Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S16 Ep 36: Claire Richards

Episode Date: June 19, 2024

5,6,7,8 - it’s Claire Richards! Star of the iconic group Steps, this week Claire joined us for brunch at mine. Despite deafening us all when I had a slight kitchen mishap and set fire to the bacon, we had a lovely time with Claire! We learned about how she started her career by entering karaoke competitions, her first job working for Burger King, her irrational fear of spag bol as a child, the first success she had in a girl band (called TSD), her wonderful friendship with Rylan, and she also admits to having a crush on Peter Andre too! Claire, next time I think we need to taste an authentic Pasta a la Clara, complete with tinned tomato soup! The brand new tour ‘Everybody Dance’ with Claire will be across the UK through October & November, plus the Steps musical ‘Here & Now’ launches in Birmingham in November. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello 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 the heating on last night. It 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've not. Well, he's in the middle of an exam. Oh, shit. It starts 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 Well, I think my mustard was out of date, and so I had to ditch it.

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 vinegar is it yeah so maybe that was the problem but it was all delicious and then I thought I had a big bunch

of coriander so I just added that oh and I made a vegetable masala curry as well um you've been canvassing haven't you mum phone banking darling and you know what the biggest concern yeah in the whole of Britain it seems to me what potholes that's interesting yeah potholes mind you I was ringing people with a landline with a landline yeah and it wasline. 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. She also really likes karaoke. Like so much so it's part of 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, big tune. Claire Richards, What a Voice. Just tell me some other songs, darling. Now it's warm for sorrow. Do you know that one? I don't know that one. Great.

Big tune. Claire Richards. What a voice. Just tell me some other songs, darling. Then booze, booze, baby, you're driving me crazy. My assumption from a question. You dance for days. Now I'm a deeper shade of blue.

I 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. go hits of all time um 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 um i 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 sada 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 like a thick tomato sauce and then you put on a cheese lots of of... My friend's boyfriend, who's Turkish, he shaves in grates in halloumi. Nigella suggests Wensleydale because it would usually be a Greek cheese, which is called... How do you say the X in...

OK. So it's like Chris. So chrysoula is spelt with an x oh okay fine cheese but so she says to use wensleydale or fetter i thought i always use fetter so i've got wensleydale i'm not a big fan of wensleydale oh i love it but i think once melted in lovely it's chalky and sharp well 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 has brought me

some Dusty Knuckle sourdough. I have to say, 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. 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 month. Well, because we had a debate about cardamom, I thought I'd put some cardamom in my pud today. So I've done cardamom poached apricots

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 sachos.

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. Thank you. So it's a brunch here. It's a brunch. It's 11 o'clock.

Claire Richards is here, I think. Claire Richards coming up on Table Manners. Claire Richards is in my kitchen. A lot of my friends would be very jealous about this scenario. So jealous, yeah. 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 um and i can't be fucked with it and your hair looks beautiful it's like a little pinky it's like well it's meant to be peach i can't really put my finger on what the color is but this is like four toners just to get it to this how long does that last probably two two washes and then it, so that's,

it's so annoying. That's what you should have done, two washes and alcohol. But then I'm, so 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 you're not grey at though. You're dark. You're not grey at all. I'm so grey. Jessie, don't let stylists say about grey.

Just go mad. Says the 72-year-old that is. With dark hair. I'll go mud 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. Where did you grow up?

Who was round 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. Where is it then? It's north. It's like northwest, like Heathrow, Uxbridge, around there, 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 time was always at the dinner table. There 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?

What's their best day? My mum worked for Xerox for years in the pensions department. What's Xerox? You know, like the photocopier machines. Oh, okay. But in the pensions department, so she had nothing to do with photocopies. And my dad was in air freight. Oh, so he was near Heathrow.

So Friday nights, 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. 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. I've never heard about a Friday night cauliflower cheese, but I like it. I don't know why. And growing up, my mum, she's one of six, and they didn't have a lot of money. And she always used to say they'd fight over who got the meal. She said they'd have bread and pullet for dinner.

