Singer who scored four UK No. 1 songs with pop quartet recently announced band reunion.
Paul Cattermole, the singer who rose to prominence with the musical group S Club 7, has died at the age of 46.
According to a family statement, he was discovered deceased at his home in Dorset on Thursday and was pronounced dead later that day. There was no indication of a cause of death, but authorities confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances.
The band offered their respects, writing:
We are heartbroken over the death of our brother Paul. There are no words to explain our collective grief and loss. We consider ourselves fortunate to have had him in our life and are grateful for the wonderful memories we have. We will all miss him terribly. We respectfully request that you respect his family’s and the band’s privacy at this time.
The Hertfordshire-born vocalist was supposed to be a part of the group’s newly announced reunion, which had four UK No 1 songs, including Don’t Stop Movin’ and Bring It All Back. In images released by the Daily Mail on Wednesday, he was seen walking outside in excellent spirits.
In 1998, Cattermole auditioned for S Club 7, a septet formed by svengali Simon Fuller. In 1999, they courted a youthful audience through the children’s television show Miami 7. Their debut single, Bring It All Back, followed, with its cheerful, upbeat tone typical of the band’s hits, launching them on an incredible run of success: all 11 of their singles reached the UK Top 5. In the United States, their single Never Had a Dream Come True charted at No. 10 in 2000. Cattermole’s musical interests clashed with S Club 7’s cheerful pop, and he left to establish the unsuccessful metal band Skua in 2002. The following year, S Club 7 dissolved.
Cattermole reformed S Club 3 with bandmates Jo O’Meara and Bradley McIntosh in 2008, although they did not release new material and instead performed live across the UK. The entire band reformed in 2015 for an arena tour, which Cattermole later described as “difficult: not everyone in the band sees eye to eye,” and then again in February of this year, announcing a tour that would begin in October. “It’s an honor to say that we’ll be rejoining and playing together again,” the band declared. “Music and friendship have always been at the heart of everything we’ve ever done,” says the band.
Cattermole was candid about the problems he had following the popularity of S Club 7. Before to the 2015 reunion, he was declared bankrupt, and the proceeds from the tour were used to pay off his debts: “I paid £36,000 to HMRC, but the lawyers’ fees were around 40-something,” he revealed in 2018. “I didn’t let anyone down by failing to pay my fair part. We’d be playing in front of 20,000 people in arenas just days after I’d called and said things like, ‘We need £10,000 right now!’ Then I’d have to do Reach for the Stars.”
He was injured in a touring production of The Rocky Horror Show after the 2015 tour, and the loss of income forced him to auction off a Brit award that S Club 7 had won in 2000 for best British newcomer. Cattermole stated, “The volume of messages has totally overwhelmed me… I’ve had a great time with it.”
He had worked as a community radio manager in Dorset in recent years, among other things. He also gave tarot readings and advertised himself as a “psychic, clairvoyant, and spirit coach.”
From 2001 through 2006, Cattermole was in a relationship with Hannah Spearritt, a member of the S Club 7 band, after a romance between the two was put into the TV show Hollywood 7. “It didn’t feel forced because I had immediately grown into the concept.” In 2019, he told the Guardian, “I thought she was fantastic.”
Lorraine Kelly, a TV host, was among those who paid tribute, writing, “This is very terrible. He was a lovely man who was looking forward to the reunion of S Club 7. “I interviewed everyone several times and was impressed by how sweet and shy he was.”
