Pop star is unrecognisable from band days – can you guess who it is?

EXCLUSIVE: Pop star looks unrecognisable from her band days – but can you guess who it is?

A pop star looked worlds away from her band heyday as she headed out for a dog walk on Tuesday. 

Having had a string of successful hits, the songstress is set to be joining her other bandmates for a reunion tour, filled with nostalgia from the nineties and early noughties. 

The singer was pictured for the first time since swirling rumours emerged the group are reforming 25 years after they first found fame – but can you guess who it is? 

A pop star looked worlds away from her band heyday as she headed out for a dog walk on Tuesday

That’s right. It’s Jo O’Meara. The Reach hitmaker, 43, who often sported brightly coloured crop tops and low-slung jeans in the band, wrapped up warm as she headed out for a stroll with a pal. 

Sporting a cream padded coat and a cheetah print floral tracksuit, Jo’s signature barbed wire inking on her bicep was covered.

Jo teamed the look with black Nike trainers, huge glasses and wore her blonde locks back in a bun – a noticeably different style from her poker straight peroxide blonde hairdo in S Club. 

Exciting: The singer was pictured for the first time since swirling rumours emerged that the group are reforming 25 years after the first found fame – but can you guess who it is?

That’s right! It’s Jo O’Meara. The Reach hitmaker, 43, who often sported brightly coloured crop tops and low-slung jeans in the band, wrapped up warm 

Casually-clad: Sporting a cream padded coat and a cheetah print floral tracksuit, Jo’s signature barbed wire inking on her bicep was covered

The songstress kept a low-key profile on her outing – which comes just days after the Mail On Sunday revealed S Club 7 are reforming. 

All seven of the group have agreed to the comeback, which has been masterminded by music mogul Simon Fuller – the man who put them together in 1998 after the Spice Girls, his previous band, sacked him as their manager. 

He called each of the seven stars – Rachel Stevens, 44, Tina Barrett, 46, Jon Lee, 40, Paul Cattermole, 45, Bradley McIntosh, 41, Jo and Hannah Spearritt, 40 – in person to suggest the project and made it clear it would only work if all of them were to agree. 

Bring it all back: Having had a string of successful hits, the songstress is set to be joining her other bandmates for a reunion tour

Low key: Jo teamed the look with huge glasses and wore her blonde locks back in a bun – a noticeably different style from her poker straight peroxide blonde hairdo

Don’t stop moving! Jo’s little Pomeranian happily trotted alongside her 

Natural: Jo showed off her clear complexion as she went make-up free on the dog walk 

Their comeback is expected to be announced to huge fanfare in the coming weeks where they will reveal the details of the reunion.

One source close to the project said: ‘Simon Fuller saw the value in this, S Club 7 had a huge following of all ages who he thinks will want to go and see them for nostalgia reasons.

‘Their songs were so upbeat and fun, it is a massive commercial opportunity for them all, particularly Simon.’

Never had a dream come true: Their comeback is expected to be announced to huge fanfare in the coming weeks where they will reveal the details of the reunion

They are planning a huge tour for the summer, though they are discussing whether this will have to be put back to Christmas due to Jo’s back injury which has seen her undergo four operations to remove part of a slipped disc.

The singer hurt her back during the band’s heyday in 2002 with surgeons wanting to operate at the time – but Jo turned it down as she was touring.

Last year, however, the excruciating injury flared up, forcing Jo to undergo four surgeries to remove part of a slipped disc in her back. 

Setback: They are planning a huge tour for the summer, though they are discussing whether this will have to be put back to Christmas due to Jo’s back injury

Jo was trampolining during a health kick back in September and thinks the jolty movement sparked her back to go into spasm with four bulged discs rubbing on her sciatic nerve.

Doctors operated at the time but had to do multiple surgeries, her last being in November after Jo woke up in the middle of the night screaming and shaking in agony. 

Now two months on, Jo has given a health update revealing she now needs regular physiotherapy and has permanent damage to her right leg. 

Painful: Jo now needs regular physiotherapy and has permanent damage to her right leg

‘It was like someone had shot me in the bum, my whole body went into shock. I thought I was having a convulsion. The very first thing I did was call an ambulance’, she told The Sun.    

‘Back surgery is so complex and every time they go in, they’re just weakening my back. I was absolutely petrified.

‘The surgeons said there was a very good chance of permanent damage to the legs and that I might never dance again. I was thinking, ‘Well that’s me done then,’ because standing up on stage and singing Reach is kind of impossible if you can’t move.’

Jo said she found it heartbreaking to be told by doctors there was a risk of permanent damage to her mobility, but had to go through the operation as ‘the alternative was even worse’. 

S Club: The lead singer said the injury occurred more than 20 years ago (L-R Paul Cattermole, Tina Barrett, Bradley McIntosh, Jo, Rachel Stevens, Hannah Spearritt and Jon Lee)

The lead singer said the injury occurred more than 20 years ago, with doctors finding at the time she had two bulged discs. 

While medics were keen to operate, Jo felt she couldn’t take the time out to have the surgery and so was given steroids to help her through the fast paced routines. 

Injured: The singer is taking things day by day and appreciating the little things in life like now being able to take her dogs out for a walk

After the band split up, the songstress said her back was fine but now believes it was a ‘ticking time bomb’, with a surgeon who originally saw her saying he knew he would see her again when she walked into hospital 20 years later.

Jo is terrified one wrong cough or sneeze could send her back into hospital. 

The singer is taking things day by day and appreciating the little things in life like now being able to take her dogs out for a walk.  

Scary: Jo is terrified that one wrong cough or sneeze could send her back into hospital. The singer is taking things day by day and appreciating the little things in life 

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