The BBC has a great interview with Steps which hints that they will be back in January after a break.

Chart-toppers Steps will be enjoying a well-earned rest this Christmas. Their holiday started just a couple of days ago after a 28-gig tour. Claire & Lee from the group took time out of their busy schedule to chat to the Ceefax team about life in Steps. They are planning to spend the festive seasons with their families but Claire also hopes for a holiday. “I haven’t been away this year – I’d like to go away,” she said.

The winter is in full effect so it’s no surprise that Claire’s top holiday spot is “anywhere hot with a beach”. Lee, meanwhile, is not content to lie in the sun. “If it’s a hot place there have to be watersports. You’ve got to do something,” he says. Lee and Claire also differ in another respect. “We are the total opposites in Steps,” explained Lee. “Being in a group was something she always wanted and I never thought of.”

Lee only developed a taste of the limelight when he performed in a school production of the musical Grease. “I was more sporty. I did martial arts and lot of physical stuff – I was one of the lads,” he said. “Then I had the experience of going on stage and it changed my whole concept. I got the buzz and I wanted to go into acting. I went to stage school to learn how to sing and dance and act – to become an all-rounder.”

Claire realised her childhood dream when Steps hit the big time in 1997 with line dancing favourite 5, 6, 7, 8. “You dream you will make it, but deep down you think it will never be me,” she said. “When you’re a kid and you see people on TV they seem untouchable. Sometimes I see myself on TV and it doesn’t seem like it’s me. I’m sat in my living room with my cup of tea and my pyjamas on and I’m watching myself on TV – it’s strange.”

Steps rounded off 2001 with a chart-topping Greatest Hits album, a place in the Smash Hits Hall of Fame and the magazine’s ‘Best Live Act’ gong. Smash Hits readers decided Faye had the ‘Best Female Hairstyle’ and Lisa & H were also nominated for awards. The group’s success looks set to carry on to 2002 – with Lee & Claire quick to dismiss rumours of a split. “We might have a little break in January but we’ll be back”, said Claire.