Story & research by Mr. Beekvelt.
All pictures provided by Mr. Beekvelt.

 

5 Star - The True Story,
PART I:

"Problematic":

In 1963 Buster pearson teamed up with David Grant and formed a group called "The Links". During the '60's they were very popular as a backing band and worked with the likes of "Wilson Picket" and "Jimmy Cliff". In 1972 Buster recorded a solo-single called "Aint It Groovy", which became a hit in the west Indies, Africa and England. In 1973 Buster started his first record-label "K&B Records", to release records of himself and some Jamaican Reggae-artists. During 1976 he bought a recordshop at Ilford Lane in Romford, England. From 1977 until 1981 he had to take a day job driving lorries to be able to pay the bills, and then in 1982 he started up a new recotrd-label called "Tent Records".
In 1983 he brought home a tape of a song called "Problematic", but couldn't find an artist to record it. Until then the most successful artist at his label was Buster Pearson himself. At that moment his 3 daughters Denise, Lorraine and Doris suggested that they could record the song, after which their mother Delores insisted to make both sons (Delroy and Stedman) part of the group as well, making it an all family group. After they convinced Buster with a well rehearsed performance in front of him and some friends, he finally agreed. On the 10th of August 1983 (Lorraine's birthday!) they recorded "Problematic", after which Buster named his children "Five Star". The 1983 version of the "Problematic" 7" was was a normal picture sleeve single, while the 1989 re-release was a picture-disc 7" single. The 12 " of 1983 was a 2-track, while the 1989 re-release 12" was a three track with a different logo and backside.


Five Star in early 1984.


Influenced by the likes of Deniece Williams, Denise changed the spelling of her name to "Deniece" at the beginning of Five Star's career (and changed her name back to "Denise" during the late '80's). In the beginning Stedman was responsible for the choreography, but Doris soon took over, while Stedman changed from designing choreography to designing the stage-costumes.
Their first single "Problematic" was released on "Tent". There was still a lot of work to do; a logo was designed, an image was created, a photo-session was made and Five Star had to promote the single and the group. Some more recording sessions took place after school hours, during which Lorraine's self-written song "Say Goodbye" was recorded. In December 1983 the Publishing Company had send a picture and tape of Five Star to the BBC television program "Pebble Mill". It was pure luck that at that time one of it's episodes was based on the subject of "youth". So obviously Five Star were a godsend, and they were slotted in immediately.


Five Star costumed in 1984.

 But Five Star didn't have anything to wear, so at the last moment they went shopping for costumes to wear on the show, which was being broadcasted live. During the show Denise did the lead vocal on "Problematic', while Lorraine did the lead vocal on "Say Goodbye". The performances were a huge success, and right after the show calls came in from several major record-companies. Buster knew he had to enclose a long-term deal with "Tent" as their label and a major record-company to promote and distribute the records. Out if several offers Buster took the offer "RCA-Records" made him. The original offer was a 10(!)-album deal, but Buster took a 4 album deal instead so he would be able to renegotiate about a better deal in the future.

In 1984 Five Star's first RCA-single "Hide & seek" was released. A couple of personal appearances followed with the first performance at a club called "The Kings" in Peckham. During that performance there were only about 100 people who didn't realize they were about to view a legendary performance!
In no time Five Star built a reputation for being the top PA-act in the country. Their second single was a song called "Crazy", which only made it to number 144 in the UK-charts. But with their third RCA-single "All Fall Down" they hit it big, and it finally ended at number 15 in the UK-charts. Promo-tours to Holland, Germany and the US (with performances at "American Bandstand and "Solid Gold") followed. Their first album "Luxury Of Life" was recorded and released and became an instant success!



Click here for PART II:
more stories & pictures on next page!