Mark April 9th down on your calendar, for this is the day you should observe a very important celebration: Rachel Lauren Stevens' birthday, of course. Born in 1978 in London, England, she showed a flair for entertaining even as a toddler. At 5 years old, she had already begun drama school, but gravitated toward fashion as the years wore on. An early highlight came at the age of 15, when she beat out 4999 competitors in a modeling competition sponsored by Just 17 magazine.
After attending the London School of Fashion and working in PR, Stevens changed her mind, and gravitated toward a career in music instead -- she had always displayed a real talent for singing. An audition for a new British pop band came up, and, after several cuts and callbacks, Stevens was selected as one of the seven members of the band, joining Bradley McIntosh, Hannah Spearritt, Paul Cattermole, Jon Lee, Jo O'Meara, and Tina Barrett. Called S Club 7, the group and its managers at Polydor Records aimed to find a niche in the very convoluted UK pop market. They did this by marketing an array of both fast-paced tracks and ballads while simultaneously working on a TV deal.
Fame was almost immediate for this group of talented twenty-somethings, as their first single "Bring It All Back" debuted at No. 1 on the UK charts in June of 1999. "S Club Party" followed up as their No. 2 hit in September, and their self-titled album sold like hotcakes on the strength of these hits. Their success spurned the debut of their popular TV series S Club 7 in Miami. The winter ushered in the song "Two In A Million" and, of course, more success. Though at times restrained in the group's wholesome, teeny-bopper image, Stevens reveled in the spotlight and received most of the media attention as the band's hottest member. More flattering comments came after Interscope Records picked up the band's American distribution rights in 2000, and released the band's albums across the ocean. Always working on -- and writing -- new songs, 7 saw their fan base grow with two more hits in the spring: "Don't Stop Movin'" and "Never Had a Dream Come True."
Despite some trials and tribulations, including a controversy over a marijuana possession charge implicating the three male members of S Club, the band, and Stevens in particular, continued to soar. Another season of their show was filmed in 2000 and, the following year, readers of FHM voted Stevens the second sexiest woman on the planet, behind only the heavenly Jennifer Lopez. Other magazines, such as Arena, also concentrated on this beauty's natural assets around the same time. The same accolades from FHM were laid upon Stevens the following year, but she seemed to be the only rising star among her peers at this point. S Club 7's output had deteriorated a little, though they could still hold claim to selling 13 million tracks and records overall. The show S Club in Hollywood did not have the same effect as its predecessor and things were lackluster. Paul Cattermole left the band, and for a while, the six remaining members stayed afloat as S Club, even filming a relatively successful movie together, called S Club Seeing Double, in 2003.
After a UK tour in 2003, S Club decided to break up. Stevens alone managed to garner a lot of coverage thanks to an upcoming movie feature, Suzie Gold with Summer Phoenix, and the announcement of her engagement to boyfriend Jeremy Edwards (sorry fellas). Polydor jumped at the chance to harness this talent (and potential pop diva) and signed Stevens to just under a $1.6 million US contract, good for four albums. The first effort, Funky Dory, will be released in September 2003 and many are convinced that a solo star is in the making. We sure hope so, since seeing her face in the music headlines every day would really help us get up in the morning...
