Reporter DEAN PIPER grabbed the chance to chat with Sutton celebrity and one seventh of S Club 7 Bradley Macintosh.

Sutton man Bradley Macintosh has always reached for the stars to get him where he wants to be in life.

Since becoming one part of the seven-piece pop group S Club 7, Brad has turned all his wildest dreams into reality and he is certainly not ready to start slacking off for an early retirement.

S Club 7 have had three television series, four number one hit singles, two multi-platinum selling albums and so far two nation-wide tours.

And Sutton has never been far from Brad's mind since he attended Greenshaw High School in Grennell Road back in the early 90s.

"I went back there once about a year and a half ago but I made a bit of a mistake. I just pulled up with some mates to just say hello to my teachers but I didn't realise that I had the whole school behind me following and whispering.

"Next time I go I will have to let them know," he said. "The people I see now are not really from Sutton or Greenshaw. All my friends while I was at school were not from Greenshaw."

Brad got into the music business largely thanks to his showbiz family. Growing up, Brad appeared uninterested in joining the music family trade. That is, until he was 14 years old.

"My mum, dad, auntie and uncle were part of an 80s band called the Cool Notes. They did Top Of The Pops and they were actually quite good it was a bit of a family affair.

"But until I was 14 I never showed them I was interested in music. I was singing away when I was really young but in secret.

"When I turned 14 years old, I wanted to show them what I could do."

Brad has admitted he hardly ever ventured into Sutton for a night out, preferring to go to Kingston instead.

"I never really went out during the evening in Sutton. I did go to the High Street quite a lot, though, during the day.

"Nowadays I go to Browns and Zen Garden in central London and I do now and again go to The Works in Kingston with mates."

The band have been a phenomenon across the world and are at the top of the UK singles charts this week with their BBC Children In Need theme song Have You Ever. All proceeds from the record sales will go to the charity.

Last year the band's slushy ballad Never Had a Dream Come True raise £200,000 for Children In Need.

The band members first shot to fame with TV adventure series Miami 7 which aired in the UK on BBC1 in April 1999.

At that time, no one had heard of S Club 7. It soon became the most-watched programme on children's TV.

Since then the band have also had a television series in Los Angeles and have just started broadcasting their third television adventure in Hollywood.

As for the future of the shows, they are not signed to commit to any more ventures. Their new show Hollywood 7 will be broadcast to a whopping 110 countries across the globe.

"We are not sure what will happen in the future with the shows," Brad tells me. "I'll let you into a secret. We actually come home to England at the end of this season, but we might continue in England. Who knows..."

Chart success started for the band in June 1999 when their debut single Bring It All Back went straight to number one.

Within months SClub7 were standing on a podium accepting a Brit Award for best British newcomer.

"To get a Brit Award for best newcomer was amazing," says Brad.

So what would he be doing if he wasn't a pop star? Well, he would have liked to have been a chef. Although admittedly he says he doesn't have much time to cook, but when he does it tastes very good.

With all of the band's achievements, there would seem to be few conquests left.

That is, apart from an S Club movie, as Brad divulged.

"The film is going to be a nice big budget movie but nothing like what everybody will expect, it will not be a Spiceworld type movie.

"We are not really actors so we are just going to have a laugh, but the story lines will not be as cheesy as the shows are."

The soundtrack for the film should provide the band with their fourth album and work has already started with the band's collaborators Cathy Dennis and Simon Ellis.

The S Club 7 party has definitely not finished for Brad and in the coming months the band have a nation-wide tour in 2002, a brand new album and a movie to keep them busy.

The future looks bright for Brad as he thinks about who he would like to work with if he had the chance.

"I'd love to collaborate with Craig David because he's got the vibe. It would be good to do a duet with Michael Jackson or someone like Brian McKnight just to say I did that' afterwards."

Brad may be just one part of the band but he comes across as so much more than that.

For someone who has seen such success, there is no trace of the usual celebrity pretentiousness you might expect. Instead he seems absolutely sincere and deserving of all his achievements.

With the release of their third album, Brad says he is positive about S Club's future.

"We won't be together forever and we all know that, but we are enjoying it while we are here. I'm not going anywhere, that's for sure!

"And I guess if we do split then there will be a greatest hits album because everyone has a greatest hits album after they're gone."

S Club 7's new album Sunshine was out on Monday.

December 12, 2001 10:30