Over the many years Five Star have released many Video's , Singles and Albums.

In 2006 some fans brought up this issue and we decided to include it to the site for future readings so we thank the fans who posted these reviews from various magazines and newspapers.

HIDE AND SEEK'

''..Five Star are actually brothers and sisters,ranging in age from 13 to 19.This is their first record,and it's almost shockingly professional. Until you find out they've been working on songs and routines since they were all kneee high to grass hoppers,and already have their career plan all worked out,that is.Shalamar meets Michael Jackson, they sound and look just as pretty.''.

ALL FALL DOWN

This record owes more to the production of the Loose Ends team than the talents of Five Star.

'All Fall Down' could be The Jacksons with tighter trousers. It's danceable, and harmless enough.

LOVE TAKE OVER

Like their other singles 'Love Take Over' sounds like Five Star look - smooth, flash and sophisticated. And this one, from their 'Luxury Of Life' LP is mixed by ... ta daaaa! - Paul Hardcastle!

SYSTEM ADDICT

Alarmingly, the seventh single to have been taken from their 'Luxury Of Life' LP. It's not bad, I suppose. A bit like vintage Shalamar. And there are, let's face it, many worse things that come from Romford. Like rotten beer and men with gold chains in Ford Capris to name but two

Five Star Silk And Steel .

Reveiwed by Collette Campbell.

''There are no surprises on this album,just more of the infuriatingly catchy pop formula with which Five Star have found so much success.As well as the singles 'Can't Wait Another Minute' and 'Find The Time',there are eight more songs all as slickly produced as the famous costumes and dance routines.

The only puzzling thing about this album are the slightly suggestive lyrics -

''...are you man enough ?'', ''..don't you know i love it ?'' ,...''the slightest touch and i go crazy with desire '' - which do seem slightly odd considering their sweet and innocent image.

( 7 out of 10 ).

RAIN OR SHINE

Five Star's strength is making jaunty dance tracks like their last single 'Find The Time', but when they are singing ballads they sound sickeningly sweet.

THE SLIGHTEST TOUCH

This is the sixth single from Silk & Steel and it sounds exactly like a sixth single! I think the other tracks are fab but this one's a bit weak isn't it? I don't think 5 Star needed another single release to keep their momentum going so this is just their record company being greedy. I can't remember the last time anyone released six singles from one album!

BETWEEN THE LINES

The fourthcoming single (a ballad - 'Strong As Steel) from 5 Star's new album will tell you there's a few surprises in store. Deniece has not gone out and discovered George Clinton. 'Between The Lines' simply continues the polished perfection set up by their first two platinum jobs. Just to make it easy, the first four tracks on side one make the first four singles and Deniece has knocked together a Starship style big ballad 'Hard Race' to help their conquest of America. Perfect-pitching, next stepping. Life in the towers can continue to roll merrily merrily on. 3 STAR RATING

STRONG AS STEEL

Now here's a funny thing. This sounds exactly like 5 Star pop discs always do but also uncannily like 'Man In The Mirror' from Michael Jackson's 'Bad' LP - except not quite as good - which proves, as they can't possibly have copied it, that the Pearson family are plugged into the same cosmic biorythmns as their idol Wacko Jacko. Quintuple spook!

SOMEWHERE SOMEBODY

There's something very creepy about Five Star - the way they look and everything about them. And there's this thing on their record sleeve saying 'we'd like to thank God for giving us the strength to make our records'. That's ridiculous. I'm on personal terms with God, we're in touch every day but he's never mentioned these guys. I've asked him about them and he said 'no, it's nothing to do with me mate, it's theat Buster, their dad'. This is good though. Nothing special, just one of those production line soul records which are usually pretty good

ROCK THE WORLD

 reviewed by Debbi Voller

* * * * (four star rating .out of five i'm guessing ! - S.I)

''5 stars last album didn't do so well because it was launched in the shadow of Michael Jacksons BAD album.Now perhaps they've mistimed their new mean ,street image,falling as it does right smack bang in the middle of the BAD tour ! But at least they've finally shed their cutesy sequins for some rock 'n' raunch,and at last deniece sounds like she means business when she sings dirty.

5 star have come of age and so has (most of) their material; witness the love sexy funk of FreeTime and the steamy beat of Rescue Me.

But i think 5 stars true musical direction lies in the more original ,home grown songs.The two tracks deniece has penned herself are dramatic and rousing in the stadium arm waving tradition,and it's a pity she didn't just go ahead and write the whole album herself.''

