You can't hope to have a record in the charts without it being produced to the very best standards. On Sunday 31st March 2009, five very excited children arrived at the studios of hit producer Barry Upton, creator of the million sellers Steps to record their song, We Are One!, which they are selling so that the profits can go to help ChildLine.  Barry had heard about the 'We Are One!' song and the ChildLine project from Mr Payne and was very keen to help to make it a success.   

From the back left to right, Maddie, Anastasia, Rebecca, Sian, and Sacha singing the chorus of We Are One while Mr Payne plays the guitar. The girls were fantastic on the day and had a really great time. 

The most inspiring lyrics in the song are arguably contained within the verse about children calling for help and their hearts being full of tears - and yet this verse was nearly not on the record.  Maddie was asked to create another verse on the morning of the recording as Barry thought the original song was too short! 

This is Barry recording in his home studio, where he wrote and produced the Steps hit '5,6,7,8' and many other fabulous chart selling records for artistes such as 'Cheeky Girls' and 'Shane Ritchie'. He has also written and produced tracks for film, tv and commercials.

This shot really captures the mood of the children on the day. They were all very excited to be recording their 'We Are One!' song as a pop record and they had a fantastic time together playing the role of pop stars for the day.

Recording the song took the whole day. The morning and early part of the afternoon were dedicated to putting the backing track together. Barry Upton and David Payne, one of the girls teachers and the principal member of the project, worked together to complete this.  David thought that it sounded like a hit at that point, but it was when the children arrived to sing the song that it really started to develop into a complete product. The girls sung some fantastic pieces on the day, especially their harmonies, which really do make the song stand out. Barry was very quick to comment on how well rehearsed the girls were and he was was most impressed with their voices.  We are sure he spotted some future stars on the day!