So I think 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, mm. That's a really nice idea it is delicious so delicious do your kids like cauliflower cheese

Daisy does Charlie doesn't like cheese that's a shame which is I find really stressful how old is he

17 oh yeah so he really really doesn't yeah he doesn't and he was so fussy when he was little so

all he would eat for years and years and years and I would have to cook him something separate for years Bloody hell, he really doesn't. Yeah, he doesn't. And he was so fussy when he was little. 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, strawberries and like a packet of crisps or something.

It was a nightmare for me. 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're having them 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 it's absolute nonsense and it's crap yeah she's she's not a fan but she's um yeah i just can't be doing with the pat lunch every day no i would have loved to have school dinners because you can have a burger or slice pizza for lunch every day and i always had a pat lunch what was in your pat lunch um normally a sandwich i love a sandwich me too love what's your best sandwich? Really fresh white bread.

Yeah. Preferably like thick, crusty. Yeah. Cheese and plain crisps. And loads of butter. Inside? 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. Okay, 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? Yeah. 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. Really hitting it hard this morning.

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 I love it we're all hungry aren't we yeah okay I'm gonna I'm gonna just prepare okay

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? My mum did most of it. Was she a good cook?

Yeah, she was a good cook. We had a lot of mince-based dishes, I remember growing up. Like? 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'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 they call...

And it was mixed all together. There's no sauce in it. It was quite dry. Was it nice? Yeah, I loved it. It was one of my favourites. So what did she season it with? I 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 is 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. Yeah. I wasn't allowed to leave the table until we... And I did. Yeah. Always finish.

My sister never. She would be sat there until it was stone cold and she would never eat it, but my mum would make her... Stay in one place, yeah. Did she make stretchable mayonnaise with her mints? Yeah. And does she... Was was it good why are you

laughing i so when i was little and i must have owned it 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 what one i just i've got this really strong memory of we had spaghetti bolognese one night and i asked 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 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 so 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 bolognese for about 25

years i i would i refused to eat it i to eat it because I was convinced that that was what made me sick but it wasn't it was the concussion but for you I just refused and I loved it before that but I'd never and I eat it now it's delicious but yeah for years I 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 and then a cup of milk near the end yeah I put milk in mine now I cook it for like 4 hours

oh you cook it for a long time yeah a really long time on a low heat and then the milk half an hour how many tins of tomatoes would you put with 500 grams of mince I put oh your big passata so they're about 750 aren't they and just let it cook down 500 grams of mince. I put, you know those big... Oh, your big passata. The big passata.

So they're about 750, aren't they? And just let it cook down for a really long time until you get that really nice. And it's so... No garlic, nothing like that. What's your favourite pasta? Which shape? Do you like spaghetti?

Penne? I like tagliatelle. Me too. I used to make this thing called... And it ended up being called pasta alla clara which was a thing go on this we did it on a video once years and years ago and it's back then it was tagliatelle packet crappy packet ham yeah 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? I 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. Oh, tell me how you with that. That's good. And maybe a Thai green curry. Oh, 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.

Oh, shit. Oh, this is going well, Jess. Sorry. Oh, wow. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It always happens happens alice it will be oh jesus christ she's a performer jess are you gonna kill her ruin her bloody ears i reckon i'm half deaf anyway oh my god i'm sorry oh so i want to know. You're touring a lot.

Yeah. And how 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, there's two bottles of Prosecco, a couple of bottles of Rose, 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 H, but now he has tequila. Yeah.

So what's he have with that? Tonic. Has tonic with his tequila? Yeah. 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. It's really bad. Does it taste different to gin?

Yeah. Is it a different sort of taste? But if you get a really good tequila, you can sip it and you don't get drunk apparently. Oh, okay. And you don't have a hangover. Oh, maybe I better start on that. Maybe that's why you drink it. You've got to be a really good one though.

And then... Food. We don't really have food 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 stewart who's he's been with us for years whenever we go on tour he's always the chef so he's yeah kind of and we drive him mad because we all pretend to be healthy on tour and we all like at the end of the day, we're 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 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.