ANOTHER WEEKEND

 - Reviewed by Sue Dando.

The return of the Pearson family! Not heard of for the past six months, this is a dissappointing comeback. Not surprisingly, it's a dance 'number'; it twizzles along in the manner of their spangly suits, but is as repetitive as their dance routines. However - the 12" version is actually quite spiffy, will be played in clubs and it'll be a birrova hit

'ROCK MY WORLD' reviewed by ....i have no idea lol

''In keeping with their ever so tough-looking new image Five Star are now producing pretty beefy pieces of disco bump which make their previous efforts look fairly puny.It's a bit of a pity that,now that they seem to be slipping somewhat down into the dumper,they're putting out records that really aren't that bad at all.

ROCK THE WORLD

 - Reviewed by Llyod Bradley.

It had to happen that the Pearson young 'uns would reach that awkward stage when it just wasn't possible to be that wholesome anymore. Last year's Between The Lines album showed them to be exactly that - between the lines drawn by nature's advances and the demands of an essentially pubescent following. It was something of a mess. Happily Rock The World resolves the issue: by using Leon Sylvers as producer they've injected the set with the kind of grown up-disco muscle he created for Shalamar, The Whispers and so on seven years ago; and among the odes to puppy love there's a sprinkling of PG-rated stuff about 'weekends' and 'physical attractions'. Mostly it's enjoyable, if hardly earth moving stuff, preferable to so much that masquerades as dance music these days. The downside of all this, and the fact that Deniece has perfected her Michael Jackson impression, is a loss of uniqueness that can only come from growing up in Romford. Especially on the surfeit of 'mature', but ultimately bland ballads, they now sound like so many countless US soul vocal groups. Perhaps this was always the plan. ***

ROCK THE WORLD

 - Reveiwed by Jemima Harrison.

If anyone ever thought that Five Star would be one-hit wonders, they've been proved resoundingly wrong. The reason is simple Five Star look great, sound great and they're incredibly commercial. Their new album has 10 tracks, including Another Weekend and Rock My World plus four other outstanding songs - Let Me Be Yours, There's A Brand New World, Are You Really The One and Godsend, writen by the duo Climie Fisher.

ROCK MY WORLD

 - Reveiwed by Eddi Reader & Roy fro Fairground Attraction.

Eddi - I think she's got an excellent voice but she sounds very like Michael Jackson to me, and i think it's because she's been told to sing like that.

Roy - It's a very 'modern' record....I suppose because it's 5 Star I'll have to give them * * * * *

Eddi - I'll give them * * *

LET ME BE YOURS

 reviewed by Spagna (she of 'Call Me' and 'Every Girl and Boy' fame ).

''This too is a very lovely song.Is it 5 Star ?Yes.They are very famous in Italy.I have liked so many of their songs.Can i remember any ?No,not at the moment.But they are very good singers and i would like to give 5 Star : * * * * * ''

( five stars - top marks 5/5 )

THERE'S A BRAND NEW WORLD

For the release of their new LP 'Rock The World', the Star changed their image! Away with the days of richly adorned jumpers and braced teeth and in with the Jacko like tough studded leather and fierce angry looks. As for the records - they don't seem to have changed much at all, except for perhaps a little more polish here and there. 'There's A Brand New World' is no exception even though a) it's a bit 'rockier' than most of their singles, b) it was written by the group's very own Deniece Pearson and c) it has indeed got all the qualifications of being a Five Star hit.

GREATEST HITS 

- Reviewed by Lloyd Bradley.

This 16 track summary of Five Star's brief (mid-85 to mid-88) but glittering career (11 top 20 singles, three platinum albums) illustrates what hastened their decline as much as it shows what made them successful in the first place. The latter is represented by All Fall Down, Can't Wait Another Minute, If I Say Yes, Rain Or Shine, Let Me Be The One and other such ultra-danceable/innocently smoochsome tales of kids-next-door romance. It all went wrong with the Rock The World album when 'adult' orientated efforts like Rock The World and Another Weekend proved about as innovative and comfortable as their Mad Max styled outfits. Set here, alongside their successes, they sound even more misguided, but the LP is still a good value Pearson clan memento.

