CHART-TOPPERS HAD TO KEEP ALBUM HUSH-HUSH
STEPS plotted their big secret comeback over a WhatsApp group so no one discovered they were back making music again.
The pop royalty recorded new album Tears On The Dance Floor individually so they were never spotted together.
Secrecy levels were so high Lisa Scott-Lee’s family even flew out to see her in Dubai for New Year without realising she was back in London to perform with the group for a surprise G-A-Y gig.
Lisa said: “It’s been like an MI5 operation. We basically sorted the comeback out over our WhatsApp group because we didn’t want to get pictured together.
“We’ve had to be Secret Squirrel, even with our families. We didn’t want to get pictured together.
“All my family booked to come to Dubai for New Year to see me but I had to fly to London because we were trying to keep it secret and I hadn’t even told them.”
Band-mate Lee Latchford-Evans said: “I didn’t tell my family either. We didn’t even see each other while we recorded the album.
“We all recorded it completely separate so no one knew.”
While Claire Richards told me: “We had to lie to peoples’ faces for two years which has been horrible but we couldn’t tell the truth.”
Lisa, Lee, Claire, Ian ’H’ Watkins and Faye Tozer stunned the music industry on Friday after hitting the No.1 spot on iTunes with their comeback track Scared
Of The Dark. They even achieved the impossible and knocked Ed Sheeran off top spot.
The One For Sorrow singers sold over 100,000 tour tickets in one day – completely selling out Newcastle, Glasgow and Belfast in the process.
Lisa added: “It was like we had heard ourselves on the radio for the very first time when we heard the CHART king Ed Sheeran is set to sell over one million copies of his third album ÷ in two weeks.
The ginger genius had the fastestselling record in UK chart history by a male artist when his third release sold 672,000 over seven days. And I new song on Radio 2 on Thursday. We all went crazy. We were emotional, there were tears.”
The group, who had 14 consecutive Top 5 singles in their heyday, did a reunion tour in 2011.
But Claire added: “Last time was a reunion. This time it is a comeback.”
Tour tickets are on sale now. can reveal he’ll surpass the million mark by Friday as industry experts predict he will flog at least another 250,000 this week.
His No.1 hit Shape Of You faces competition in the Official Singles Chart from his own Galway Girl. THE Vamps had to leave band-member Tristan Evans in India on a recent promo trip after he lost his passport in the airport. The kind-hearted drummer stopped to see off fans but ended up dropping his all important ID along the way and wasn’t allowed to fly. Luckily for poor Tristan his passport turned up the following day in lost property and he was able to rejoin his long-lost boyband. Lead singer Bradley Simpson said: “We almost lost Tristan to India. Luckily his passport turned up the next day or he could have been stuck there a while.” Randomly, The Vamps are big stars in India. Lead guitarist James McVey added: “We did a show which had a 300 capacity and over 1,000 fans crammed in. It was crazy.” Their third album is scheduled for release in July. You can catch them performing at this year’s V Festival alongside Pink, Jay Z, Ellie Goulding and Craig David. See VFestival.com for tickets.