Claire Richards (born 17 August 1977) is an English singer and member of the pop group Steps.

Steps were formed by Steve Crosby and Barry Upton (writers of "5, 6, 7, 8") alongside manager Tim Byrne after auditioning hopefuls who answered an ad in The Stage newspaper.

She joined the group in 1997 along with Ian "H" Watkins, Lisa Scott-Lee, Faye Tozer and Lee Latchford-Evans, and the band enjoyed considerable popularity across the world over the next five years.

After Richards and her groupmate Ian "H" Watkins resigned during the last leg of Steps' 2001 Gold Tour, the two continued singing as the duo H & Claire.

It was announced in May 2011 that Richards would be taking part in the second series of Popstar to Operastar making it her first major high-profile appearance in nearly ten years.

Despite a much-praised performance of the Queen of the Night aria from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Magic Flute in the semi-final, she lost out on a place in the final to Cheryl Baker.

[3] Richards was a contestant on eleventh series of Celebrity Big Brother and came fourth place as the show ended on 25 January 2013.

Richards released her first solo material, a cover of the Steps track "One for Sorrow", on 30 July 2015 via her official SoundCloud.

The series started airing on 28 September, following an announcement of a second greatest hits album, The Ultimate Collection, that was released on 10 October 2011.

[10] The group reformed for a second time on 1 January 2017 in celebration of their 20th anniversary, and later announced their fifth studio album Tears on the Dancefloor, which was released in April 2017 and entered the charts at number 2.

[11] On 5 March 2017, the group confirmed the release of the new album, alongside its lead single, "Scared of the Dark", and a 22-date tour, Party on the Dancefloor.

[13] In November 2017, Tozer announced that the reunion was no longer just a 20th-anniversary celebration and that the group intends to continue after their 2018 Summer of Steps tour.

[16] On 7 September 2020, via their social media accounts, Steps announced the release date of their album entitled What the Future Holds.

[citation needed] In February 2023, Richards participated as "Knitting" on the fourth series of The Masked Singer.

[citation needed] Richards appeared on Celebrity MasterChef on 25 June 2009 as part of the programme's "comeback" week.