Profile of Rachel Stevens on Famous Like Me

Rachel Lauren Stevens (born 9 April 1978) is a British pop singer and actress. Formerly with the group S Club 7, she has now launched a solo career.

Biography

Stevens was born in Southgate, London to now estranged father Michael Stevens, who is notable for producing a guide to the best places to solicit prostitutes in London, and mother Linda Stevens. She is Jewish.

Starting August 2004, Stevens was dating Gavin Dein. Gavin is the founder and CEO of company Reward and son of millionaire Arsenal football club chairman. They split up at the end of August 2005. Previously, she dated and was engaged to Holby City actor Jeremy Edwards for four years. They split up in 2003.

Since 2000, Stevens has been a regular in the FHM Sexiest Woman in the World charts.

S Club 7

Main article: S Club 7

At the age of 15, she beat 5000 hopefuls to win a modelling competition arranged by Just 17 magazine . While waiting in the rain for her brother, two men from 19 company told her she would be great for the upcoming band S Club 7. She later recorded a song and was chosen as one of the seven members of S Club 7 among the other thousands who auditioned. With the band, Stevens enjoyed ten top 5 singles in the UK and starred in three TV series along with the movie Seeing Double. S Club 7 disbanded in April 2003.

Solo career

Funky Dory

In September 15, 2003 Stevens released her first solo single "Sweet Dreams My LA Ex". It reached #2 in the UK, and was kept off number one by what became the best selling single of the year, Where is the Love? by The Black Eyed Peas. The single sold nearly 70,000 copies in the UK in its first week and 225,000 by the end of 2003. That October she won an NMA award for "Favourite UK Female Singer". The single was nominated for a Brit Award.

In September 2003 Stevens released her first album "Funky Dory". It debuted in the Top 10 in the UK and sold more than 120,000 copies in its first two weeks. The album was a mixture of pop and R&B. In December, Stevens released the single "Funky Dory" which debuted at only #26. Ongoing album sales were also disappointing.

In July 2004, a repackaged version of the Funky Dory album was released with additional tracks, notably Richard X's "Some Girls", which became her second solo hit. The single reached #2 in the UK charts and became the 40th best selling single of the year. The repackaged album did not enter the top ten but racked up more sales than the original, and together the two versions sold around 270,000 copies in the UK.

She released a final single from the album, a cover of the Andrea True Connection hit More More More, which got to #3 in the UK charts.

Come And Get It

After 2004, Stevens started to work on new material. The first single Negotiate with Love was released in March 2005 and peaked at #10. In July 2005, a second single So Good also peaked at #10. Currently, the third single I Said Never Again (But Here We Are) peaked at #12.

On 17 October 2005, Rachel released her second album, Come and Get It.

She had a small part in the movie Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, released in September 2005.

See also: List of British Jews

Discography

Chart positions are for the UK

Albums

• Funky Dory, 29 September 2003 #9, re-released 26 July 2004, #13
• Come And Get It, 17 October 2005

Singles

• From Funky Dory:
  • "Sweet Dreams My LA Ex", 15 September 2003, #2 UK
  • "Funky Dory", 8 December 2003, #26 UK
• From Funky Dory (Re-release):
  • "Some Girls", 12 July 2004, #2 UK
  • "More More More", 4 October 2004, #3 UK
• From Come and Get It:
  • "Negotiate With Love", 28 March 2005, #10 UK
  • "So Good", 4 July 2005, #10 UK
  • "I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)", 3 October 2005, #12 UK

Awards

• Favourite Female UK singer - National Music Awards (2003)
• Best Dressed Star - Smash Hits Poll Winners Party (2003)
• Best Female - Disney Channel Kids' Choice Awards (2004)
• Best Dressed Star - Smash Hits Poll Winners Party (2004)
• Most Fanciable Female - Smash Hits Poll Winners Party (2004)
• Sexiest Female Celebrity - Celebrity Awards (2004)
• Recording artist of the Year - 52nd Annual Showbusiness Awards (2004)
• Woman of the Year - Glamour Awards (2005)

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Rachel Stevens