WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Lisa Scott-Lee – Talk About Pop Music

Have you heard about Lisa Scott-Lee ‘lately’? Step on in…

Singer Lisa Scott-Lee (b.1975) was one of the original members of Steps when it was put together in 1997, along with Ian ‘H’ Watkins. The eventual fivesome that would later comprise Lisa, ‘H’, Claire Richards, Faye Tozer and Lee Latchford-Evans would be taken ‘in hand’ by Pete Waterman and the rest is history. But when Steps parted ways in 2001, all five members were free to pursue their own goals and Lisa of course launched herself as a solo artist. Her brother Andy found chart success as part of the boyband 3SL in 2002 and Lisa followed suit in 2003 with her spunky tune “Lately”, which she also co-wrote. With a clubby feel to it, “Lately” was a surefire hit and entered the UK chart at No.6 that May.

At this time, Lisa was also writing and recording her debut album, titled “Unleashed”, and released the follow up, “Too Far Gone”, in September 2003. The track made it to No.11 on the singles chart and was a top ten hit on the UK Dance chart, Lisa second in a row. “Unleashed” was to have followed but it was put on hold and then scrapped as Lisa left Mercury Records to join the independent label Concept. Further work with writers and producers Guy Chambers (Robbie Williams) and Bruce Elliott-Smith (Dannii Minogue) saw Lisa disappear for a while, although she popped up in 2004 as vocalist on Intenso Projects single “Get It On”, which peaked at No.23 in the UK. Lisa herself returned in 2005 with a new song, “Electric” and with the album complete and with the new title “Never Or Now”.

“Electric” gave Lisa a third top twenty hit (No.13) with “Never Or Now” scheduled for early 2006 release although this was never achieved and Lisa went on to be a contestant on the TV show Dancing On Ice. With “Never Or Now”/”Unleashed” now some four years gone, it seemed that the album was never to see the light of day. It did see commercial release in South Africa in 2007 and was eventually made available as a digital download in the UK that same year, but that’s where Lisa’s solo career came to an end. Steps reformed in 2011 and they’ve released four studio albums and a greatest hits album since then with sellout tours and all the love from their fans new and old to boot. But in 2023, it was announced that Lisa’s album would get a proper release after all, twenty years after work on it began.

“Never Or Now” will be made available for the very first time on CD, vinyl and cassette, in expanded form and with three previously unheard songs! Better late than never I suppose.