Story & research by Mr. Beekvelt.
Pictures provided by Mr. Beekvelt & A. Van Hall.

 

5 Star - The True Story,
PART III:

"Don't You Know I Love It":

Five Star in the recording-studio is a different story. Right from the beginning Five Star showed a unique talent in composing, songwriting and producing. The b-side of their hit single "All Fall Down", a lovely instrumental track called "First Avenue", already gave Denise a Grammy-nomination for Best Instrumental Of The Year. When she composed it she was at the tender age of 17!


From left to right: Lorraine, Denise and Doris in the studio.

 Within the music-business it's a wellknown fact that Denise always recorded her leadvocals twice during the RCA and Epic years, so she could choose the best version to be released. Denise is also known for being able to sing each song at the right key, the very first time she sings the song. This is something only the world's best singers are able to do. Denise only had one singing-lesson, her singing comes natural to her and she has a vocal range which can only be compared with the best singers in the world. She usually doesn't need much time to record a song, only Denise's perfectionism makes her record the song over and over again till it sounds perfect to her. Even then she is not always satisfied with the result.

Five Star is also known for being able to sing in perfect harmony, with an almost impossible perfect timing. Their skills in songwriting has been acclaimed and admired by many international stars. Their professionalism in and out of the recording studio is highly admired and spoken about by people in the recording-business.

When they write songs they usually start with some lyrics in combination with a melodyline. It's a fact that Buster Pearson wanted Five Star to compose instrumental tracks first and to learn that way how to build up a song before he wanted them to write their own songs. Writing and composing songs came natural to Five Star, they all have their natural talents; Delroy for composing, songwriting and most of all producing, Doris, Lorraine, Denise and Stedman for songwriting and composing, often with some help of Delroy.
While recording they usually record their music first, then some lead-vocals as a guidance for the backing-vocals, after which the backing-vocals get recorded and finally the lead-vocals will be recorded in a perfect way to finish the song. While producing the song they usually try out a couple of different mixes till they find the final mix, which most of the time they already had in mind when they started recording/producing.


Five Star in their own recording studio in the late '80's.

During the years Five Star has recorded a lot of songs of which a few were released as Bonus-tracks ("Love Games" as a Bonus for the "R.S.V.P." 12" and "Something About My Baby" as a Bonus for the "Greatest 5 Star Hits" cd-album). Some others are never released so far, which are: "I'll Be You're Only Girl", "It" (sung by Doris), "Give Something Back", "You Have No Right", "Can't Wait Another Minute" (newly recorded), "Rain Or Shine" (newly recorded) and "Let Me Be The One" (newly recorded).
The mastertapes and rights of all those recordings are owned by TENT Records/Buster Pearson. In 1997 Denise recorded a duet with Matt Goss called "This Pain" as a favor to Matt. the song was only released on an album of Matt Goss & "Co*Bra" called "One", shortly after it's release the album was withdrawn. the original tapes are owned by Matt Goss' former recordcompany, but a copy of the mastertape is owned by Buster Pearson. In 1989 Five Star recorded a "Peter Pan -Medley" for a Disney Christmas special and to celebrate the opening of   Euro-Disney Paris. The mastertapes and rights of this medley are owned by Disney, but a copy of the mastertape is owned by Buster Pearson.
During the "Crunchie" and "Ultrabrite" Tours professional recordings have been made. The mastertapes and rights of "Crunchie" are owned by "Capital Radio", and those of "Ultrabrite" by "E.M.I. Records Ltd.". A copy of both tapes is owned by me.


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