Steps star makes surprising career change as he cashes in on their most famous song

FROM Deeper Shade Of Blue to Tragedy, Steps have plenty of tunes to get people moving.

But band member Lee Latchford-Evans is taking things one, ahem, step further, by now launching a workout based around the group’s biggest hits.

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Lee, who is a qualified personal trainer as well as being one fifth of the chart-topping group, has trademarked the name The 5,6,7,8 Method — in a nod to their 1997 debut single.

He has filed to use the name for exercise classes and training services.

A source said: “All five members of Steps are doing their own thing, while the group are taking a break and Lee is getting back into his fitness.

“He has trademarked The 5,6,7,8 Method for his next venture, where he wants to bring the fun back to exercise.

“The idea is to use his profile as a Steps band member in his career as a personal trainer.

“Putting the two together could bring about some really fun workouts, which he hopes fans of the group will be keen to try.”

It comes 15 years after his bandmate Claire Richards released her own fitness DVD, Five Step Fat Attack.

She is currently working on a second solo album, while Lisa Scott-Lee is preparing to re- release her album Never Or Now — and will perform at tomorrow’s Mighty Hoopla Festival in London.

Ian “H” Watkins has reinvented himself as a painter and has been showcasing his art in Cardiff.

Meanwhile, Faye Tozer is returning to the stage next month, starring in a touring production of the ­musical 42nd Street.

The group, whose greatest hits record Platinum Collection went to No 1 last August, will reunite this year in August for a one-off performance.

They’ll appear at Brighton Pride before going on ­hiatus again.

At least with his new workout, Lee will be able to make sure they keep in shape during their time apart.

Avril’s tour a shoe-in

AVRIL Lavigne is giving her feet a break after wrapping up her UK tour.

The Canadian rock chick showed off her edgy style, wearing ripped jeans and a tight metallic top as she relaxed on a leather sofa.

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She was partying the night away at a luxury Christian Louboutin bash in Los Angeles when she stopped to take this snap and completed her look by rocking a pair of the famous red-bottomed heels by the French designer.

Avril, who played a string of shows here last month, is currently dating rapper Tyga after splitting with her singer fiancé Mod Sun earlier this year.

They aren’t taking things slowly either, as he has already bought her a £60,000 ­diamond necklace of her name.

Money can’t buy you love, but I’m sure that got him in her good books.

Lizzo blasts fat jibes

LIZZO has considered quitting music after years of being bombarded with fatphobic comments on social media.

She snapped on Wednesday evening and posted a series of messages on Twitter ­slamming people for accusing her of eating too much and not “wanting” to be slimmer.

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The Special singer tweeted: “Y’all don’t know how close I be to giving up on everyone and quitting and enjoying my money and my man on a f*ing farm.”

Someone else suggested the star didn’t want to lose weight because it is her “brand”.

She hit back: “Being fat isn’t my ‘brand’. Being fat is what my body looks like. That’s it. That’s all.

“My ‘brand’ is feel-good music. My ‘brand’ is championing all people. My ‘brand’ is black girl liberation. I’m not trying to BE fat. I’m not trying to BE smaller. I’m literally just trying to live and be healthy.

“This is what my body looks like even when I’m eating super-clean and working out!

“Y’all speak on st that y’all know NOTHING ABOUT.”

Caught live: Coldplay @ Manchester’s Etihad stadium

HOME is where the heart is for Chris Martin, and right now that’s Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium.

Coldplay have sold out their four huge concerts there and on Wednesday night they kicked off the 84th night of their Music Of The Spheres world tour – their first gig on UK soil in a year.

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And boy, was it spellbinding.

My exclusive photograph of Chris from the night shows him, quite literally, conjuring up pure musical magic.

The band kicked off with the electric track High Power, using confetti exploding into the crowd and light-up wristbands they’d earlier dished out to every fan, to make it a truly mesmerising spectacle.

Pumping out hit after hit, from Paradise to Viva La Vida and Hymn For The Weekend, Chris and Co kept the energy high throughout the mammoth set.

The singer appeared emotional at times and no more so than when they performed James’ 1990 Manchester anthem hit Sit Down.

He told the 60,000-strong crowd the track took him back to the One Love concert in June 2017, where they performed the song alongside stars including Ariana Grande, Take that and Justin Bieber in tribute to the victims of the Manchester terror attack.

Chris said: “This song is a good gathering song. We don’t want that thing to be forgotten – how important and amazing One Love Manchester was in response to something so crazy and so terrible.

“So we want to sing this song again. It’s one of the best songs of all time and we want to sing it all together, OK?”

A cacophony of fireworks – eco-friendly, of course – marked the end of the 90-minute spectacular.

I had never seen Coldplay live before Wednesday, and the first question I asked myself when the gig had ended was, why not?
Simply brilliant.

Rita was close to quitting

RITA Ora almost quit music after releasing her second album Phoenix in 2018.

The Praising You singer said of the No11 record: “After my second album, I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can make another record. This is stressful. I am stressed’.”

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The album gave Rita some of her biggest hits including Anywhere and Let You Love Me.

But she said she later had a change of heart, helped by meeting her film director husband Taika Waititi.

Speaking about her upcoming third album You & I, she added: “I met Taika and everything just kind of started to make sense. I’m just so proud of it for so many reasons.”

DJ E-Lie swapping house building for house music

INTERNATIONAL DJ E-Lie is fretting about his new single – because it is a ­collaboration with superstar Mariah Carey.

The Aussie producer has a lot riding on his anthemic tune Circles, which is out today, because he has just quit his job as a builder to make it in music.

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His chart career started to take off in lockdown and now he has dropped a remix of Mariah’s 2005 song of the same name, which she loved so much that she has teamed up with him for it.

In an exclusive chat, he said: “I came across this sample of Mariah Carey when I first started ­producing about three years ago. Then I got an email from Ministry Of Sound saying they wanted to work on the track.

“I ended up getting a contract with them and then Mariah heard it and loved it. She wanted to be a featured artist on it, which is massive.”

On making music his long-term career, E-Lie left, added: “I had a full-time job, but I’ve stopped it this year to focus a bit more on music.

“I was in the building and ­construction industry.

“When I made the track ­Circles, I wasn’t doing music full time.

“I was building houses and apartments, which is a pretty hands-on job.”