* * * (3 stars)

GREATEST HITS - ALBUM OF THE WEEK

Sixteen rather mega tracks from Eddie Murphy's fave band. For anybody who ever loved Five Star, this will be the perfect memory of them at their peak. Songs like Strong as Steel, Slightest Touch and System Addict are proberly as good as anything Wacko Jacko has ever done - and the family are much better looking! A must.

THE GREATEST HITS 1989

''Five Star as you may or may not care to remember were once a famous group of teenagers who had several massive hit singles and albums a few years ago.However ,nowadays all that's down the pan and because they just can't make a hit album anymore they've decided to chuck all their old ''stompers'' such as System Addict and Cant Wait Another Minute onto one LP in the hope of once more earning a bit of dosh.

Quite amazingly though the collection of tracks is actually quite impressive.Ranging through from the days of All Fall Down when the girls had braces on their teeth and the boys wore dungarees (!) to the more recent and raunchy leathery days of Another Weekend.But undoubtedly thebest offering is Find The Time which was taken from their Silk And Steel album.''

EVERY HEARTBEAT

Luck ran out for Five Star last year when Britain suddenly lost interest in the Pearson family. Their raunchier image did'nt help much (they were at their best when they were squeaky clean), but they were hardly given time for a rethink. 'Every Heartbeat' isn't a great surprise, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with it and it has every right to reach number 17 in the charts.

* * * (3 stars)

WITH EVERY HEARTBEAT - Reveiwed by Caron & Jazzie B from Soul ll Soul.

Caron - Good production sound. It sounds like they've done it a lot of times. It sounds like Sheena Easton or someone.

Jazzie - Sounds very Americanish, like very bland. But i love 5 Star, I used to watch them at the Electric Ballroom when everyone used to boo them, good one 5 Star.

Caron - (on being told it's 5 Star) They've got enough talent, they could come out with something much better than that. It didn't jump out like the tunes they used to have.

Star rating * * * (3 Stars

TREAT ME LIKE A LADY - (don't know who reviewed this)

(A new record label and a new chugging, tighter, Janet Jackson-ish rhythm for the Romford Five!)

They're a beautiful looking family. They present themselves well and i wouldn't mind the jacket Stedman's wearing on the cover. I like the idea of musical families like this. They move well and look great and it's good to watch. There's a lot of Jackson type harmonies in here but it's a good record to come back with.

Verdict: I'd like it to be a hit. It's a good pop record. * * * * (4 Stars)

TREAT ME LIKE A LADY 

reviewed by Ian & Andy (whoever they are)

ANDY - They're trying to get more funky now, but i don't know if they can shake that sweaky-clean image.

IAN - They're going more in the Janet Jackson way of things, even with their image.

ANDY - They've even dropped the Stedman designed all-in-one catsuits which i think is a good thing. I thought when they came abck that Stedman had left and they'd got a fourth sister in the band - I'm sorry but he really looks more like a girl.

IAN - It's fine. Two more singles and i think they'll be back good and proper

HOT LOVE

 - Reveiwed by Faith, Hope & Charity.

(Daddy Pearson has produced this mortgage payer for the kiddiwinkies and for John Barns - surely not the football player)

C - They're getting whiter and whiter on their record sleeves - they're trying to sound like Janet Jackson.

H - I think it was ok - I could listen to it on the radio but i certainly would'nt go out of my way to buy it. I'll keep my fingers crossed for them.

F - Is is Doris who's singing....Why is it so high pitched? It's not that impressive, it drones on like The Stone Roses.

Chart position 43(H) 57(F) 62 (C) Each member gave the song 2 stars.

SHINE 

reviewed by Mark & Tony (whoever they were)

(The Stedman clan haven't frequented hitsville of late so they're pinning their hopes on this singlette)

MARK - I'm sure that they've used this picture before on their last single sleeve. I actually think this is quite good and their new sound should take them off into the 90's.

TONY - This is just bland really, it's hard to comment one it because it doesn't really inspire me at all. It's harmless background radio music. It's not really going to change anybody's life at all!

TONY rated it 2 and a half stars

MARK gave it 3 stars

HEART AND SOUL

''Long gone are the days that '80s pop sensations Five Star wore spangly suits,did dance routines that would shame Deuce and dished up the most delightful pop tunes you could ever hope to dance round your handbag to.

After a long break to America,they're back with a new album and erm,a new look a la George Michael !

