By Clayton Goodwin
Stedman Pearson Jnr, who with his siblings comprised the chart-topping group Five Star, has passed away aged 60 years. I had left aside my hitherto youthful interest in popular music by the time of their achievements, in order to concentrate on a career in sports journalism, and, so, am not qualified to pass comment on their career and music. However, it was not always so, and I do have one personal memory of the very young Stedman when he was barely a few weeks old in his parents’ single-room accommodation at Harlesden, North-west London. At the time I was manager of The Links R&B group in which his father, Stedman (Buster) Pearson Snr, was guitarist and had invited me to visit his home. There he gave me permission, and, surely, he did to every visitor, to “pick up the baby”. It must have been for only a few minutes/seconds as I am very frightened of dropping babies, even my own when they were so young.
As I have written in Sorry, but I thought you were black:
“Buster could be charming. He lived in the same poverty as many similar immigrants from the Caribbean. I visited him and his wife in their bedsit accommodation. Their baby son, Stedman, less than a year old, was in his cradle. A generation later Stedman and his four subsequent siblings formed the international hit group Five Star. Under their father’s direction they achieved fame on both sides of the Atlantic and with it a considerable fortune before their own star as a group fell as suddenly as it had risen”.
The Links were outstanding in their genre and were selected to be the backing group for such outstanding American artistes as Wilson Pickett (“In the midnight hour”), Lee Dorsey, and Ben E. King when they toured the UK. They had made their namely initially playing at West Indian club/town-hall venues and, especially, the West Indian Students Union in Earls Court. It was there that the management of the group was handed over to me, much to my surprise, by a shake of a hand. Myself and colleague Robert Duthie tried several ways to boost their profile, including a gig in the hall attached to the White Hart pub in Willesden. Standing in the foyer we were disappointed that nobody came in through the doors to attend the show. However, when we opened the door to the auditorium, to break the news to the band, we found the place packed to capacity, There was a second door, unknown to outside promoters but well-known to the locals, leading from the pub into the back of the hall.
Yes, Buster could be charming – and talented – but he was often impetuous, and that led to the downfall of The Links. Too often, he dealt with promoters and agents directly instead of through the more passive and considered approach of the recognised leader Ronnie Simmonds. It didn’t work to the band’s advantage. That is how I came to part company with The Links in the Soho office of agent Roy Tempest who had a reputation, in my experience justified, for getting his artistes plenty of work but at a very low payment. It was impossible for Ronnie and myself to negotiate effectively if another member was jumping in with different ideas and proposals. Maybe I am biased – ok, yes I am – but I still think that The Links could have become very big indeed as the 1960s developed. Buster had the last word. A decade later he bounced back with Five Star, a group he had literally produced himself.