Lee Latchford-Evans

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Lee Latchford-Evans bigraphy, stories - English singer

Lee Latchford-Evans : biography

28 January 1975 –

Lee Latchford-Evans (born 28 January 1975) is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, stage actor, kickboxer and a celebrity personal trainer, most famous for being a member of the British pop group Steps.

Career

In 1997, Evans became a member of the multi million selling pop group Steps; they went on to sell 14 consecutive Top 5 singles (a feat for a British act, at the time bettered only by the Beatles), sold more than 20 million records worldwide and announced their split on Boxing Day 2001. His role in the band was mostly choreographer and providing backing vocals, and he rarely sang lead on the songs. However, he did perform lead on "Turn Around" (which he co-wrote) and the rap verses of 5,6,7,8.

Evans has appeared in London’s West End starring in Grease; A Charmed Life as part of London’s Sitcom Trials, and he made his debut at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh in August 2009 in the production of Wolfboy. He played the Prince in Rotherhams Pantomime version of Snow White in 2010 and will reprise his role of the Prince at Weymouths Pavilion Pantomime in December 2011. Latchford-Evans has appeared in the reality television shows The Games, Fear Factor, I’m Famous and Frightened!, The Match and went onto win Commando VIP. In 2006, he appeared in a new reality show on MTV, Totally Boyband. This show was from the same creators as the show Totally Scott-Lee, which featured his ex groupmate Lisa Scott-Lee and her family. In 2008 he appeared as part of Team Ant on Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway. He also appeared on Never Mind The Buzzcocks in October 2010. Steps have recently announced that they will be filming a four part documentary for Sky Living, which will be aired late September 2011. He appeared in Ten Dead Men (2008) produced by Phil Hobden, and also appeared in Britflick Cash and Curry playing the villain, Casper Warrington-Boothe.

Evans is currently the face of OK!Famouslyfit. A joint venture between OK! Magazine and Evans’ own business, Famouslyfit.com, Evans was also the manager of Kerry-Lucy Taylor’s band, A Girl Called Alice until they changed their name to Concrete Rose.

Controversy

In 2000, both he and Claire Richards were criticized by the Anti Fascist Action organisation for making allegedly xenophobic remarks against asylum seekers. Latchford-Evans stated that "there should be more jobs for English people" with Richards continuing, "Why are we paying for all these people to come into the country anyway?". All accusations were vehemently accepted by both Latchford-Evans and Richards.

Discography

Studio albums

  • Step One (1998)
  • Steptacular (1999)
  • Buzz (2000)
  • Light Up the World (2012)

Compilation albums

  • Gold: Greatest Hits (2001)
  • The Last Dance (2002)
  • The Ultimate Collection (2011)
  • The Platinum Collection (2012)
  • Steps Live! (2012)
  • The Ultimate Collection Tour Edition (2012)

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Early life

Evans was born as Lee Latchford Evans, with his middle name Latchford taken from the surname of Ontario lawyer, judge and political figure Francis Robert Latchford, as his father was a lifelong fan. At the point he started performing the comedian Lee Evans was well known, and so the Latchford name came into play and he was known as Lee Latchford for a short time. He later changed his name to Latchford Evans (without the hyphen).

Evans studied at Laine Theatre Arts in Epsom.

Personal life

Evans is currently living with his wife, Kerry-Lucy Taylor. They both appeared in OK! Magazine in June 2011 discussing the up and coming OK!FamouslyFit range of fitness equipment. They announced their engagement in March 2012. On 10 November 2012, they married at an 18th century palladian-styled mansion in Surrey. Their wedding featured in November’s edition of OK! Magazine with bandmates Lisa, Faye, H and Claire on the front cover as well.

In February 2010, Evans’ relationship with French lingerie model Vanessa Perroncel (in 2001–02) was made public after revelations that English football captain John Terry had been having an extramarital affair with her. Latchford-Evans explained his side of the story in an article published in Daily Mirror on February 3, 2010.

Evans is a fully qualified personal trainer and owner of fitness web magazine www.famouslyfit.com.

Tours

  • Step One Tour (1999)
  • Next Step Tour (1999)
  • Steptacular Tour (2000)
  • Steps Into Christmas Tour
  • Gold Tour (2001)
  • The Ultimate Tour (2012)
  • Christmas With Steps (2012)