HEART AND SOUL - 4 STARS

Reviewer: crisso from Somerset, England

A follow up to their superior 1991 album 'Shine', 'Heart and Soul' is even better. Taking a complete turn towards R&B it features some of their best work: Ten tracks beggining with their version of '(I love you) For Sentimental Reasons' and finishing with the uplifting 'I Give You Give' (which made the UK top 100). The highlights are the silky smooth 'The Writing on the Wall' and 'When You Get Home' where Denise reaches new heights with her soaring vocals. There are one or two average tracks (eg 'Secret From My Heart') but they are still listenable. It was thought by many that this would be the band's last hurrah, until they released another great album 'Eclipse' in 2001. (Several of the tracks from 'Heart & Soul' were featured 'Eclipse', including the less effective remix of 'I Give You Give'.)

GREATEST HITS - 5 STARS

Reviewer: (chenniqua@aol.com) from London, England

Five Star, are the embodiment of everything that was stylish, sexy, and fun about the 1980's. The 80's group's ability to cultivate a rich tapestry of Pop, Rock, Soul, and R and B styles of music, is not only ingenious, but unrivalled. Their song entitled, "Can't wait another minute", showed that not only could Five Star, give U.S bands a run for their money and WIN, but that the British are stylish, fun, and can dance, a quality which is unrivalled. Five Star were not only unique, but represented what hard work, and perserverance could get one if one tries. The spectacular Five Star are one of the greatest groups of all time, their fabulous costumes, designed by Stedman, their great dance routines, choreographed by Doris, the spectacular lead vocals, sung by Deniece, the main spokesperson Lorraine, and that gorgeous cutie Delroy, who's magical smile could make you melt. The music world wasn't the same when Five Star moved to the United States, they are everything that is engaging, happy, clean, and non-offensive. They displayed: family unity, harmony, and great dance routines, which gave Five Star the right to be called the, "Kings of dance routines" and the "Royal family of Pop music", the charm, and timelessness of their creativity, music, and talent, that of which again is unequalled, distinguished Five Star from everyone else. Their music video's made you believe that you were in a world of your own, with Five Star, and that you could sing and dance for hours, without interruption, you could even walk and dance in the street. Five Star's music, and personality was that of Five individuals, who's combined efforts made Five Star a force to be reconned with, and one of the greatest musical influences of all time. Stedman, Doris, Lorraine, Deniece, and Delroy, you've done us proud, and let it be said, that their is only one, FIVE STAR.

ECLIPSE - 5 STARS

Reviewer: 5starfan from United Kingdom

This album will blow your socks off and shows how far the group have come since the 80's. All the tracks are outstanding even the remixes of tracks that were previously relased on 'Heart and Soul' several years earlier. 'I wish me You' opens the album and it just gets better. 'Hung Up','Eyes don't Lie', 'Don't let me be the lonely one','Funktafied' and 'Tell me what you want' have to be the best tracks they have ever done. Buy it and you won't be disappointed. Here's looking foward to the next 5* album, but can it top this? It will be a hard act to follow!

GREATEST HITS 2003

 Five Stars For 5Star * * * * *, May 9, 2004

 Reviewer: callinggloria from England

5Star have to be one of the most underated groups of the 80's. Thankfully this CD is testimony to what a big influence they were to the pop world. They won the Brit award for the best British Group in 1987, they were the youngest act to top the album chart with Silk and Steel and beat Micheal Jacksons record for the most hit singles taken from one album (Luxury of Life). People seem to have forgotten just how good they were! The videos were great! The costumes were great! The dance moves were great! but it wasn't just visual as their music was Fanastic! Love Take Over, The Slightest Touch and System Addict are classics!They showed a versatility with tracks such as Find The Time, Rain or Shine, Rock My world which showed shades of soul, easy listening and rock. This is a CD that truly showcases the greatness of Five Star and the greatness of 80's pop music

LEGENDS BOX SET 2004

 5 STARS :-), March 18, 2005

 Reviewer: Grahamgroovy from Lake District UK

Well there you have it. The best 80's home grown group if ever there's one!

All my fave's are there and much clearer and fresher than my old tapes[must have got passed round school too much!}

Certainly never been a band as competent as the Pearsons to re-appear on the British pop scene. 5 STAR....Aptly named I think.

Buy it now before it's discontinued and selling on e-Bay for £50!

You have been warned.

My only (tiny) gripe... Why is "The Slightest Touch" always the album version and not the 7" version to hit the charts{Which was more dancier{Is that a word?)}