Five Star
| Five Star | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Pop , R&B |
| founding | 1983 |
| resolution | 2006 |
| Last occupation | |
| Denise Pearson Doris May Pearson Lorraine Samantha Jean Pearson Stedman Pearson Delroy Pearson |
|
Five Star (also known as 5 Star ) was a British pop and R&B group from Romford , Greater London . It was founded in 1983 and consisted of the brothers and sisters Stedman, Lorraine, Denise, Doris and Delroy Pearson. Known for their glamorous image, striking, matching costumes and difficult choreographies , the group earned a number of top 40 placements between 1985 and 1988, both on singles and albums in the UK.
biography
The group of five siblings from the town of Romford, Essex was founded by their father, Buster Pearson (born in Jamaica and former musician of Wilson Pickett ), who also acted as their manager. Pearson released the group's material on his own label, Tent Records Inc. As the supposed British version of the Jacksons , Five Star had many hits in the British charts , the greatest successes in 1986 with the top 10 singles System Addict , Can't Wait Another Minute and Find the Time (both produced by Richard James Burgess ) as well Rain or Shine (written by Denise) have been achieved. Other top 10 hits, Stay Out of My Life (written by Denise) and The Slightest Touch , followed in 1987, as did a BRIT Award for best British band. In the same year the third album Between the Lines was released .
Their squeaky clean image made the group popular with the press and record buyers. Tabloids carried stories of the Pearson's everyday life and personal affairs, particularly Lorraine's engagement to Eddie Murphy in 1988. The group moved to a larger property, Stone Court , Berkshire , complete with security cameras and security gates. This blatant attempt by her father to keep Five Star out of the public eye only sparked even greater interest and articles from "private nightclubs" and " Neverland- like amusement parks" for private use by the siblings.
In 1988 the group felt they had maxed out the sound that made them famous and changed direction to a more adult, leather-clad disco / rock / dance sound (starting with the Leon Sylvers III-produced single Another Weekend ). The success of the album Rock the World was only moderate, the records sold worse than the earlier releases.
At this point the group's popularity declined rapidly and by the end of 1989 the greatest hits compilation only made it to # 53 on the album charts. Also in 1989, the band made an infamous appearance on the British television show Going Live , where a teenager insulted them over the phone. Since they were apparently in a clinch with RCA , they signed up with Epic Records for the following year and produced the self-written album Five Star at home . Despite intensive advertising, the two released singles Treat Me Like a Lady and Hot Love Flops, the planned third single What About Me, Baby? was postponed and the album's release in Great Britain was canceled. In search of fresh opportunities and a new audience, the band moved to America in the late 1990s, with reports of their bankruptcy appearing.
In 1991 the smooth, American-sounding album Shine was released and in 1994 the more dignified, mature Heart and Soul , which had a distinct R&B influence. The following year, Five Star released the album in the UK. Then the group took their first major break from the music scene. Denise married and had children, and Delroy worked as a producer.
In 2001, the 31st official single, Funktafied , reached number 99 in the American R&B charts and stayed in the R&B / HipHop charts for 10 weeks with number 26 as the highest ranking. Five Star returned to the UK in 2002 as a trio of Stedman, Denise and Lorraine to do a variety of tours, including the 2002 Here and Now tour. In 2005 System Addict was re-released. A planned new edition of The Slightest Touch in the same year was rejected again. Plans to reunite all five members for a comeback and the publication of new material were discussed in 2006/2007. Part of those plans were a lucrative contract, a nationwide tour, and a television documentary. The negotiations came to a standstill, however. After a performance at the Butlins resort in October 2006 that paid all five members but only three impersonators showed up that night, Lorraine announced her departure from the group while Stedman, Denise and Doris worked on solo careers.
In March 2007, the band's record company, Sony BMG , released a brand new compilation of all of their best-known music videos called Five Star Performance on DVD, which reached number 25 on the DVD music charts.
Since January 2nd, 2009 Denise has appeared in the musical Thriller - Live at the Lyric Theater in the West End .
