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As
a member of the top all-girl band Eternal, Kelle Bryan enjoyed
fame and fortune. But now it’s her Christian faith that’s
the driving force in her life, as she explains to James Hastings.
Kelle
Bryan's career slammed to a sudden halt at an age when most
people are just starting out. At
21, the former singer with girl group Eternal had it all.
She’d sold over nine million albums, done four world
tours, enjoyed a string of solo Top 20 hits
and had become a millionairess. But
even her worldwide success had not managed to fill an emptiness
deep inside.
“It
was a difficult time and I felt particularly empty,”
she says. “It was only when I found God that something
clicked.”
Kelle,
now 31, had started her showbiz career aged just two when
she won a Miss Junior World competition. But her big break
happened one night when she when
she and best friend, Louise Nurding, went clubbing - even
though at 16 they were both under-age. They bumped into record
producer Denis Ingoldsby who
was looking to form an all-girl band and invited them to audition.
In
the 1990s boy bands were all the rage until Eternal - Kelle,
Louise and sisters Esther and Vernie Bennett - took the pop
world by storm. Their hits included Stay,
Power of a Woman and One Step From Heaven. Music critics say
Eternal led the way for other girl bands, most notably the
Spice Girls, to break through.
For
Kelle, who rarely attended church as a child, heaven meant
wealth and fame.
“Religion
was never really a major part of my life when I was growing
up,” she said. “My nan and grandad were Christians,
but … my mum decided not to go to
church so I didn’t either. I went to a Catholic church
as part of school. But I didn’t have my own relationship
with God.”
As
the band came to an end, so too did the marriage of Kelle’s
parents. It was a low time for her, despite floods of TV and
music offers.
“Then
an odd thing happened,” she explains. “A friend
said she was visiting her church and asked if I wanted to
go along. I went, never thinking this sort of
thing would happen to me, and something just clicked inside.
“Life
didn’t change instantly, but with everything I’d
been through to that point, it felt right, and I’ve been
involved as a Christian ever since.”
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After
splitting from Eternal, Kelle signed to Mercury Records and released
the solo single Higher Than Heaven. Her second solo single, I Wanna
Know, and debut
album Breakfast in Bed were set for release when illness struck.
Kelle suffers from lupus - an autoimmune inflammatory skin disease.
She
became a celebrity patron of the Saint Thomas Lupus Trust. For a
while she hosted the BAFTA-nominated music programme The N List
for Nickelodeon, but in
the main, concentrated on recovering from her health problems.
TV
roles followed in EastEnders and The Bill and a celebrity appearance
on The Weakest Link. There was also pantomime. But against all this,
she says her Christian
beliefs have helped structure her life and give it purpose. Her
only regret is that she didn’t become a Christian sooner.
“Had
I been a Christian before Eternal, everything would have been different,”
she says.
“Some
Christians were upset when Kelle agreed to appear on the reality
show, Celebrity Love Island in Fiji. “I didn’t want to
do it. I thought it was the most
un-God-like thing I could do. I spoke to my bishop about it, and
he pointed out that reality TV shows are supposed to depict every
walk of life. So
why shouldn’t there be a Christian in there?
“So
I said, ‘why not?’ And I’m very glad I did - and
glad I did it for the right reasons. There were other people in
there who needed God a lot more than me.
God spoke to me very clearly and said this was not about me. And
I got a lot of positive public feedback afterwards.”
Her
Christian faith has given Kelle a true understanding of fame and
wealth. But she is still uncomfortable being a role model.
“There
are always people looking at what you do, what you say and how you
carry yourself. You therefore have to be responsible in what you
say and do,” she
says.
Kelle
is currently working with The Light House Agency, touring the UK
to help spread the Christian message among young people.
“I’m
really pleased to be on tour meeting young people who haven’t
met God yet. People need to develop their own personal relationship
with God,” she says.
“The
Bible is very relevant to modern society. When I read it a few years
back, I realised it was a remedy to everything.”
The
one-time pop star has discovered an eternal truth.
James Hastings is a journalist based in Somerset
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