Rachel was born 9 April 1978 in London. Rachel started drama school at the age of 5. At 15 she was picked from 5000 people to win a modelling competition organised by Just 17 magazine. She did some modelling work and she then went to the London School of Fashion to study the fashion business. She got a diploma and then moved into fashion PR. Then at age 21 she joined the pop group S Club 7.


With the end of S Club 7, she signed a four-album solo deal with Polydor Records and agreed to become a spokesmodel for Pretty Polly tights and hosiery. Voted #2 Sexiest Women in FHM 2002. Won a Glammy Award at the British Glamour magazine's Women of the Year Awards held in Berkeley Square Gardens, London, England on June 7, 2005. She won for Woman of the Year. Split from her fiancé, Jeremy Edwards, in January 2004. A statement issued by the couple said "Sometimes things just don't work out no matter how hard you try. We still care for each other and are great friends and although it is very sad, we know that our decision is the right one." Voted #3 Sexiest Women in FHM 2003. In June 2009, just days after being mugged, she was having dinner in a restaurant in northwest London with her family when a gunman burst in and began firing shots at a man who had fled from him into the restaurant. The man was then shot in the leg and taken to hospital with another man who had been injured by broken glass. She was unhurt in the incident. At her wedding, she and the groom, Alex Leigh - now Alex Bourne - walked down the aisle to one of her S Club 7 hits, "Never Had a Dream Come True". Had to postpone her wedding to Alex Leigh - now Alex Bourne - as she was competing in "Strictly Come Dancing" (2004).