Claire grew up in West London with her parents, her younger sister Gemma and a pet dog called Charlie.
Claire shared a room with Gemma and says "It was a sad state with pink walls and grey carpet, and full of junk, it's the same now!"
Claire began performing at the age of four when she started tap and ballet classes, but she says she didn't enjoy them because they didn't have food breaks!
So Claire along with H is one of STEPS 'non trained dancers' although she still has her grade one ballet certificate.
Claire kept her nose out of trouble in school, "I was never really naughty apart from the time I told my diabetic teacher I had stomach ache to get my hands on one of her chocolate bars she had stashed in her drawer! I had forgotten to have my breakfast and I was starving, I still feel horrible about that now!"
Claire was a brilliant singer even at school and was often asked to sing in school assemblies and plays. She managed to get the star roles of Maria in The Sound Of Music and Nancy in Oliver, but as a result to all the attention she got some of her jealous class mates would tease and bully her, even claiming years later that Claire was a stuck up snob!
When asked what she was like at school Claire said:
"I was painfully shy at school - I wouldn't talk to anybody. And I was fat! I had a massive bum and thighs and I had big fluffy eyebrows like caterpillars. Everybody thought I was stuck up, but I wasn't I was just really shy. I was better friends with my sister and her friends".
Claire also took a major interest in athletics and signed up to her local athletics club, which meant many a cold, rainy Sunday morning was spent with track training and cross country runs.
Unfortunately she had to give it up when she developed asthma, but looking back it stood her in good stead for the gruelling training STEPS do before their tours.
Claire was also a prize winning Geography student, she won an atlas for a model of a mountain that she made with the help from her Dad.
"I won an atlas, but the runners up got money, that's so not fair!" laughs Claire.
Claire also joined a local theatre group and got first hand experience about life on stage. But she says her real big break was when she was doing yet another one of her fave hobbies - ice skating. Poor Claire broke her wrist in three places!
Claire reckons being a teenager is the hardest job around she says "The hardest thing about being a teenager is you want to be an adult, but your parents still treat you like a kid. And having spots is bad too. I had loads of spots when I was growing up and I absolutely hated it!"
Claire'S second (and less painful break) came at the age of 17, when she anawered an advert in a magazine for three girls to be in a 'girl next door' style group.
Claire knew this could be what she was looking for and so rang the number and arranged to go for an audition.
Suddenly it looked like Claire'S dreams of becoming a world famous pop star looked to be getting nearer. The group was called TSD and they quickly snapped Claire up - after all she was exactly what they were looking for, young, beautiful and withe voice of angel!
Sadly for Claire TSD were a flop - they toured with various pop acts of the day and even released a couple of singles but they were never destined to be and so Claire set off to look for a new job.
It was then that she spotted an advert in The Stage magazine for five piece girl/boy pop group. Claire knew she had what it took to be a star and so she applied. That group was STEPS and the rest as they say is history, she went on to be one fifth of the most successful and best loved pop groups in years and of course this where she met her new pal H with whom she now forms a poptastic pop duo!