Wonderland Burlesque: Wonderland Burlesque's Down The Rabbit Hole: Five Star

Sunday, August 17, 2025

Wonderland Burlesque's Down The Rabbit Hole: Five Star

Wonderland Burlesque's

Down The Rabbit Hole:

Five Star

Down The Rabbit Hole merely places a spotlight on something slightly unusual that's caught my interest. With the help of Wikipedia, YouTube, and other sites, I gather information and learn something new.

Today, we take a look at the amazing success and history of the family group Five Star.

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From Wikipedia and other sources:

Five Star (5 Star) was a British pop group, formed in 1983, comprising siblings Stedman, Lorraine, Denise, Doris, and Delroy Pearson. From 1985 to 1988, Five Star enjoyed four Top 20 albums (Multi-Platinum) and 15 Top 40 singles in the UK, thanks to their infectious, Michael/Janet Jackson influenced pop. They were known for their extravagant costumes (all designed by Stedman) and also won the 1987 Brit Award for Best British Group.

Comprised of five members of the Pearson family from Romford, Greater London. Known for their flamboyant image, matching costumes and heavily choreographed dance routines. Masterminded by their father and manager, Buster Pearson in the style of Jackson 5. Buster Pearson set up the label Tent to release the group's records. Five Star Orchestra is the label's orchestra. During their heyday (1985-1988) the group collaborated with a series of top producers from the time.

Their debut single was released on Tent in 1983 and although it did not chart, it gave them TV exposure and a record deal with RCA Records. After two unsuccessful singles in 1984, their chart breakthrough came in 1985 with the release of All Fall Down which peaked at #15 on the UK Singles Chart. The song also enjoyed limited success in the US.

What followed was an astounding string of 14 more Top 40 hits in the UK, cementing their place as one of Britain's most popular recording acts in the second half of the 1980s. During this time, they also made continual in-roads on the US R&B and Dance Charts.

However, 1988 saw a swift drop-off in chart action for the group. An attempt to change their clean-cut image to a more adult-oriented leather-clad look, matched with a slightly harder-edged dance sound and a subsequent shift from RCA Records to Epic Records failed to correct course.

Then, in 1989, while promoting With Every Heartbeat, the group made an infamous appearance on the British children's TV show Going Live. During a live phone-in, a teenage caller verbally abused the group and asked why they were "so fucking crap".

In 1989, Stedman, on the verge of bankruptcy, was forced to move his family out of their mansion. To make matters worse, in October of 1990, Stedman Pearson pleaded guilty to a charge of public indecency, after being arrested in a public toilet in New Malden in London.

After a second album on Epic failed to chart (although, to be fair, it was not released in the UK) the label cut ties with the group. Star Five soldiered on, releasing albums on their own label in 1995 and 2001. By then, the group was honed to a trio consisting of Stedman, Denise and Lorraine.

More family turmoil followed in 2007, Stedman called the cops after receiving threats from his father, Buster.

In 2009, Denise went on to have a limited solo career and the group continues to make periodically live appearances.