Steps star Lisa Scott-Lee is now a performing arts headmistress in Dubai

Lisa Scott-Lee is the headteacher of a 600-pupil performing arts school in Dubai.

The Steps singer, 45, has kept her ‘day job’ under wraps after setting up the Dubai Performing Arts Academy with her one-time Hear’Say star husband Johnny Shentall, 42, in 2014.

The couple moved to the sunny United Arab Emirates with their two children Jaden, 13, and Star, 11, in 2011 and she regularly shares encouraging posts of her students performing on social media.

Lisa, who recently took a break from Steps promo for their single with Michelle Visage, Heartbreak in this City, as she was forced to stay in the Middle East due to coronavirus restrictions, told the Mirror: ‘Steps is my life. It has been my life for the last 24 years, but being principal of the school is my day job.

‘I can never switch off. Even when I’m with Steps, rehearsing or shooting a video, I’ll be working on my laptop. It’s become a bit of a running joke. I have to flip between my Steps hat and principal hat, which can be really hard and stressful at times.’

With her bandmates Claire Richards, Lee Latchford-Evans, Faye Tozer and Ian ‘H’ Watkins, Lisa has sold more than 20million albums worldwide, and she also had a successful solo career.

Husband Johnny replaced Kym Marsh in Hear’Say in 2002 after working as a member of short-lived pop group Boom!, before appearing in a number of West End musicals.

The couple uses their experience along with other teachers to train children between the ages of three and 18, and they are the only school in the UAE to offer a BTEC qualification in Performing Arts.

Lisa and Johnny also run DPA Live, an events company, and entertainment agency DPA Talent.

Lately singer Lisa insists she does not spend her time in Dubai sitting out in the sun and works six days a week at the school.

She focuses on the day-to-day running of the school while Johnny is the creative director and main teacher.

She added: ‘I never expected in my wildest dreams I’d still be here 10 years later running my own stage school.

‘We have such an incredible quality of life in Dubai.

‘I do get recognised out here for Steps and sometimes people will start singing Tragedy at me if we are out but on the whole, when I’m in Dubai, I’m just Miss Lisa.’

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