What? The dancing. I think you're an amazing dancer. So do I. I'm not trained, so it's always a struggle. It's hard work. It 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. Yeah. And I'm doing my thing and then i i think i'm going for it like full on on stage and then i watch a video and i'm 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 your 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? I think so. 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 like 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 cakes, desserts, not so much bread I've tried bread

it's hard bread it's boring because you have to wait for it to do stuff and so not so much bread but cakes I used to go through a mum's B-Row recipe book on a Saturday B-Row? I's B-Row recipe book on a Saturday. B-Row?

I remember B-Row. It's the name of a flour. Yeah. She had that and a stalk. Yeah. It was like a leaflet. I used to make everything from that. 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 the 17 year old Charlie yeah and Daisy's 14 Daisy's 14 so everyone's at home yeah except for your stepdaughter yeah 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 song. A costume change? I used to sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. for every costume change I used to sing somewhere over the rainbow and I 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 carpenter 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.

Those songs were fabulous, The Carpenters. Oh, so good. And she's got one of the best voices ever. Quite 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.

That's a complete contradiction to what I do for a 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. 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. And after that, he used to make me sing in assembly all the time. 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 in junior schools. You'd be the singer. Yeah. Okay, so we've got this thing that Mum suggested I made. It's called strapazza.

It's kind of scrambled eggs with tomatoes. Nice. And it's all done together. And then you put, well, I put Wensleydale cheese on it. So it's just kind of scrambled eggs but with tomato and bits and bobs and no anchovies or fish

in the side or olives. Thank you. I can't, I've tried olives, I've 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 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.

Yeah. Are 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, 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 he was just a chef on it and we just got on really well. He must have been our kind of age, maybe a little bit older than us. But he's so laid back and he's still in the business, still doing it. And he's come away from working for other firms to come and do stuff for us because...

He just loves being on tour. Well, he must be nice to work with. Well, I hope so. About your tour. Mmm. Discos. I know. I mean, explain to everybody.

It's happening in October and November. Yeah. Explain the premise of the tour. So it's basically a big old glitzy dance show amazing just all hits from the 70s up until now of disco and 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 kind of other kind of performers and stuff as well and then i'm 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 and me and my friends went in there with our coke i don't know how we got in i don't know maybe it was because it was 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 interested in getting

no and and then this 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 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 y York but 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 Heat Haven 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 come on 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 Bailey on the side of the thing 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 what was your crowning song

I would 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 and and I never did up tempos then and then some competitions forced you to do an up tempo andpo, 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 to Steps. What was on the demo tape? Greatest Love of All and Evergreen by Barbra Streisand.

You love big voices. you've still got it somewhere somewhere but i haven't got anything to play on so god knows what it claire were you on the tv program doing duets with someone i did pop star to opera star oh yes well they they trained you to be an opera singer a lot of pop stars and you had to... Did you win that? No. I don't ever win anything apart, like singing or cooking. From karaoke. 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. Twice? Yeah. 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 telling. So what was your dish that you cooked?

I made... God, what did I make? I made steak with 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 on 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 are 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. 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. So I've never made crap mashed potato since then. Do you use a rice in it? no, do you know what I do? I steam my potatoes now steam them? and then I use a hand whisk to mash them

this is a very unique who taught you this? not John Turow? no, I googled it and it was a a technique that came up don't it does work and then so i mash the potatoes before i put anything else in it and then i'll put just loads of butter and don't put milk in anymore i think the best mashed potato is 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 him 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 so 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 yeah it's gorgeous i 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 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? I said, no, thank you very much.

I'm all right, thank you, but I'll see you tomorrow. And that was it. 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.

You joined a band. I was in a, so I signed my first. When did you leave school? When I was 17. I did A-levels, but I was still only 17 because my birthday's in August. So I left the school in the June, and then I signed my first record deal on my 18th birthday. And you didn't want to carry on with academics?

