Acting Career for Hannah

Norfolk’s pop pin-up Hannah Spearritt will be swapping her music career for a new life as an actor, her mother revealed to the EDP last night. The announcement came less than 24 hours after S Club announced to stunned fans at London’s Docklands Arena that the band is to split in May.

Hannah’s mother, Jenny, who has been privy to the group’s decision for some time, said S Club members had simply decided it was time to move on. While lead singer Rachel Stevens would be pursuing a solo career, Hannah, 22, would be returning to her first love, acting.

Mrs Spearritt, speaking from the family home at Gorleston, said: “It was a fluke really she got in the band. It was a friend who told her about the audition.”

Before that, Hannah had always shone at acting, taking the title role in Lowestoft Players’ performance of Annie, and being accepted into the acclaimed National Youth Music Theatre.

Mrs Spearritt said: “After nearly five years in the band, Hannah was mature enough to realise she wanted to make her own decisions and stand on her own two feet. But she would never regret her time with S Club. If that had been the case she could have left earlier like Paul did last year. She has enjoyed all the opportunities that have come her way and the places she has experienced. It has been very positive for her and she has grown from it.”

What heartened Mrs Spearritt most was how friends still commented that fame had not spoiled Hannah – she was still “down-to-earth with no airs and graces”.

During the turbulent years of pop stardom, Hannah will undoubtedly have been able to draw strength from the determination of big sister Tanya, 29. Once destined for a successful modelling career, she has been courageously battling a back injury for two years following an operation on a prolapsed disc.

Mrs Spearritt said Hannah had decided to take on acting agents in London and the US, but she could not comment on whether there were already projects in the pipeline.

Mrs Spearritt said: “It is a lovely way for the group to go out – at the top and all still friendly.”

Daphne King, who worked with a teenage Hannah in East Norfolk Youth Choir at Yarmouth College, pointed to the fast-moving nature of the pop industry as a clue to the short shelf life of bands.

Mrs King, the college’s vice-principal, said: “It is the nature of the industry that bands won’t survive long term, with a few exceptions such as U2. But I would tend to look at the positive side. After the long hours and gruelling schedules of being in a successful group, Hannah will be able to cope with anything.The life skills she has learned will take her to places others will never go.”

Mrs King said she would not discourage students from trying to emulate Hannah’s success. “If you have a dream and ambition, you will work with the pressures,” she said.

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Credit: Eastern Daily Press

Posted: April 23rd, 2003