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In Southgate, London, England,
Rachel Lauren Stevens was born on April 9, 1978 of Jewish heritage, to
parents Linda and Michael Stevens. She has two brothers, Jason and Lee
Stevens. She attended Ashmole School in Southgate, London.
When Rachel was 17, her parents got divorced. Her Mother Linda re married
Russell Stone. She has two step-siblings, a step-sister named Tiffiny and
a step-brother named Oliver.
From a very early age, Stevens was drawn to entertaining people. By the
time she was five, Stevens already began taking acting lessons at drama
school near London.
At the age of fifteen she got her first big break when she beat out 5000
competitors in a modelling competition sponsored by Just 17 Magazine.
Following her first modelling jobs and having left school, she studied at
the London School of Fashion where she got a diploma in the Business of
fashion - and went on to work in fashion PR, but began to lose interest
and started to seek out a career in music and acting instead. In 1989, an
11-year-old Rachel took her first acting steps in a film called "Taking A
Stand", after her mother began taking her to auditions.
At the age of nineteen, Stevens accompanied her brother to an audition in
London for a new pop group, which was being put together by Simon Fuller,
the one-time manager of the Spice Girls. While waiting for her brother to
audition, she was approached by the judges. After many calls and auditions
she was chosen as a member of the new group S Club 7, along with Tina
Barrett, Paul Cattermole, Jon Lee, Bradley McIntosh, Jo O'Meara, and
Hannah Spearritt.
After a successful audition Stevens became a member of the British pop
group "S Club 7", which were a BRIT Award-winning English pop group
created by former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller. The group rose to fame
via their own BBC television programme and by selling sixteen million
records worldwide and launching four number one hit singles in the United
Kingdom.
S Club was disbanded in 2003 for reasons undisclosed. Stevens became the
first member of the group to sign a multi-million dollar recording
contract and released her first solo single, "Sweet Dreams My LA Ex", in
late 2003, reaching number two on the UK singles chart. Her first album
reached number nine on the UK albums chart and quickly disappeared.
Stevens' follow-up single "Funky Dory" also failed to gain much attention
and charted at number 26. Critics began to write her off as a one-hit
wonder until she came back with the song "Some Girls" (2004) which quickly
became a hit in the UK, peaking at number two. She followed this with the
October release of the widely successful single "More, More, More" which
acted as a close on her debut album.
Stevens would then return to music in March 2005 with the single
"Negotiate with Love", which appeared on her 2005 album "Come And Get It"
Along with "Some Girls". The single "Negotiate With Love" became Stevens
fourth Top Ten hit and was followed by "So Good", which reached number 10,
and "I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)", which made number 12. "Come
And Get It" failed to perform well in the charts, becoming a commercial
failure even though it was praised by the pop music press and other
outlets, such as The New York Times.
Stevens and "S Club 7" quickly rose to fame, with their debut single
"Bring It All Back" reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart in June
1999. The groups follow-up, "S Club Party" was also a hit, the groups
self-titled debut album also sold well. The success of their debut album
landed the S Club their own TV show, S Club 7 in Miami. Minor success in
the United States followed. They won a Brit Award for Best British
newcomer in 2000. Their song Don't Stop Movin' went to number one twice,
won a Brit award and Record of the Year in 2001. Thanks to their music and
their own television show, seen in 120 countries, they became one of the
UK's biggest pop groups.
Stevens probably enjoyed more success than the rest of the members, as she
received the most media attention and was a fan favorite. Despite the
negative press the male members of the group had been receiving, Stevens
was not affected by it and in 2000 was voted the second sexiest woman on
the planet by the men's magazine FHM. Around 2002-2003, Jo the lead singer
had serious back problems for a number of weeks. Rachel took over the role
of the lead vocals during this period.
The group was able to release a successful film in 2003 called S Club
Seeing Double but after a UK tour, the members of S Club commenced to
break up.
After S Club broke up, Stevens signed a £1.5 million solo four-album deal
with Polydor Records and re-signed with S Club manager, Simon Fuller.
Breaking out on her own after success with S Club was hard for Stevens, "I
think we ended up conforming to what people's perceptions was," she said
about the group. "This one was the ditzy one, this one was the singer,
this one was the dancer. And to come out of that and be a whole person has
been a real challenge for me. I didn't have my say, really, in the group.
None of us did." Stevens was the first member from the group to sign a
solo recording contract and expectations were high for her first release
to be a success.