Discography
Albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
R&B
|
|||
| 1985 | Luxury of Life | - | - |
UK12  (70 weeks)UK |
US57 (47 weeks) US |
R&B4 (55 weeks) R&B |
Producers: Bernard Oattes, Rob van Schaik,
Nick Martinelli, Billy Livsey, Steve Harvey, Richard Hewson |
| 1986 | Silk & Steel |
DE51 (5 weeks) DE |
CH17 (5 weeks) CH |
UK1 × 4
(58 weeks)UK |
US80 (25 weeks) US |
R&B22 (27 weeks) R&B |
Producers: Buster Pearson, Richard James Burgess
|
| 1987 | Between the lines | - |
CH27 (1 week) CH |
UK7th  (17 weeks)UK |
- | - |
Producers: Dennis Lambert, Buster Pearson,
Richard James Burgess, Five Star |
| 1988 | Rock the World | - | - |
UK17th (5 weeks)UK |
- |
R&B91 (5 weeks) R&B |
Producers: Leon Sylvers III, Aaron Zigman ,
Jerry Knight, Buster Pearson, Delroy Pearson |
More albums
- 1990: Five Star
- 1991: Shine
- 1994: Heart and Soul
- 2001: Eclipse
Compilations
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
R&B
|
|||
| 1989 | Five Star's Greatest Hits | - | - |
UK53 (3 weeks)UK |
- | - | |
| 2019 | gold | - | - |
UK43 (1 week) UK |
- | - | |
More compilations
- 1984: Rare 12 "versions
- 1985: Dub 12 "versions
- 1986: Rain or Shine
- 1987: Greatest Hits & Pics
- 1994: The Best Of
- 1998: Greatest Hits
- 2004: Legends (3 CDs)
- 2013: The Collection (2 CDs)
- 2013: The Remix Anthology (2 CDs)
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
R&B
|
Dance
|
|||
| 1985 | All Fall Down Luxury of Life |
- | - |
UK15 (12 weeks) UK |
US65 (11 weeks) US |
R&B16 (19 weeks) R&B |
Dance6 (13 weeks) Dance |
First published: April 22, 1985
|
| Let Me Be the One Luxury of Life |
- | - |
UK18 (9 weeks) UK |
US59 (9 weeks) US |
R&B2 (19 weeks) R&B |
Dance9 (12 weeks) Dance |
First published: July 8, 1985
|
|
| Love Take Over Luxury of Life |
- | - |
UK25 (9 weeks) UK |
- |
R&B9 (14 weeks) R&B |
Dance30 (8 weeks) Dance |
First published: September 2, 1985
|
|
| RSVP Luxury of Life |
- | - |
UK45 (5 weeks) UK |
- | - | - |
First published: November 4, 1985
|
|
| 1986 | System Addict Luxury of Life |
DE19 (12 weeks) DE |
CH7 (9 weeks) CH |
UK3 (11 weeks)UK |
- | - | - |
First published: December 30, 1985
|
| Can't Wait Another Minute Silk & Steel |
DE29 (8 weeks) DE |
CH16 (6 weeks) CH |
UK7 (10 weeks) UK |
US41 (14 weeks) US |
R&B7 (18 weeks) R&B |
Dance5 (13 weeks) Dance |
First published: March 31, 1986
|
|
| Find the Time Silk & Steel |
DE42 (8 weeks) DE |
CH14 (5 weeks) CH |
UK7 (10 weeks) UK |
- | - | - |
First published: July 14, 1986
|
|
| Rain or Shine Silk & Steel |
- | - |
UK2 (11 weeks)UK |
- | - | - |
First published: September 1, 1986
|
|
| If I Say Yes Silk & Steel |
- | - |
UK15 (9 weeks) UK |
US67 (11 weeks) US |
R&B13 (14 weeks) R&B |
Dance26 (6 weeks) Dance |
First published: November 10, 1986
|
|
| 1987 | Stay Out of My Life Silk & Steel |
- | - |
UK9 (8 weeks) UK |
- | - | - |
First published: January 26, 1987
|
| Are You Man Enough? Silk & Steel |
- | - | - | - |
R&B15 (12 weeks) R&B |
- |
First published: April 1987
|
|
| The Slightest Touch Silk & Steel |
- | - |
UK4 (9 weeks) UK |
- | - | - |
First published: April 6, 1987
|
|
| Whenever You're Ready Between the Lines |
- |
CH23 (4 weeks) CH |
UK11 (6 weeks) UK |
- |
R&B39 (11 weeks) R&B |
- |
First published: August 10, 1987
|
|
| Strong as Steel Between the Lines |
- | - |
UK16 (7 weeks) UK |
- | - | - |
First published: September 28, 1987
|
|
| Somewhere Somebody Between the Lines |
- | - |
UK23 (6 weeks) UK |
- | - | - |
First published: November 24, 1987
|
|
| 1988 | Another Weekend Rock the World |
- | - |
UK18 (4 weeks) UK |
- |
R&B23 (10 weeks) R&B |
- |
First published: May 23, 1988
|
| Rock My World Rock the World |
- | - |
UK28 (4 weeks) UK |
- | - | - |
First published: July 25, 1988
|
|
| There's a Brand New World, Rock the World |
- | - |
UK61 (2 weeks) UK |
- | - | - |
First published: September 5, 1988
|
|
| Someone's in Love Rock the World |
- | - | - | - |
R&B36 (9 weeks) R&B |
- |
First published: September 1988
|
|
| Let Me Be Yours Rock the World |
- | - |
UK51 (3 weeks) UK |
- | - | - |
First published: November 7, 1988
|
|
| 1989 | With Every Heartbeat Rock the World ( Reissue ) |
- | - |
UK49 (2 weeks) UK |
- | - | - |
First published: March 27, 1989
|
| 1990 | Treat Me Like a Lady Five Star |
- | - |
UK54 (2 weeks) UK |
- | - | - |
First published: February 26, 1990
|
| Hot Love Five Star |
- | - |
UK68 (1 week) UK |
- | - | - |
First published: June 25, 1990
|
|
| 2001 | Funkafied Eclipse |
- | - | - | - |
R&B99 (1 week) R&B |
- |
First published: May 2001
|
More singles
- 1983: Problematic (release: October)
- 1984: Hide and Seek (release: April)
- 1984: Crazy (release: October)
- 1987: Crunchie Tour '86 (EP)
- 1991: Shine (release: October)
- 1995: I Give You Give
- 1995: (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons
Video albums
- 1985: Luxury of Life Video Selection (VHS)
- 1986: If I Say Yes (VHS)
- 1987: Silk & Steel (VHS)
- 1987: Between the Lines (Live at Wembley - Children of the Night Tour 1987) (VHS)
- 2007: Performance (DVD)
swell
- ↑ Functafied at billboard.com
- ^ Dave Simpson: Let's Go Round Again . In: The Guardian , June 26, 2008
- ↑ a b c Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US1 US2
- ↑ a b c Gold / Platinum Database: UK US
Web links
- Official website of Five Star
- Five Star at Allmusic (English)
- Five Star at Discogs (English)
- Official site of Five Star on MySpace
- 5 Star Luxury
- 5 Star Luxury at Myspace
- Five Star at Myspace