Early life
Rachel Lauren Stevens was born April 9th 1978. She was born and raised in North-West London and attended Ashmole School in London. At the age of five she was a typical girly girl, dressing in her mum's high heels and trying out make-up. Her first touch to dancing was ballet for she took ballet classes as a child.
At school she was an average student but she has said that she sometimes got bitchy comments from other girls. Her walls were covered with posters of George Michael, Michael Jackson, Jason Donovan and Michael J Fox. Her first job was a part-time job in a shoe shop, which she loved because they had the coolest shoes and she'd get a new pair every week. When she was around 15 her parents got divorced, which was a huge shock to her because they were all so close.
15-year-old Rachel won Just Seventeen magazine's modelling competition, in front of other 5,000 hopefuls. At 17 she passed her driving test and got her own car. She finished her business course at college and then left to work for a film company. She loved it and was bitten by the showbiz bug. She continued with modelling but did not do catwalks because she's too short.
S Club 7
At the age of 20 Rachel became a member of a British pop band S Club 7. They have sold 16 million records worldwide and are also famous for their BBC television series. On April 21 2003 S Club announced they would split up.
Solo career
After S Club 7, Rachel continued with her old manager Simon Fuller and signed a record deal with Polydor Records. Her first solo album Funky Dory was released in September 29th 2003. Her first single Sweet Dreams My LA-Ex debuted #2 being a huge success. Her second album Come And Get It saw daylight on October 17 2005. Despite good reviews the albums chart performance was somewhat disapointing. In 2009 it was announced she is working with new material.
Strictly Come Dancing
In 2008, after a few quieter years, spent travelling between London and Los Angeles, Rachel announced she would take part in the 2008 series of Strictly Come Dancing. She and her dance partner Vincent Simone hold the record for the most perfect 10s ever achieved in any series of the show. Although finishing in the second place, she is thought to be the most successful contestant in Strictly history.