No. Because you'd stay in school. I didn't mean it. I thought at one point that I would. I did sport science for A-levels, and I thought I was going to go train to for a levels and I thought I was gonna go train to be a PE 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 want to put together a girl band

because they're trying to set up here. And he was like, are you interested? Around that time, were there other girl bands that were doing good things? Not really. It was before the Spice Girls. This was 1995. So just before the Spice Girls were kind of probably four 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 he said I'll ring you on Monday and you can go and we'll 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? I 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 it 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 do it i would say well it wasn't then it was 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, co-award? I had my little co-award 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, 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 he sent me off to a studio in Fulham Broadway to sing for this, the single for this producer called Boris. And he, what was the song called? It was called Heart and Soul. It was like a dance track. Was it good? Yeah dance track was it good can you remember any of it yeah go on like just go on i don't want to be able to sing now it was like it was a real kind of dancing and it was basically you are are my heart, you are my soul.

It went like that. It sounds a bit, take that. Yeah, it probably was a bit. Yeah. And there wasn't much, I don't care what people say.

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 Andrew andrews because i 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 lead you were the Beyonce within Destiny's Child you were the Claire Riches within Steps they kind of just blended all our voices together one of the girls couldn't sing at all and there was a cosy 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 TSD TSD. 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 when we did a little performance. 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 him that so we'll show 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 three strapping dikes so then how do you get into steps

from that because I'm presuming you jumped shit from TSD well no we got dropped oh okay so we did that for a year.

We supported Boyzone on tour. We did... What were they like? Gemris? Gemris to their support? I guess so. The ride to Gemris? I don't remember having a ride back then.

Did you fancy any of Boyzone? Yeah. I fancied Ronan. Did you? Make eyes with each other. He was going out with Vernie for a maternal at the time. So Esther and Vernie were there all the time. Oh my God.

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, I, and then we did, we supported Ant and Dec. We did one tour when they were still PJ and Duncan and one when they were Ant andton deck and on that tour are the other support actors backstreet boys oh wow did you fancy nick no i fancied kevin oh like really fancied kevin did you like did you know nothing because i was so rubbish i've 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 hits tour we do all these magazine tours my biggest i was in love with was peter andre i was in love with me everyone was and i used to hang around corridors just hoping to he'd notice me and he never did so yeah I was 18 what was his song mysterious girl I want to get close to you and flavour was there one with flavour

and he had like that oversized baseball no American football like jerseys and stuff on his jacket he had a lot of grease in his hair very sharp hair but like you fancied that oversized baseball, no, American football, like jerseys and stuff on his jacket. He had a lot of grease in his hair, a lot of gel. Yeah, it's a very sharp hair. But like, you fancied that. That was a bit of you.

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 don't look sad at all. I just have been crazy time. And he used to just do press ups everywhere

oh my god he knew what he was doing 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 what to get all the muscles pumped 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 middle sex winning a karaoke competition being put into a 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 yeah 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 it never was cool did you make friends with any of the girls have that friendship lasted from tsd no it i did for a while but no lost touch over the years so then you got dropped we got dropped do you know who else at the time was um chasne and mel were just where they were all saints on their own oh really yeah before so we used to share a dressing room

with them and one of the and for some we were all wearing black pvc trousers and someone forgot their trousers one day and one of our girls borrowed just these pvc trousers i don't remember stupid things like that but so then that we got dropped yeah then i went and temped for a few months and then i when I was temping I worked at Burger King head office for a while which was the reception I didn't have any secretarial skills it was the head office

is this where your love of burgers came? well no I've always loved burgers 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 like this big building and Burger King was there as well and I was just on reception so I and there was two of us on reception and the year and the month I got steps they are they offered me a permanent job there

and I took steps instead but they um 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 Whopper and a Coke please and we'd be 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 that's so funny it's 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 yeah i wondered whether girl bands are a bit bitchy i mean i in tfc 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 what steps have been making music for 27 years like three decades yeah that's it's mental that's such an achievement you know most bands break up and we did remember but like you decided to get back into it and you're having an amazing i mean this is run like it's been than it was the first why did you break up the first time i think ultimately it's probably just burnt out 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 nineties, it was just work, work, work, work, work. There was no respite from it at all. I think the most time we ever got off was maybe two weeks of 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 short 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 trop star it all happened at the same time I did Popstar Tropstar it all happened at the same time I did that which got me back into singing and made me love singing again and then we and then Steps got

back together that same year speaking about Julie Andrews musical theatre 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.

