The Kids from "Fame"

The Kids from "Fame"
The Kids from "Fame" in Schiphol, the Netherlands, in 1983
Background information
Origin	United States
Genres	Pop
Instruments	Vocals, Keyboards
Years active	1982–1984
Labels	RCA Records, BBC Records

The Kids from "Fame" was the group name of several cast members from the US TV series Fame who had a number of hit singles and albums at the height of the show's success in the UK. This success culminated in tours of the UK where they performed live in concert. A live album was subsequently released.

The group came to prominence in the summer of 1982 when the series first aired in the UK and a single "Hi Fidelity" reached No.5. Along with this an album was released: The Kids from "Fame", which reached No.1 for 12 weeks. A series of singles and albums followed over the next 12 months with songs taken from the show's first three seasons. By the summer of 1983, interest in the show was beginning to wane and the releases abruptly stopped, although the TV series carried on until 1987.

The main vocalists of the group were Debbie Allen, Valerie Landsburg, Erica Gimpel, Carlo Imperato, Gene Anthony Ray, Lee Curreri, and Lori Singer.

In late 1982 the cast members as The Kids from "Fame" performed some live shows in the UK, which led to a fuller tour of Europe in early 1983. These included a show at the Royal Albert Hall in London which was recorded and released as an album. It was during the 1983 tour that stories began to emerge in the press that things were not so harmonious off-stage with stories of drug-taking, alcohol abuse and backstage rows. During the tour Erica Gimpel and Debbie Allen had a disagreement over the choice of a song which ultimately led to Gimpell walking out of the tour and heading back to the US. The tour carried on without her, but led to further press reports of how Allen was being domineering over the others and was labelled in one article as "a bitch". Allen later commented on the accusations saying that they upset her, but in reality was just trying to keep the group together and focussed amid the late-night parties and mayhem (which included Gene Anthony Ray smashing up a dressing room at one point). Several members commented that they were unaware of the success of the show until they arrived in London, which they found overwhelming. Prior to this, Valerie Landsburg did some promotional work alone in the UK during the summer of 1982 to promote the "Hi Fidelity" single, which was riding high in the charts at the time.