Robbed hit of the week 2/16/15 - Five Star's "Can't Wait Another Minute"...

"Can't Wait Another Minute" - Five Star
from the album Silk & Steel (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #41

This week's "robbed hit" comes from the British pop/soul family act Five Star, who brought the funk to the English charts and crossed over to America R&B stations with their debut album, with two moderate hits that missed the top-40, "All Fall Down" and "Let Me Be The One".  The latter made the top-10 on the R&B chart, as did a third single, "Love Take Over", and their album was one of the top sellers of the year. In 1986, the quintet of brothers and sisters released their sophomore album Silk & Steel, which pointed them square in mainstream pop territory. Produced by a team including new wave twiddler Richard James Burgess, who previously worked with Adam Ant and Spandau Ballet, the album was a huge success in their home country, spinning off a total of five top-10 hits (and a sixth at #15) and topping the UK album chart in September. The first single from the set, "Can't Wait Another Minute", made it to #7 on the British singles chart, and seemed like their best chance for pop domination of America, following in the footsteps of similar sounding acts like the Jets and New Edition mixed with a little vibe from Janet Jackson's Control album...

While "Can't Wait Another Minute" made it to the top-10 on the R&B and Dance charts in Billboard magazine, the single stopped at the all-too-frustrating peak of #41 for two weeks in November of 1986. It would be their highest-ranked pop hit in America; the one song that missed the British top-10, "If I Say Yes", managed to make the Hot 100 at #67 (R&B #13). Their third album, Between The Lines, was just as good, but only managed a top-40 R&B hit with the infectious "Whenever You're Ready". Trying to update their sound (like their idol Michael Jackson) with the more rock-inflected Rock The World album, they placed a couple more R&B hits (with "Another Weekend" going to #23) before "drying up" in the U.S., turning up briefly in 2001 with "Funktafied", which popped on the R&B chart at #99. Since then, they've been fodder for reality TV (Denise appeared on the British version of The Voice, while brother Steadman did the All Star Talent Show and Celebrity Scissorhands), while a British version of MC Hammer-like success gone wrong, going from a stately mansion to bankruptcy. Damn.

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Here's the club remix of the song, which peaked at #5 on the American dance chart...

..and finally, the band live from their 'reunion' in 2012 as part of the Rewind Festivals in Britain...