STARS IN THEIR EYES: Barry Upton and Junior Jones.

IF POP stardom is your dream, then this could be your once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.</b

The man behind one of the biggest singles of the decade is searching for a new band in Hampshire to take the dawn of the 21st cen-tury by storm.

It was in a recording studio in a leafy corner of Chilworth, near Southampton, that producer/writer Barry Upton created the catchy Five, Six, Seven, Eight number which turned Steps into an overnight pop phenomenon. Now Barry, 45, is using The Point art and dance centre in Eastleigh to launch his search for a talented group of musicians to grab the Top 40 limelight in the new millennium.

The name and style of the new outfit is under wraps - but it won't just be an action replay of Steps, Barry insists. "It is no good come along to the auditions and thinking you can just do a Five, Six, Seven, Eight," he advised.

But he does hope to repeat Steps' stairway to instant fame, which has brought the group platinum, gold and silver discs and made them the biggest chart sensation since the Spice Girls.

Their last hit, Heartbeat/Tragedy, soared to number one in the singles charts.

And the eye-catching group of three girls and two boys, who have triggered off a new dance fever, have sold two and a half million albums worldwide.

Steps, created about two-and-a-half years ago, was born out of a country rock album which Barry had produced and was promoting at some line dance venues.

"I saw some kids line dancing to pop songs. I thought it would be a great idea to put a pop group together where the kids would copy the dance rou-tine."

Barry, who has tasted pop stardom before with the successful Brotherhood of Man, came up with the line dance anthem that put the nation into a foot-tapping frenzy.

For his latest project Barry has teamed up with well-known choreographer Junior Jones, from Ringwood.

Details of Barry's latest exciting project are a closely guard-ed secret. He said: "It will be a new band for the millennium with a slight twist - and that is what we do not want to give away. It is a secret under wraps at the moment.

"We have not decided how many will be in the band yet."

Auditions for dancing and singing will get under way at 4pm this Sunday at The Point in Leigh Road. Barry said: "The auditions are open to males and females of any origin, aged 18 to 25. They need to be able to dance well, sing at least a couple of pop songs and have a personality.

"But the most important thing of all is that they must want to be a star and give 100 per cent dedication to their profession."

Pop star hopefuls are also being asked to bring along a photograph of themselves.

Who knows It could be the very picture which screaming, devoted hoards of autograph hunters will one day want signed.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.