Steps' Claire Richards is working on solo music: "It's not the same as Steps"

And it's sounding a deeper shade of blue compared to the group's work.

Steps singer Claire Richards has revealed that she has been working on solo music - and it's sounding a deeper shade of blue compared to her former group's work.

Claire announced the news on ITV's Lorraine, where she was also promoting a new campaign by Save The Children.

"It's really good. It's really exciting and I'm enjoying it," she said of her recent studio sessions. "This phase for me is something really different.

"It's not the same as Steps. My Idol is Karen Carpenter - I'd sing Karen Carpenter songs all day if I could. It's probably more along that kind of line. It's taking me a while to find my sound and my way, but hopefully fingers crossed it will happen. It's something I've always wanted to do."

Image: Rex

Next year marks 20 years since Steps released their debut single 5,6,7,8, though Claire said there are no plans to celebrate the milestone... yet.

"It doesn't feel like it's been 20 years!" she said. "I really don't know. Our mantra is always never say never. I think we got ourselves into a trap years ago when we said we'd never do it again. It would be lovely to do something again."

Steps notched up a massive 14 Top 10 singles in the five years they were together, and also have three chart-topping albums to their name. Look back at their full Official Chart history in our archive.

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