501 Hello Five Star - All Fall Down

Chart   entered  :  4  May  1985

Chart  peak : 15

Number  of  hits  : 21

Few  artists'  hit  runs  can  match  this  lot  for  density  i.e. the  number  of  hits  they  managed  to score in  just  over  five  years  as  a  chart  act.

Five  Star  were  a  sibling  band  created  by  their  father  Stedman "Buster"  Pearson, a  Jamaican guitarist  who'd  come  to  the  UK  in  the  late  sixties  and  played  with  touring  soul  and  reggae acts. He  had  his  own  label  K  &B  in  the  seventies  which  concentrated  on  reggae   then  set  up Tent  in  1982,  ostensibly  to  be  a  soul  label  but  really  to  launch  his  offspring  as  a  pop  act.

Pearson  set  out  to  create  Britain's  answer  to  The  Jackson  Five  and  it  didn't  seem  to  faze   him  that  he  had   actually  had  more  girls  than  boys  in  the  line  up .The  Pearsons  were   Stedman  ( born  1964 ) , Doris  ( born  1966 ),   Lorraine  ( born  1967 ), Denise  ( born  1968 )  and  Delroy  ( born  1970 ) . Denise  was  certainly  the  lead  vocalist  and  Lorraine  did  most  of  the  talking  in  interviews  but  whether  the  roles  allotted  to  the  others  - Delroy the  musician, Doris, the  choreographer  and  Stedman  the  costume  designer  - had  much  reality  is  open  to conjecture.

The  group's  first  single  was  "Problematic"  in  October  1983. The   tinny synth-driven  pop  funk   sound  they  would  make  their  own  is  already  in  place  and  apart  from  Denise  whose  lead vocal  is  capable   the  others  are  Vocodor'ed  into  oblivion. The   awkward  phrasing   and rhythmic  stiffness  of  the  chorus   stifled  its  chances  but  the  lyric  about  female  unemployment is  at  least  interesting.  The  song  was  written  by  Magnet  hacks  George  Hargreaves  and  Tony Ajai-Ajagbe  who  were  best  known  for  the  theme  tune  to  Pebble  Mill  At  One.  Guess  which programme  gave  Five  Star  their  first  TV  break  ? Their  amateur-ish  routine,  during  which   Denise  failed  to  step  out  and  lip-synch  her  vocals,  didn't  do  much  for  the  single  but  the appearance  is  worth  mentioning  for  the  blonde  and  red  streaks  in  their  hair. They  were probably  the  first  black  entertainers  to  appropriate  Caucasian   hair  hues   for  themselves   and deserve  some  credit  for  that.

By  the  time  of  their  next  single  Buster  had  sorted  a  distribution  deal  with  RCA  so subsequent  records   were  joint  Tent  RCA  releases. Second  single  "Hide  and  Seek"  from  April 1984  has  no  political  edge ;  it's   just    a  reasonable  Madonna-ish   pop  funk  number  with  a  nice  chorus  hook  penned  by  Gary  Bell  and   Art  of  Noise's  Ann  Dudley. Bell  penned  their  third  single  "Crazy"  alone  and  it's  such  a  vapid  example  of  Shalamar-esque  electrodisco  you've  forgotten  it  before  it's  actually  finished.

For  "All  Fall  Down "  they  called  on  seventies  pop  star  Barry  Blue,  who  co-wrote  the  song with  Robin  Smith, and  Loose  Ends  producer  Nick  Martinelli. It's  another  Madonna-ish  pop funk  number  with  a  jittery  electro-funk   backing  track  supplied  by  Loose  Ends.  Denise sounds a  bit  too  squeaky  clean  to  be  singing  the  orgasmic  lyrics  and  it  seems  short  of   memorable hooks  but  it  did  the  business  and , with  the  help  of  a  smart  video , broke  the  band  both  here and  in  the  States  where  it  reached  number  65.