Dubai-based pop star Lisa Scott-Lee has admitted she can’t wait to be reunited with her Steps bandmates and return to live performances at events after a year of disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The band’s sixth studio album, What The Future Holds, was released last year and quickly climbed to number one on the iTunes chart, while the UK tour of the same name is scheduled to kick-off in November, with Covid-19 restrictions in place.
Scott-Lee, who has been a resident in Dubai for over 10 years, told Arabian Business: “I just think people are crying out, they need to have the entertainment, the escapism, the happiness. It’s been a really difficult time and I think Steps can definitely bring a lot of light, a lot of happiness. With our back catalogue and our new album, I think it’s going to be a really exciting tour.”
According to the annual THEME report from the Motion Picture Association (MPA), the global theatrical and home/mobile entertainment market dropped by 18 percent in 2020 to $80.8 billion, with the steepest decline witnessed in theatrical revenue which fell from $42.3 billion in 2019 to $12 billion last year.
“I feel the performing arts industry is greatly undervalued. With the pandemic, what do people turn to, obviously apart from the essential services? When people are in their homes, they need entertainment. They’re in lockdown, they want to put the TV on, they want to put the radio on, they need music, films, Netflix, all these various platforms,” said Scott-Lee.
“I do think it’s a shame because the performing arts is almost seen to be in the shadows, performing arts. Not just in the schools and education, but throughout the world. Theatres are just starting to open up again thankfully, that’s why I will always be passionate about championing the arts.”
Scott-Lee, Claire Richards, Faye Tozer, Lee Latchford-Evans and Ian ‘H’ Watkins, shot to fame over 20 years ago with their debut single ‘5, 6, 7, 8’, which spent 14 weeks in the top 20 UK singles chart.
Pop star Lisa Scott-Lee
After 27 singles, six studio albums, seven video albums and well over 20 million records sold, the group has released their latest single, Heartbreak in the City, for which Scott-Lee filmed her parts amid the stunning backdrop of Dubai Marina.
And as the world has got used to video conference calls over the past 12 months, Scott-Lee too made use of Zoom in what she revealed was a bizarre first, while the rest of the video was shot back in the UK, in Manchester.
“It was wonderful to be expressive and to film the video here in Dubai. We were linked live via Zoom to the director and my management in London so they were directing from London with our creative team here and the result is fantastic. A lot of people have commented on how amazing Dubai looked and the skyline. Technology has brought us together. It was definitely a first for us,” she said.
“I was just so proud that we were able to pull something like this off during the pandemic.”
Steps performed at Dubai Opera in 2018, where fans in the Middle East were treated to a spectacular show. And Scott-Lee admitted she would love to bring the band back to the emirate once Covid restrictions allow.
However, she is no stranger to Dubai performances, in her role as co-founder and principal of Dubai Performing Arts Academy (DPA), which she launched in 2014 with her husband Johnny, a former dancer with Steps and Hear’Say, who went on to star in London’s West End as one of the lead roles in Footloose as well as other musicals.
Her cohort of talented students, from age three to 18 years, have been busy in rehearsals for their performance of Everybody at Dubai Opera on June 12.
She said: “We’re very excited to be able to give the children the opportunity to perform live on stage in such a prestigious venue. Because we couldn’t put one on last year the children are desperate to perform again.”
The performance will add to the huge success story that is DPA. Affectionately known as ‘Miss Lisa’, from their base at Dubai British School Jumeirah Park (DBSJP), thanks to a partnership with UAE education provider Taaleem, the couple are able to pass on their huge passion for performance to the hundreds of kids who pass through the doors.
“When we launched in 2014, Johnny and I just started with one class on a Saturday morning. We now operate 100 classes-a-week, six days-a-week. It’s really grown and I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved. It’s not easy to launch a new business in a new country, but Dubai offered us that opportunity.
“We started off as a dance school but it’s become so much more than that now because we partnered with Taaleem three years ago,” she said.
“We always wanted to have the creative arts and performing arts within the school curriculum. We were never just an after school club, that was not our business plan. We do run programs after school but we wanted to bring the creative arts into the school curriculum and why shouldn’t it be valued the same as sports, PE, music? Everything else is present except performing arts.
“Myself and Johnny have always had that challenge and that’s something we’re really trying hard to overcome here in the region.”
Last year they launched a music department, along with a centre of musical arts (CMA), where they offer instrumental lessons, alongside what was at the time, the first BTEC Level 3 in Performing Arts in the region.
She said: “The BTEC students are thriving and our diploma course is unique as it is run by a team of industry professionals from the world of music, entertainment and the West End. Applications are now open for our second year cohort, including the Extended Diploma which is equivalent to three A-Levels.
She added: “It’s funny because I get so much from watching my children perform on stage, when myself and my team have spent years teaching them and training them and growing their confidence, their skillsets, their social skills, all the benefits to health and mental health.
“It’s a completely different feeling sitting in the audience watching my children, to myself being on the stage and performing to an audience. I love that contrast. It’s the best of both worlds really.”
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