Ian Watkins, known to millions of pop fans simply as H, was born in Llwynypia in the Rhondda on 8 May 1976 and grew up in Treorchy, attending Treorchy Comprehensive School. After a foundation course in art and design at Pontypridd College he went into entertainment by the holiday camp route, working as a Bluecoat at Pontins and then as a Redcoat at Butlin's.
In May 1997 he joined the newly formed Steps, alongside Claire Richards, Lisa Scott-Lee, Faye Tozer and Lee Latchford-Evans. Between 1997 and 2001 the group scored fourteen consecutive UK top five singles, two number one singles and two number one albums, with hits such as 5,6,7,8, Tragedy and Chain Reaction. Steps have sold more than twenty million records worldwide and were nominated for a BRIT Award in 1999.
Top
H from Steps: fourteen consecutive UK top five singles and more than twenty million records sold worldwide.
Ian H Watkins
Singer (Steps) / Performer
Born in Llwynypia and brought up in Treorchy in the Rhondda, where he went to Treorchy Comprehensive School; now a town councillor in Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan.
When Steps split in 2001 he and Claire Richards carried on as the duo H and Claire, releasing three singles and an album. He then studied musical theatre at the Royal Academy of Music and went on to star as Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, in Fame in the West End and in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He finished fourth in Celebrity Big Brother in 2007, and in 2020 skated with Matt Evers on Dancing on Ice, the first same-sex couple in the show's history.
Steps reunited in 2011, when The Ultimate Collection went straight to number one, and again in 2017 for their twentieth anniversary, with Tears on the Dancefloor reaching number two and What the Future Holds following in 2020. Closer to home, in May 2023 he was elected as an independent town councillor in Cowbridge with Llanblethian.
Career Highlights
1997-2001 -- Steps: fourteen consecutive UK top five singles and two number one albums
2011 -- Steps reunion; The Ultimate Collection entered the chart at number one
2020 -- First same-sex couple on Dancing on Ice, with Matt Evers
ℹ️ Born 8 May 1976 in Llwynypia, Rhondda, Wales.
Born in Llwynypia and brought up in Treorchy in the Rhondda, where he went to Treorchy Comprehensive School; now a town councillor in Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan.