Fact #63141
When:
Short story:
The front page of tabloid newspaper The Sun reveals that teen pop sensations 5 Star have been evicted from their £2.5m Sunningdale, UK, mansion for not paying their mortgage.Full article:
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO FIVE STAR?
by Johnny Black
Managed by their dad Buster, Britain’s very own wholesomely gender-trancending Jackson Five manifested itself in the charts by way of Romford in 1985, knocked up six Top Ten singles and a triple-platinum No1 album in just over a year then vanished in a puff of bankruptcy and a curiously George Michael-like toilet incident. The following interviews were conducted in February 01.
Lorraine Pearson : “The family is still together, living in the San Fernando Valley in California, USA. We’re still managed by dad, although there’s only three of us in Five Star at the moment, me, Stedman and Deneice. People have criticised dad for some decisions, like turning down that Walt Disney offer to give us our own sitcom in 1985, but we wanted to make it on our own, and that would have typecast us.
It’s the dream of every teenager to be a pop star but now, as adults, we’re putting ourselves into the music much more. I’ve been shocked at how good the response has been to our club shows recently, but we’re still getting the act together. The change from five to three people requires some drastic revisions.
After the bankruptcy, we were still contracted to Epic, and had a couple of albums to do for them, but they didn’t come out in the UK. Our father arranged for us to move to California so we could take a break and re-think our strategy. We were all in our late teens, just coming into 20s, and for the first time in ages we could walk down a street and not be chased by fans or paparazzi. I’m a very private person, really, and I hated all of that but I think I could cope with it better now.
One of my great loves has always been writing. I had a book published, Her, Me And Reality, in 1988, and I’m still writing children’s stories all the time. Our new album, Eclipse, will be released on 30 April, and our single, Funktified is already getting some plays on UK radio. We’ll be over there later this year to do some promotional appearances.”
Stedman Pearson : “After the bankruptcy proceedings, we still had royalties coming in, so we were financially quite secure. In 1996 we released an album in America, Heart And Soul, on our own label, Tent Records, and although it wasn’t huge, it was a great learning experience for us. We realised we had to keep moving more towards r’n’b and even a little rock, but still basically a pop thing.
That toilet incident at New Malden in 1990 was the most hellish moment for me. I never talk about it, except that it was all blown out of proportion by the media. I was with my security men at the time.
I’ve always been interested in cars so, as well as the group, I’m starting up a limousine company, hiring out those big Daimlers, which are very popular out here.
Although Delroy and Deneice aren’t in the group right now, we’re all still in touch, and there’s no reason for them not to return if things go well for us. I know we’ve had some bad times, but it’s all experience, and in some ways having the opportunity to start all over again has been a blessing.”
Deneice Pearson : “Deneice is the third member of the slimmed-down band,” says Lorraine. “We see each other all the time, and she lives very near to us. She’s married to an American guy and they have two kids. We all have our own houses, but there’s also a kind of family house where mum and dad live, and where we all get together to work. She co-writes a lot of our material with me.”
Doris Pearson : According to her manager-father, Buster, “Doris lives in London at the moment, and is currently working on writing the songs for a solo album. She comes out to California quite often though, and stays with us, so we still see each other regularly.”
Delroy Pearson : “Delroy isn’t a member of the group as such,” explains Lorraine, “ but he produced a few of the tracks on Eclipse. He’s moved more into production, and had a big success with Constantly by Immature in 1994, which he wrote and produced. He’s also done some work with Quincy Jones, and is producing various young bands.”
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by Johnny Black
Managed by their dad Buster, Britain’s very own wholesomely gender-trancending Jackson Five manifested itself in the charts by way of Romford in 1985, knocked up six Top Ten singles and a triple-platinum No1 album in just over a year then vanished in a puff of bankruptcy and a curiously George Michael-like toilet incident. The following interviews were conducted in February 01.
Lorraine Pearson : “The family is still together, living in the San Fernando Valley in California, USA. We’re still managed by dad, although there’s only three of us in Five Star at the moment, me, Stedman and Deneice. People have criticised dad for some decisions, like turning down that Walt Disney offer to give us our own sitcom in 1985, but we wanted to make it on our own, and that would have typecast us.
It’s the dream of every teenager to be a pop star but now, as adults, we’re putting ourselves into the music much more. I’ve been shocked at how good the response has been to our club shows recently, but we’re still getting the act together. The change from five to three people requires some drastic revisions.
After the bankruptcy, we were still contracted to Epic, and had a couple of albums to do for them, but they didn’t come out in the UK. Our father arranged for us to move to California so we could take a break and re-think our strategy. We were all in our late teens, just coming into 20s, and for the first time in ages we could walk down a street and not be chased by fans or paparazzi. I’m a very private person, really, and I hated all of that but I think I could cope with it better now.
One of my great loves has always been writing. I had a book published, Her, Me And Reality, in 1988, and I’m still writing children’s stories all the time. Our new album, Eclipse, will be released on 30 April, and our single, Funktified is already getting some plays on UK radio. We’ll be over there later this year to do some promotional appearances.”
Stedman Pearson : “After the bankruptcy proceedings, we still had royalties coming in, so we were financially quite secure. In 1996 we released an album in America, Heart And Soul, on our own label, Tent Records, and although it wasn’t huge, it was a great learning experience for us. We realised we had to keep moving more towards r’n’b and even a little rock, but still basically a pop thing.
That toilet incident at New Malden in 1990 was the most hellish moment for me. I never talk about it, except that it was all blown out of proportion by the media. I was with my security men at the time.
I’ve always been interested in cars so, as well as the group, I’m starting up a limousine company, hiring out those big Daimlers, which are very popular out here.
Although Delroy and Deneice aren’t in the group right now, we’re all still in touch, and there’s no reason for them not to return if things go well for us. I know we’ve had some bad times, but it’s all experience, and in some ways having the opportunity to start all over again has been a blessing.”
Deneice Pearson : “Deneice is the third member of the slimmed-down band,” says Lorraine. “We see each other all the time, and she lives very near to us. She’s married to an American guy and they have two kids. We all have our own houses, but there’s also a kind of family house where mum and dad live, and where we all get together to work. She co-writes a lot of our material with me.”
Doris Pearson : According to her manager-father, Buster, “Doris lives in London at the moment, and is currently working on writing the songs for a solo album. She comes out to California quite often though, and stays with us, so we still see each other regularly.”
Delroy Pearson : “Delroy isn’t a member of the group as such,” explains Lorraine, “ but he produced a few of the tracks on Eclipse. He’s moved more into production, and had a big success with Constantly by Immature in 1994, which he wrote and produced. He’s also done some work with Quincy Jones, and is producing various young bands.”