Her first solo single, written by Cathy Dennis (who has also written for
Britney Spears and Kylie Minogue) and produced by Bloodshy & Avant, was
"Sweet Dreams My LA Ex", released in September 2003. The single was a hit,
debuting at number two on the UK singles chart, beaten to the top spot by
the Black Eyed Peas and their international hit single "Where Is The
Love?. The single was also a hit worldwide peaking in the top ten in
multiple countries including Ireland and Sweden.
Stevens in the music video for her hit single More More More (2004).Taking
inspiration from R&B music most reminiscent of TLC and Sugababes, and
adult-style pop music by Madonna, Stevens' debut solo album, Funky Dory
was released later that month. The album was a minor hit, reaching number
nine on the UK albums chart and quickly fading away in subsequent weeks
almost without a trace. Although the album was not a huge commercial
success it did gain praise from pop-critics. Jamie Gill, in a review for
Yahoo! Launch, said that Stevens "eschews the cheap and cheerful approach
of her old band for a slinky adult confidence and musical eclecticism."
That December, the album's title track, "Funky Dory" was released as the
second single. The song was hailed as being sophisticated and sexy, like
its predecessor, and featured a sample of the David Bowie song "Andy
Warhol" from his album Hunky Dory.
Hopes were high that the single would be able to match the success of
"Sweet Dreams My LA Ex", but like her album the single made a low showing
on the charts, peaking at number twenty six and then quickly disappearing.
The song was given mixed reviews by pop-critics with some calling it
"musically better than "Sweet Dreams My LA Ex" with a hybrid of pop, Latin
and even a hint of jazz infusion" but not a good choice as a single as it
lacked anything special and different, as it did not live up to Stevens'
previous single.
In July 2004, Stevens released a brand new single, "Some Girls" which was
produced by Richard X. After the commercial failure of both her album and
previous single hopes were high for "Some Girls" to perform well on the
charts, with critics calling the single her career make or break release.
The single became a hit across Europe, and reached number two in the UK.
All profits from the single went to the BBC Sport Relief charity. On its
release HMV.co.uk called the single Stevens' "finest song to date", and
Yahoo! Launch commented "she came to save her career. She ended up saving
pop."
Due to the success of "Some Girls", Funky Dory was re-released to include
"Some Girls" and another new track, a cover of Andrea True Connection's
"More More More". At this point, Rachel stepped up promotion,
inadvertently earning herself a Guinness World Record for “Most Public
Appearances by a Pop Star in 24 Hours in Different Cities” (Seven on
September 8-September 9, 2004).
On its single release, "More More More" peaked at number three in the UK,
giving Stevens her third top ten solo single in the UK. The song was not
well received by critics who called the vocals on the song weak and the
fact that the song is a cover uninspiring. Stevens herself has stated that
she dislikes the song. Nevertheless, the song was a hit and due to the
re-release of the album, Funky Dory has sold close to 200,000 copies in
the UK to date and was a minor success.
That November, Stevens was nominated for seven awards at the Smash Hits
Poll Winners Party. She took home two awards, Most Fanciable Female and
Best Dressed Star.
While Rachel was a member of S Club 7, she appeared in all S Club 7
associated series such as Miami 7, LA 7, Hollywood 7 and Viva S Club and
also the S Club 7 feature film, entitled Seeing Double. Rachel also
appeared in a movie entitled Suzie Gold and also appeared in Deuce
Bigalow: European Gigolo.
Stevens was one of the front runners to play Rose in the new revival of
Doctor Who, only to find herself just pipped by Billie Piper.
Stevens spent the first few months of 2006 in Los Angeles in preparation
of launching an acting career, and has spent much of her time there ever
since. According to Stevens, she is working with the William Morris
Agency, one of the largest acting agencies in the world and she has been
seen visiting the same acting class that Brad Pitt used to attend. Rumours
suggest that Stevens was offered the role of a receptionist in the Steve
Miner directed remake of George A. Romero's "Day of the Dead," which is to
be released in September 2007 in the U.S; and the script for a role in a
new American horror film directed by Alexandre Aja called "Devil's Road."
According to a British tabloid, on her return from Los Angeles to London
in March 2007 on a Virgin Atlantic flight, Stevens was disappointed not to
receive an upgrade to Upper Class (she was booked in Premium Economy),
apparently uttering the immortal words, "Do you know who I am?". Rachel
then returned to LA in May 2007 leaving many to speculate as to what is
happening in her acting career. She was seen holding a script for an
unknown movie in June 2007 just shortly before returning to London on 19
June 2007.
Rachel told FHM magazine in September issue that she is focusing on only
her acting and not her singing career. |
