The Five Stars. Who were they? It turns out there were several different groups that used the name, and on this page I have documented just a few of them. The Five Stars name was popular and as you will see, these groups came from different parts of the country. They probably didn't know the other groups existed. In some cases the time frame was different, and in most cases, there were no big hits to accidentally step on, as was the case with groups like the Mello Kings/Mello Tones. Below are groups from Los Angeles, New York, Detroit, Indiana, and Dallas. I also have a Five Stars gospel group from Baltimore. Pictured to the right is the group that ended up in Dallas, Texas. Below is the Five Stars group that recorded on Note, Hunt and Kernal. The picture on the bottom right includes Larry Huffman on the top left, Ronald Russel to his right, and Bill Campbell far right, top.
|
The next group of Five Stars hailed from Detroit. Members included Joseph Murphy, John Raymond Dorsey, Walter Gaines, C.P. Spencer, and Henry Jones. Their first record was on the New York based Mark X label, which was associated with George Goldner. "Ooh Shucks" and "Dead Wrong" were issued in 1957 on 45 as shown, and also on a 78. This group had a couple members that started out with the Thrillers, then they became the Five Jets. After the Five Stars, they were the Voice Masters on the Anna label. The lead on this recording loved to roll his "R's", and both sides are decent. Also of note is that both sides were written by Berry Gordy and T-Carlo (Billy Davis) which is certainly some of their earliest works.