I think we've found our lead cast. How do you feel casting somebody as the young Claire? Well, it's... So you're saying the story is Steps? No, it's not. The characters aren't based on our music. It's our music set to a story. So? No, it's not. The characters aren't based on our music. It's our music set to a story.

Okay. Very much like Mamma Mia. Yeah, which is what we wanted because we want it to have a life outside of... So what's the story? So the story is there's four friends and they work in a superstore by the sea called Better Best Bargains. 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 about the ups and downs of their stories and what happens in that. It's set over a week.

And everyone kind of getting their happy ending, I suppose, or taking a chance on a happy ending, which is so cheesy, but it kind of works so well. 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. What's the song at the end? Which stepsong 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, I love a pate

I do too I love a pate with toast Me too I like chicken liver pate It's always the nicest So I think I'd have that Which sort of toast? Just white toast

Yeah, nice, but enough to use up I always feel white toast is a real treat because you shouldn't really eat it and they never give you enough and with some kind of nice sweet oniony chutney or something

on the top and then I think I would go I think I'd have a steak binaise with skinny fries. Skinny fries. And just dip them in sauce. Beurrenaise, absolutely beurrenaise sauce.

I love beurrenaise sauce. I love it. Do you have a particular steak? I always choose ribeye. Do you? Because I think it's the tastiest, yeah. 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 cooked... I mean, that's... You just have to flash it, don't you? Yeah, yeah. And keep it nice and tender. But ribeye is tender and tasty.

Yeah, and a nice medium. Yeah. So I would have that... Would you have salad? Yeah. Nice little... Just... A little, like, rocket salad.

Yeah, nice little rocket. With some vinaigrette on it. Yeah. And then dessert I toss up between creme brulee or eating mess or something meringue-y

like pavlova, I love meringues I don't really 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 what prosecco probably prosecco wine yeah what's your favorite prosecco um I don't know I'm not really that fast 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 love a Laurent Perrier Rose. That's my favourite. Oh, me too. Champagne. I've got a bottle of that at home, actually.

I always forget. And I remember years ago, that was like 25 quid a bottle. I used to go to the corner shop. There was an off-licence 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 25 pound a bottle and now it's like 70 quid a bottle. I know. It is delicious.

Amazing. Thank you. Oh, thank you, darling. Do you have a few mini meringues if you want to put one on? No. It would be like an eating mess if you want. No, no, no. This is lovely. Thank you. Listen, karaoke queen, what would be your karaoke song now

when Jessie has her birthday party and I make her have karaoke? It's not going to happen. I... God, 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. What's No... No Barbara? I don't know oh yes that that was always the song i wanted to sing at karaoke but no one would ever sing it with me and i wouldn't i couldn't because it's really difficult i don't think i could sing it with donna summer didn't yes yeah But it's like the ultimate. It's like the big old it starts off as a ballad then it kicks in and it's just like a big old disco hit. Can you do it on the tour? I think so yeah.

Who are you going to have? I don't know. 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. beautiful singer handsome yeah he 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 arrivo 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 that would be amazing it would be amazing I'll come up one of the dates where do you want to come to I don't know London Southend yeah come to the Palladium um Claire Rich has been such a pleasure chatting to you thank you so much going on you know from the musical to your tour yeah 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. Very 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 Would 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 you could have done

with a few more tomatoes. No. It's a funny one because it... 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. 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 thought you 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 so if you're on a no carb diet don't make it yeah have a good big. Yeah. 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. Do you want me to... I'll bring the meringue. You bring the meringue. I'll bring the Pavlova Britain. I'll bring the cardamom.

All right, that's perfect. Thanks so much for listening and we'll see you next week.