean, he was very fit back then, wasn't he? He was ripped. But I mean, that must have been such a whirlwind. You come out of, you know, living in Middlesex, winning a karaoke competition, being put into a girl group, touring with all these really famous bands and heartthrobs. And you're like a geek as you kind of, you were like this kind of nerd. You weren't experienced. You were kind of, no, never was cool. Did you make friends with any of the girls? Have that friendship lasted from TSD? No. I did for a while, but no, lost touch over the years.

42:38So then you got dropped? We got dropped. Do you know who else at the time was Shaznay and Mel? They were all saints on their own. Oh, really? Yeah, before. So we used to share a dressing room with them. And we were all wearing black PVC trousers, and someone forgot their trousers one day, and one of our girls borrowed Shaznay's PVC trousers. I remember stupid things like that. But so then that, we got dropped. Yeah. Then I went and temped for a few months. And then when I was temping, I worked at Burger King head office for a while, which was the, and I was reception. I couldn't, I didn't have any secretarial skills.

43:19You weren't flipping burgers. No, I wasn't flipping, it was the head office. Is this where you love of Burger King? No, well, no, I've always loved burgers even before. And do you like Burger King? it's not my favourite out of all the burger joints have you got any inside info of what the shit that used to go on behind the scenes at Burger King no because so in Uxbridge the head office for Coca-Cola Schweppes was there there was this big building and Burger King was there as well and I was just on reception so there was two of us on reception and the year and the month I got steps they offered me a permanent job there and I took steps instead good choice yeah and I remember it's so weird I mean this building was a proper office building you had to go through two security guards show a badge get a badge to get to the floor and at least once a week someone would come in and order a burger come to the reception and go can I have a walker and a coat please and we're like are you actually for real this is you it doesn't look like a restaurant it looks like an office and they would get all the way up there because they thought that's where the restaurant was.

44:27That's so funny. Is there a big difference between a girl band and a mixed band? Obviously, there's blokes in it. Yeah. But it's the atmosphere, the ambience different, the kinship. I don't know, really. I guess it is because you've got different perspectives, I suppose, rather than just all the hormones all the time. Yeah, I wondered whether girl bands were a bit bitchy. I mean I in TSD I got on really well with one of the girls and not so much with the other but I'm not I was never a confrontational person so it's not like we ever argued or anything I think you've got to like give yourself props though.

45:03Steps have been making music for 27 like 3 decades that's such an achievement you know most bands break up and but we did remember you decided to get back into it and you're having an amazing run. I mean, this is way better than it was the first time. Why did you break up the first time then? I think ultimately it was probably just burnt out. Yeah. You know, there were frictions and there were just kind of things that I suppose that happened that became massive because we were in such a, we were so compressed all the time. And it was, when you were in a band back in the 90s, it was just work, work, work, work, work.

45:49there was no respite from it at all I think the most time we ever got off was maybe two weeks at Christmas and that would have been it and the rest of the time someone's sitting in an office in a record company doing the schedule and not thinking about the human beings at the end of the other end of it and so I was by the time I left because me and H did leave I just I couldn't I was not well and now you would someone would take care of you and you would go and see someone but I didn't have that I mean I was I had an eating disorder I didn't um I didn't really think much of myself and I just had to get away from it I just couldn't do it anymore and then thought it would be the best thing ever and it turned out not really to be you had a really tough time like for a bit I think the life of bands girl bands and boy bands back then the longevity was never meant to be for a long time so it was just get out make as much money as possible for a shorter period of time as possible and get out and that was it and I and then H and I went off and did our thing and that wasn't very successful and I didn't sing for years after that it was about it must have been about seven or eight years so what did you do in that time I got married I got divorced and then I got married again and had yeah I had the kids and then 2011 I did pop star drop star it all happened at the same time i did that which got me back into singing and then made me love singing again and then we and then steps got back together that same year speaking about julie andrews musical theater which segues nicely into here and now the steps musical which is in works now we are i think we're casting the lead roles this week that's amazing we found our lead cast how do you feel casting somebody as the young claire well the you know like the story no it's not it's not it's not based on our music okay it's our music set to a story okay very much like mama mia yeah okay which is what we wanted because it's we want it to have a life outside of so what's the story so the story is there's four friends yeah and they work in a superstore by the sea called better best bargains and they kind of one lead character challenges her friends to kind of she's about to turn 50 and she sets them a challenge to find love basically over the summer the summer of love and and it's just kind of about the ups and downs of their stories and and what happens in that it's set over a week and then and and everyone kind of getting their happy ending i suppose or taking a chance on a happy ending which is so cheesy but it's it kind of likes musical theatre so the finale if it's all happy it can't be tragedy at the end what's the song at the end which step song is it at the end i can't remember what the last one is but there's going to be a medley there's got to be a steps medley at the end and would you like a little pudding i would like to hear a last supper yes whilst i fix pudding okay you start on your last supper my last supper okay so i reckon i would probably start with i do i love pate i do too i love pate with toast me too so i think i like chicken liver chicken liver pate me too it's always the nicest So I think I'd have that to start.

