The Kids From Fame - Starmaker

Well I am going to do something new to the blog and that is let someone else write this post instead of me.

In celebration of the new 'Fame' movie (coming out today), I have decided to let my partner Mark write this post as he is a big fan of the 'Kids from Fame' series.

So over to Mark for this posting ....

'Starmaker' is written by Bruce Roberts & Carole Bayer Sager and performed by the Kids From Fame who are Debbie Allen, Lee Curreri, Erica Gimpel, Carlo Imperato, Valerie Landsburg, PR Paul, Gene Anthony Ray and Lori Singer.

It was released in September 1982 on RCA records and reached number 3 on the U.K. singles chart making it the biggest hit to come from the Kids from Fame, spending 10 weeks on the chart. The B Side in the U.K. was "Step Up To The Mike".

The song was featured twice during the first season of the fame TV series in 2 seperate episodes "The Strike" and "A Special Palce". It was then re-recorded by the cast for the Kids from Fame Album and "Starmaker" single version. The new version features the whole cast but fades out and has no proper ending.

During "The Strike" a short version featuring the first verse and chorus but including a piano ending was used while clips of the students and teachers were shown.

During "A Special Place” the full version of the song was performed by the cast with the piano ending but did not feature Erica Gimpel who was not in that episode. The song was performed as a tribute to Michael Thoma who played drama Greg Crandal. Thoma had been disgnosed with cancer and this was his last eprformance on the show. This performance was used widely as the video to promote the single on TV even though it differed to the actual recorded version.

The song was parodied by a number of TV comedy shows, most notably by Little and Large who performed "Stargazer" to astomoner Patrick Moore.

At the end of 1982 & start of 1983 the cast toured the U.K. and a live version of "Starmaker" was recorded and released on the Kids From Fame Live album. This version featured Debbie Allen, Lee Curreri, Erica Gimpel, Carlo Imperato, Gene Anthony Ray, Lori Singer and the Waters backing group.

A second live version was recorded for an Israeli concert which was screened on TV as part of the 3rd season of Fame. This version was the same as the first live version but Valerie Landsburg replaced Lori Singer who had now left the show.

In 2003 at a BBC Fame reunion original cast members Debbie Allen, Lee Curreri, Erica Gimpel, Carlo Imperato, Valerie Landsburg and Gene Anthony Ray reuited and performed the song again.

Marks Fame related sites.

For those interested in all things Fame, Mark has a blog dedicated to Fame where you can watch and download episodes and listen and download music etc. He is also doing an episode of the month.

Click the link to go to it.

http://kidsfromfamemedia.blogspot.com/

Also Mark has set up an episode guide which is taking shape to be a complete guide to the series 'Kids from Fame' and film 'Fame', click here:

http://sites.google.com/site/fametvseriesepisodeguide/Home

Click the link below to download the following:
Video
Single Version
D Dance School Cover Version
TV Series Version
Instrumental Version
Karaoke Version
Album Version
Live in the UK Version
Live in Isreal Version
Step Up To The Mike - B-side

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=2ccb7d0cd98a6267aaca48175a79d1c328776ba87cc0acafce018c8114394287

The Kids From Fame - Starmaker - Video