The name Kelle Bryan might not mean much to everyone, but extend your musical memory radar back to the early/mid-90s and you might recall that she was the youngest member of Eternal—a half-famous girl band until The Spice Girls came along and scuttled them for good. Louise Nurding was also one of them before she went solo, married Jamie Redknapp and became better known as a footballer’s wife. But despite being a millionaire by the age of 21, with nine million album sales, four world tours and later, a solo top 15 single under her belt, Kelle felt deeply unfulfilled with life—until, she says, she became a born-again Christian. Here, she talks to MICHAEL ALEXANDER about those heady days with the girl band, her subsequent disillusionment with the music industry, her decision to appear on ITV’s Celebrity Love Island last summer—and her delight to be supporting a major Easter Sunday event in Dundee next month.

Kelle Bryan has been in the entertainment business for 30 years—which is quite remarkable when you consider she’s just turned 32!

The east London-born singer turned actress won a junior Miss World competition aged two, and at 11, she joined the prestigious Italia Conti Academy stage school, where she completed eight years of performing arts and qualified as a dance teacher.

One night whilst out clubbing (under age!) with her schoolmate Louise Nurding, the pair, then aged 16, met record producer Denis Ingoldsby, who was forming a girl band.

They auditioned, and together with sisters Esther and Vernie Bennett, became the British R&B band Eternal. They sold millions of albums and had international hits such as Stay, Just a Step from Heaven, Power of a Woman and I Wanna Be the Only One. Brit Award nominations, MOBO’s, Smash Hits and Britannia Music Awards followed.

But by the age of 21, Kelle found herself becoming increasingly disillusioned with her fame and wealth. She was a millionaire with a lovely house and cars. But she felt “unfulfilled”, she felt “rejected” in the band and perhaps not inconsequentially, her parents were going through a painful divorce. “It was a difficult time and I felt particularly empty,” she says.

Deciding to pursue a disappointing solo career after the break-up of the band, Kelle could have hit the well-trodden road to sex, drugs and rock n’ roll self-destruction.

But when she looks back, she says the definitive turning point and renewed purpose in her life came towards the end of Eternal’s reign when she surprised even herself—and “found God”.

“Religion was never really a major part of my life when I was growing up,” Kelle told The Courier.

“My nan and grandad were born again Christians, but when I was growing up, 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.

“Then an odd thing happened at this time when I was 21. A friend said she was visiting her church and asked if I wanted to go along. I went along, 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 in life up to that point, it felt right, and I’ve been involved as a Christian ever since.”

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 due for release in 2000, but were cancelled because she was diagnosed with lupus—an autoimmune inflammatory skin disease—and she was too ill to promote them. 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. She excelled in kickboxing and concentrated on her first love, acting. In 2004 she appeared as a contestant on a celebrity edition of The Weakest Link and has appeared in Eastenders, The Bill, and recently even completed work on her first film ‘The Virus’. She’s also appeared in pantomime in Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, and presented the Urban Music Awards in November 2006. She is currently hosting the ITV Play phone-in quiz programme Glitterball.

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. “What did I do with all that money? The spending was often so irresponsible. The Bible makes you very financially saavy, and gives great financial wisdom. I had none at all. Imagine what I could have done with that money now? There are so many things I would have done differently, I could talk about this all day.”

Many of her family and friends were surprised when Kelle decided to appear on Celebrity Love Island in Fiji last summer—a contest eventually won by Calum Best and Bianca Gascoigne, the son and stepdaughter of footballing legends George Best and Paul Gascoigne. “A lot of people have asked what that was all about,”she laughs. “I didn’t want to do it. I thought it was the most un-God-like thing I could do. But when the programme said they wanted me on, 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’, after all, I’m a normal person like everyone else is. 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.”

Kelle, who comes across as very grounded and level-headed, feels uncomfortable when people describe her as a role model, but as someone who has spent time in the public eye, she realises that many people have seen her that way whether she likes it or not. “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, “and be aware that positive and negative comment can influence other people.”

Kelle is a co-founder of Red Hot Entertainments—an agency originally set up to develop undiscovered talent—and has recently been working with The Light House Agency, touring the UK to help spread a Christian message amongst 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. It’s the Bible to life—but it helps if people are able to understand it in plain language, and avoid the jargon!”

At the time of our interview, Kelle didn’t know much about the Resurrection Day conference event, organised by multi-denominational church group Dundee for Christ, that she’s agreed to attend in the city on Easter Sunday. However, she was looking forward to coming to Scotland and being part of what she said promised to be a “wonderful event”.

She’s also thoroughly enjoying being back in the world of acting. But she’s less certain about the chances of there ever being an Eternal reunion.

“We’ll see what happens—Esther recently had a baby, Louise has been doing her ‘size zero’ programme stuff and Vernie is off studying. I haven’t spoken to Vernie since way back when. I went to school with Louise, so she’s a friend for life. But I would never say never about an Eternal reunion.”

Dundee for Christ Ministry leader Ian Black said it was great Kelle had agreed to get involved in the Dundee event. He said, “Resurrection Day is the City of Dundee’s Easter Celebration and the biggest annual Christian event in Tayside. Two thousand people will be at the Caird Hall to celebrate Easter—and claim Easter back from the Bunny! Seriously though, it promises to be an amazing event and I strongly encourage people of all ages, colours and creeds to come along. If your experience of church is that religion, Easter and church are a little, well, dull, then you must come along to Resurrection Day!

“There will be something for everyone including dynamic audio visual presentations, congregational singing, an interview with Kelle and a clear concise Bible message on the true meaning of Easter. It will be a lot of fun! Can I encourage people to come early to get a seat and also to look around the extensive Dundee Christian Ministries fair in the Marryat Hall.”