Five Star, (also known as 5 Star), were a British pop / R&B group, from Romford, Greater London, formed in 1983 and comprising brothers and sisters Stedman, Lorraine, Denise, Doris and Delroy Pearson. Known for their flamboyant image, matching costumes and heavily choreographed dance routines, Five Star achieved a string of Top 40 singles and albums in the UK between 1985 and 1988.
Biography
The group of five siblings from the Essex town of Romford were put together by their father and manager, Buster Pearson. A Jamaica-born former session musician with Wilson Pickett, Pearson set up Tent Records Inc. to release the group's material, backed by RCA Records. Following the release of their debut album, Luxury of Life in 1985, Five Star scored several Top 10 chart hits in 1986 with "System Addict", "Can't Wait Another Minute", "Find The Time" and "Rain Or Shine". Their second album, Silk And Steel, was also released in 1986 and sold 1.2 million copies in the UK. Further Top 10 hits "Stay Out Of My Life" (penned by Denise) and "The Slightest Touch" followed in 1987, as well as a BRIT Award for Best British Group. 1987 also saw the release of their third album, Between The Lines, but by now the group had peaked and none of the album's singles made the Top 10.
The group moved to a mansion, Stone Court, in Berkshire, complete with alarmed security gates.[1]
In 1988, due to dwindling sales, the group attempted to change their clean-cut image to a more adult-oriented "leather clad" look, matched with a slightly harder-edged dance sound. Led by the Leon Sylvers III produced single, "Another Weekend", the album Rock the World met with only moderate success in comparison to earlier releases and was their last Top 20 album. The album's second single, "Rock My World", became their last Top 40 hit. Two further singles from the album were unsuccessful.
By this point the group's popularity had dramatically declined, and by late 1989 their Greatest Hits collection peaked at a lowly No.53 on the UK album chart. Also that year, the group made an infamous appearance on the British children's TV show Going Live, on which they were called "fucking crap" by a teenage caller during a live phone-in.
Apparently at loggerheads with their record company, RCA, Buster Pearson signed the group to Epic Records in 1990, and the album, Five Star, was self-produced at the family home. Despite heavy promotion, the two singles from it, "Treat Me Like A Lady" and "Hot Love", failed and a planned third single, "What About Me, Baby?", was shelved, with the UK release of the album also abandoned. Also during this period, Stedman Pearson made headline news when he was arrested for gross indecency following an incident at a public toilet in New Malden in south west London. He later pleaded guilty to the charges and was fined.[2][3]
1991 saw the release of the Shine album, and in 1994 Heart And Soul. Around this time, the group informally ended. Denise got married and had children, and Delroy went into musical production.
In 2001, Five Star's thirty first single, "Funktafied", peaked at #99 on the U.S. R&B Chart and spent ten weeks on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, peaking at #26.[4] Five Star returned to the UK in 2002, as a trio of Stedman, Denise and Lorraine, to perform on various tours, including the 2002 'Here and Now' nostalgia tour. In 2005, "System Addict" was re-recorded and re-released. Five Star were booked to perform a gig at the UK holiday resort Butlins in October 2006, in which all five members were billed though three impersonators were used to mime to backing tapes.[1]
Denise revealed in 2007 that she was working on solo material.[5]
In March 2007, the group's record label, Sony BMG, released a compilation DVD of all their videos, Five Star Performance.
For Five Star's 25th anniversary in 2008, Denise joined Stedman and backing dancers for gigs at Butlins during October and November 2008, and she made her West End debut performing in Thriller - Live at the Lyric Theatre from January to April 2009.
On November 20th 2009, comedian Stephen K Amos chose Five Star as his specialist subject on Children In Need Mastermind
Discography
Albums
Singles
Videos and DVDs
| Year |
Album |
UK |
| 1986 |
Luxury of Life |
7 |
| 1987 |
Silk and Steel |
1 |
| 1987 |
Between the Lines |
4 |
| 1989 |
Greatest Hits |
44 |
| 2007 |
Five Star Performance |
25 |
|
References
External links
