I’m back, says S Club star – but please don’t mention my back!

It’s been two years since Jo O’Meara last experienced the whirlwind of publicity and promo, and she’s not too happy about the subject of choice – her back.

All anyone wants to ask her about are the back problems that beset her last months as a member of S Club.

A month before S Club split in May 2003, Jo, 26, was diagnosed with a degenerative back condition. The worst-case scenario given to her was that she would need surgery and to use a wheelchair. Thankfully, she didn’t.

Although Jo was always the one most likely to have a crack at a solo career after S Club – her soaring vocals were always considered the best in the band – it seemed her back problem might have put a stop to her career.

“No, not at all,” she says. “People just made too much of it. My back needed time to heal and rest, that’s all. I always knew that I was going to come back as a solo artist. It’s fine now. No problems at all.”

Which means that Jo can now concentrate on what matters most to her – her music.

Following on from her debut single What Hurts The Most, is her album Relentless. It’s full of what Jo describes as ‘adult pop’ and is a bit of a mixed bag of genres.

The whole project has been about doing what Jo wants to do. Her time in S Club was so regimented that the singer is revelling in her new-found freedom.

“I want to be in control of what I’m doing 100% now,” she says. “I’m so lucky that I’ve found a good team that acknowledge that. With things like the photographs they always say, ‘What do you think of them?’ I’d never have been asked that in S Club.”

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Credit: Liverpool Echo

Posted: October 5th, 2005