Five Star

An Argos version of the Jacksons, between 1985 and 1990, the Pearson family - Delroy, Denice, Doris May Pearson, Steadman and Lorraine Samantha Jean Person - ruled our charts with hits such as "System Addict", "Rain Or Shine" and "Knock Twice".

In 1983, Buster Pearson set up a record label - Tent Records - and released "Problematic", the debut single by his all-singing all-dancing charges. It flopped like a jelly, but RCA had taken note, and within two years the group had found success with "All Fall Down", which made the Top 20. An album, "Luxury of Life", followed, and it's final single "System Addict" eventually cracked the UK Top 10 for the very first time.

Second album "Silk and Steel" made number 1 on the back of hit singles "Can't Wait Another Minute", "Find the Time" and "Rain Or Shine". It seemed the 'Star could do no wrong.

In 1987, the group took a year off, and Joe Public realised life had gone on anyway. Comeback album "Rock the World" only scraped the Top 20, while Lorraine apparently got engaged to Eddie Murphy. "It was a publicity stunt," he later claimed.

In 1989, a second comeback faltered when first single "With Every Heartbeat" missed the charts. Promoting the record, the group appeared on "Going Live" and somebody swore at them live on air.

Meanwhile, rumours of lavish overspending had begun to haunt the band. They had built a massive recording studio in their luxury Sunningdale mansion, hoping to hire it out to rich acts like Stevie Wonder (unaware he had just decided not to make another album for 23 years). The group put a brave face on the rumours. "I still skip down the post office to pay my poll tax," trilled Lorraine at the time.

By the end of 1990 the band had fled their mansion with bailiffs in hot pursuit, Steadman had been arrested on public indecency charges, and yet another record, "Five Star" could not even get a UK release.

Steadman explained, "I'd been washing my private parts when two men suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I went to court and my lawyer said, 'Well, you're a young black guy, two white officers, who are they gonna believe? So just plead guilty so it would get thrown out and everyone would forget about it'. Well I believe him.

In 1994, Five Star returned to Tent Records for the "Heart and Soul" album but it sank without trace. Three years later, in 1997, Denise recorded a duet with Matt Goss, the ironically titled, "This Pain" which was never released. Later that year, bizarrely, the first Five Star fanzine was launched. A boat had in many respects been missed.

By 1998, Five Star were flogging "previously unavailable merchandise" through the Tent Records website and still hunting a major label deal like rabid dogs. The following year they were apparently invited by Janet Jackson to record a duet but the project "fell through". The next year, they tried Chaka Khan. She claimed that her vocals would only "spoil the song" but offered to produce, then didn't call back. Who did they ask next? Dina Carroll?

By 2000 the band had been reduced to a three-piece as Doris and Delroy were "busy working on other projects". The "Eclipse" album and "Funktified" single then surfaced, with nine-year old vocals from Doris cleverly edited in (she must, logically, have been singing a different song but presumably nobody noticed), available only on the Tent Records website.

By 2002 they were dragging themselves round "Here and Now" with Dollar and Visage, for shame. The next year, they played Butlins.

Numerous penny-bargains on Ebay, plus there's amusingly a 3CD "Legends" box set which contains all the Five Star tracks you could ever need. Genuine gold discs are available from several pawn shops in London, and apparently the Steadman solo career is just around the corner.