From the vaults: When Five Star kept the lights on
In a series of recollections, Sam Wonfor is sharing her rather special back catalogue of memories of and personal connection to the iconic 1980s music show, The Tube and other telly treasures.
As someone who went from seven to 12 during The Tube’s five series (1982-87), it’s fair to say that the Green Room snacks and electric typewriters in the production office of the Newcastle-based groundbreaking music show often offered more excitement than an extended set by Tina Turner, Paul McCartney or Iggy Pop.
So while I loved knocking around Studio Five at Tyne Tees on City Road, and understood that lots of the people I was getting to see soundcheck were cast iron music legends and should be committed to memory, they were rarely the popstars who were blu-tacked to my wall.
Similarly, although I had loads of fun travelling the UK and wider world on occasion (too many, according to my party-pooping headteachers) with The Tube film crew (on which my Dad Geoff was the director) and spending time with the likes of Wham!*, Eurythmics, Boomtown Rats, Squeeze, The Smiths, Mick Jagger and Grace Jones… I don’t remember being particularly starstruck, because those guys weren’t my pop idols.
*I didn’t become a Wham! Fan until my 20s. I’d say I was too edgy, if I wasn’t about to tell you what I’m about to tell you.
It wasn’t until The Tube was all wrapped up that my Dad finally landed a job with a band the Wonfor household’s teenybopper-in-residence could get excitedly squeaky about.
And I couldn’t wait another minute to devote one of these columns to them.
Thanks to Smash Hits, in 1987, my bedroom walls were playing host to a heady mix of chart-topping pop stars… as well as the Athena man-with-baby poster, obviously.
But one band featured more than any other… namely a glove-full of Pearson siblings who went by the name of Five Star.
A glittering casserole of shoulder-pads, achievable dance routines and catchy tunes, they were always the first cassette I looked for when loading up my walkman and I absolutely adored everything about them.
So, when Father Wonfor came home with news that his Pearson counterpart had been in touch (the band’s manager, Buster was also dad to Denise, Lorraine, Doris, Delroy and Steadman), I was beside myself with excitement.
The band had just released a new album, Between The Lines and wanted to know if he fancied directing the upcoming show at Wembley Arena.
Yes, you did read that correctly.
Dad had gained significant critical acclaim for the live gig he’d shot in Australia with Eurythmics in February 1987 - The NME called his film of the band’s Revenge Tour ‘the gig of the decade’ - and was building a reputation as an exciting and innovative live director as well as one who could turn in a pretty special documentary.
But I think it would be fair to say that, despite Five Star being given the 1987 Brit Award for Best Group (yes, your eyes are working) they probably didn’t feature anywhere on my Dad’s I’d-really-like-to-work-with-them wishlist.
Having enjoyed five years of working with some of pop and rock music’s biggest and coolest acts - as well as loads of (some might say) even cooler unsigned bands - I can see how the prospect of head-to-toe sequins and synchronised dance displays may have been leaning towards the land of Naff when he was thinking about his next showreel.
But the call from Buster came at an uncertain time.
Having left The Tube a few weeks ahead of its final show, Dad was determined to set up his own production company with long-time editor and dear friend, Andy Matthews.
The resulting outfit was called Strictly The Business and to be fair, they hit the ground running with the aforementioned Eurythmics gig and an eight-part series for Channel Four, Famous for 15 Minutes in the bag.
And then there was nowt.
The business of trying to survive (never mind thrive) as a Newcastle-based independent production house was pretty brutal and while their supreme film-making talents were never in question, I don’t think either of them would argue with the statement that the business development side of things was not their forte.*
*Their Hanover Street basement offices looked great, mind.
So, when Five Star came-a-calling (thankfully for me) they just couldn’t afford to say no.
And do you know what? They ended up having an absolute ball.
The sold out gig at Wembley went without a hitch and spawned commissions for three more videos, which saw the band try out a tough new, leather-clad look for big-budget tracks Another Weekend and Rock My World, before deciding it perhaps wasn’t for them ahead of the release of With Every Heartbeat.
If you had time, I could still talk you through every last shot from all of the above… meanwhile Dad always talked very fondly of his time with The Pearsons, recognising they played a pivotal role in keeping everything afloat while the career-defining opportunities he didn’t know were down the road were busily manifesting themselves.
Within a year he was gearing up to film what would be a Golden Rose of Montreux-winning film of Nigel Kennedy performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons; a string of what would become iconic videos for The Stone Roses (more about those in another edition) and Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio, which itself played a part in him getting the biggest job of his life - directing The Beatles Anthology.
In the last years of his life when health wobbles reared their heads, he never missed an opportunity to show a paramedic his iconic Beatles photo… but he always enjoyed the fact that my husband Michael never missed an opportunity to make sure they knew he also made videos for Five Star.