49:25Which sort of toast? Just white toast. Yeah, white toast. Yeah, nice, but enough to use up. I always feel white toast is a real treat. Yeah. Because you shouldn't really eat it. And they never give you enough. No, you shouldn't. And they never give you enough. No. And with some kind of nice, sweet oniony chutney or something on the top. Absolutely. And then I think I would go, I think I'd have a steak brinaise. Really? Yeah. with skinny fries skinny fries and just dip them in the sauce absolutely I love those I love it do you have a particular steak? I always choose ribeye do you? because I think it's the tastiest I think it's tasty I like bavette I know it's kind of bavette is like one of those French cuts but it's quite tough yeah but if it's I mean you actually just have to flash it don't you?

50:17yeah tasty keep it nice and tender but ribeye is tender and tasty yeah and a nice medium yeah so i would have would you have salad yeah nice little just like a rocket yeah and then dessert i it's a toss-up between creme brulee or eat mess or something meringuey like pavlova i love meringues that's my i don't really like like sticky toffee pudding or anything like that it's a bit too stodgy but i like a meringue or a creme brulee if that's on the menu I'll always order that yeah so I think that's what prosecco probably prosecco or wine yeah what's your favourite prosecco um I don't know I'm not really that fascinated do you prefer it to champagne do you know what I did for a long time but I've started to go back to champagne a little bit prosecco is slightly sweeter isn't it yeah and I went off champagne for a long time, but I do, I love a Lauren Perrier Rose.

51:19That's my favourite. Oh, me too. I've got a bottle of that at home, actually. I always forget. And it's, I remember years ago, that was like 25 quid a bottle. I used to go, the corner shop, there was an off license on the corner of where I lived, and he used to order six bottles of that in for me. So you could go in. They were a 25 pound bottle, and now it's like 70 quid. Yeah. A bottle. I know. It is delicious. Amazing. Thank you. Oh, thank you, darling. You do have a few mini merengues if you want to put one on it. No. It would be like an eating mess if you want. No, no, no. This is lovely. Thank you.

51:51Listen, karaoke queen, what would be your karaoke song now when Jessie has her birthday party and I make her karaoke? It's not going to happen. I, gosh, I don't know. I always wanted to sing No More Tears, which I did record, but no one would ever sing it with me. Ever. So, Barbara. Now Barbara I don't know Oh yes That was always the song I wanted to sing at karaoke But no one would ever sing it with me And I couldn't sing it on my own Because it's really difficult You've got to do that I don't think I could She sang it with Donna Summer Didn't she? But it's like the ultimate It's like a big old It starts off as a ballad Then it kicks in It's just like a big old disco hit Can you do it on the tour?

52:40I think so yeah Who are you going to have? you can have different people come up and sing it. I could do that. Oh my God, because we've been watching Ben Platt. I've been seeing on Instagram Ben Platt, who is an actor, beautiful singer. Dear and handsome. Yeah. I love his voice. He's doing a residency at the Palladium in New York and he has had different guests come on and sing different songs every night. So he had Cynthia Erivo come on and sing and then he'd have somebody else like Tori Kelly come on. You should just get different people for the tour to sing Enough Is Enough. Oh my God. That would be good.

53:14That would be amazing. It would be amazing. I'll come up one of the dates. Jessie, where do you want to come to? I don't know. London? Southend. Yeah, come to the Palladium. Claire Richards, it's been such a pleasure chatting to you. So much going on, you know, from the musical to your tour. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. It's been lovely. And best of luck with, like, a really exciting autumn. Yeah, I can't quite believe it. I feel very lucky.

53:55Very pretty. She is so gorgeous. I know. And so normal. For a pop star that has been in the game for a very long time. She doesn't look like she's been around a long time. She looks about 12. What did you say? Fresh as a daisy? absolutely fresh faced thank you Claire Richards for coming on the podcast she has like a mammoth day of promo but you know she's been fed well I think that the recipe Sam stole some of my tomatoes and I think he could have done with a few more tomatoes no it's a funny one because I think it needed different cheese I would put feta in it next time so you want something chalky that falls apart but it is such an easy dish for anybody that wants to make it like it was done in about 10 minutes and actually certainly the feta will give it more salt yeah i mean i think it lacks salt yeah um but i yeah i would if you don't mind it not looking that beautiful looking like it's like pureed baby food yeah however i don't mind that lovely you know it absolutely had to be on toast to give the texture because you couldn't have eaten it without toast.

55:05So if you're on a no-carb diet, don't make it. Have a good big piece of the doorstep of stuff. Now onto my pud. Oh, delicious. Very nice. Very nice. I said I'd make a pavlova for you for the weekend. Do you want me to put apricots on the top? Why don't we make it like that? So put the meringue and use all the other ingredients and put it on meringue. I will make it, mother. I'll bring the meringue. You bring the meringue. I'll bring the pavlova. I'll bring the cardamom. That's perfect. Thanks so much for listening and we'll see you next week.

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