The Love Club

Hannah Spearritt and Paul Cattermole have been band-mates and best friends for seven years, but six months ago they decided to be something more. Hannah gives us the lowdown on the love affair that's changed S Club 7 forever.


The news of your romance with Paul has only recently been revealed, but we understand you've been together for the last six months…

Yeah! [laughs]


Did you guys decide to come clean consciously or did the tabloid newspapers find out about it first?

No, we did actually come out with it - which is very unlike me. People were bound to find out anyway and we've been hiding for a long time. We thought that we would be honest and be comfortable with each other.

You can't hide forever and we're private people - it's not like us to display our relationship in the paper. But I think for the episode [in the S Club 7 TV series, Hollywood 7] coming out next, there's kissing and that's going to bring about questions. So we thought we'd come out and tell it our way.


Did the rest of the guys in S Club 7 know about it before you announced it to the world?

Oh yeah, they knew!


Was it tough telling them about it initially?

No, because we know them so well. It was kind of obvious anyway.


Has the rest of the group been supportive?

Yeah they've been really good. It's made the band stronger in a way - it's been cool.


Has the group dynamic changed much since you and Paul got together?

Oh, yea! [laughs]


Do you think that by spilling the beans, it might put additional pressure on your relationship?

We were worried about that, yeah. There were ups and downs about telling people. At the end of the day we hope people will be fine. It might make it a little harder but it's not anything we won't get through.

It's been, like, a week and a half now [since we told everyone] and there's been no pressure.


But then again, you have to deal with journalists like us here at TV HITS asking you a lot of questions about it…

Yeah, it's hard to talk about your relationship. It's a private thing. I know people are interested - we're in the public eye - you've got to deal with it.


For the S Club 7 fans, it's like a dream come true…

Yeah, they probably think it's really sweet. [laughs]


The two of you met so long ago. Was it great to have a friendship before anything romantic developed?

If I can say one thing about, it's that we were friends first. And then suddenly this happened! It's good to go from a strong friendship to whatever you call it - a romance! [laughs]


What made it move from a friendship to a romance?

I don't know myself. [laughs]


Does this mean that we may see a Paul and Hannah duet sometime?

Oh God no! That's far too corny!


Would you do a cover of an old classic like Especially For You [sung by Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue]?

Oh no! I've got the image of that song in my head. No! [laughs]


Oh well, at least we get to hear you both in some new S Club 7 tracks. We loved your last single, Don't Stop Movin'. So many different people got into that song…

I think Don't Stop Movin' widened our audience. That was the main changeover - when older people started to enjoy our music.


Did you choose your new single, Have You Ever, because it was a slower, love song - something to balance out the disco of Don't Stop Movin'?

Yeah, we kind of go in a pattern: something up-tempo and then a ballad.


That really represents how diverse your new album Sunshine is, don't you think?

Sunshine is definitely different from the other stuff we've done. It's a little bit older and it's our favourite album so far and it's just more evenly spread. It's a little bit more chilled out as opposed to real poppy.


Is it more a case of S Club 7 refining their sound?

Yeah, I think that just happens naturally. Whatever you do, you hope to improve with years - you get better at what you do as time moves on. We don't stand still, do we?


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