Hot Gossip
Encyclopedia
Formation
Arlene PhillipsArlene Phillips
Arlene Phillips OBE is an English choreographer, theatre director, talent scout, TV presenter, TV judge and former dancer, who has worked in many fields of entertainment...
came to London to learn and teach developing American Jazz dance routines. Employed as a dance teacher, she taught at locations including the Pineapple Dance Studios
Pineapple Dance Studios
Pineapple Dance Studios is a dance studio complex based in the Covent Garden area of central London, England. It was founded by the English model and businesswoman Debbie Moore in 1979. The studio is used for castings and rehearsals by dance companies, record labels, television networks, film...
and the Italia Conti Stage School. In 1974, Phillips started forming the core of a troupe; Italia Conti student actress Lesley Manville
Lesley Manville
Lesley Manville is an award-winning English actress.-Early life:Born in Brighton, Manville was raised in Hove, East Sussex, one of three daughters of a taxicab driver. Training as a soprano singer from age 8, she twice became under-18 champion of Sussex...
turned her down. Hot Gossip spent two years performing in a London night club where Phillips and manager/producers Michael Summerton and Iain Burton developed the group's dance act. Phillips, Summerton and Burton continued to work together for eight years during which time Hot Gossip continued to enjoy wide popularity and success.
The Kenny Everett Show
Spotted by the British television director David MalletDavid Mallet (director)
David Mallet is a British director particularly noted for his work on music videos, including David Bowie's innovative "Ashes to Ashes", Rush's "Distant Early Warning, and Queen's "Radio Ga Ga" and "I Want to Break Free" videos. He has also served as a producer on television programmes including...
, he invited Phillips to make Hot Gossip a regular feature of The Kenny Everett Show
Kenny Everett
Kenny Everett was an English comedian, radio DJ and television entertainer. Born Maurice James Christopher Cole, Everett is best known for his career as a radio DJ and for the Kenny Everett television shows.-Early life:...
, which he directed for Thames Television
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....
on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
. The show ended in 1981.
Music
In 1978, during their initial impact period on The Kenny Everett Show, Hot Gossip made their only hit record, "I Lost My Heart to a Starship TrooperI Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper
"I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper", sometimes cited as " Starship Trooper", is a 1978 single written by Jeff Calvert and Max West of Typically Tropical and performed by Sarah Brightman and Hot Gossip...
". A disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
song which features future West End/Broadway star Sarah Brightman
Sarah Brightman
Sarah Brightman is an English classical crossover soprano, actress, songwriter and dancer. She is famous for possessing a vocal range of over 3 octaves and singing in the whistle register...
on lead vocal, it cashed in on the media hype surrounding the original Star Wars
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
film. As a result of the track reaching number 6 in the British music chart, they went on to record an album in the early 1980s, Geisha Boys and Temple Girls
Geisha Boys and Temple Girls
Geisha Boys and Temple Girls is a studio album of cover versions of songs by British dance troupe Hot Gossip by various artists. It was released in 1981 and was produced by BEF -Track listing:...
, produced by the former Human League
The Human League
The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...
and then current Heaven 17
Heaven 17
Heaven 17 are an English synthpop band originating from Sheffield in the early 1980s. The trio comprises Martyn Ware , Ian Craig Marsh and Glenn Gregory...
/BEF
B.E.F. (British Electric Foundation)
B.E.F. are a band/production company formed by former Human League members Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh who later became Heaven 17 .-History:Ware and Marsh's first release as B.E.F...
member Martyn Ware
Martyn Ware
Martyn "Teddy Bear" Ware is a British musician and music producer. He is the chairman of a local football team: PPA. As a founder member of both The Human League and Heaven 17, he was partly responsible for hit records such as "Being Boiled" and "Temptation"...
. The album was a commercial failure.
The Very Hot Gossip Show
Produced by Burton and Telecast by Channel 4Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
, the one-hour special was a vehicle for Hot Gossip, fresh from their stint on The Kenny Everett Video Show. The Very Hot Gossip Show was one of the highest rating shows for Channel 4 that year.
Style
Hot Gossip were noted for the risque nature of their costumes and the dance routines, all designed and choreographed by Phillips, especially considering the early evening timeslot that the Video Show was broadcast in. They are often credited as one of the UK's early television dance troupes, continuing a trend which started with the Go-Jo's and Pan's PeoplePan's People
Pan's People were a British TV dance troupe, who are usually associated with the BBC TV music chart show Top of the Pops.In an era before pop videos, they danced to songs whose original artists were not available to perform them live...
on Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
.
The group was once spoofed on The Benny Hill Show
The Benny Hill Show
The Benny Hill Show is a British comedy television show starring Benny Hill.There were various incarnations of the show between 1951 and 1991, and it aired in over 140 countries. The show is generally sketch-based with heavy use of slapstick, mime, parody and double-entendre...
as "Hot Gossamer". A few real-life former Hot Gossip dancers went on to appear on the Hill show in its last years on the air as part of the Hill's Angels dance troupe.
Original Kenny Everett TV group members
- Boys: Mark Tyme, Lee Black, Roy Gale, Floyd Pearce
- Girls: Dominique Wood, Donna Fielding, Carol Fletcher, Perri ListerPerri ListerPerri Lister , is an English actress, dancer, and singer. She featured in her first film in 1980, and has since appeared in films and television series...
, Lyndsey Ward, Sarah BrightmanSarah BrightmanSarah Brightman is an English classical crossover soprano, actress, songwriter and dancer. She is famous for possessing a vocal range of over 3 octaves and singing in the whistle register...
and Lorraine Whitmarsh.
Dancers who performed with Hot Gossip at one time or another before they disbanded in 1986
- Mark Tyme
- Dominique Wood
- Amanda Abbs
- Heather Alexander
- Debbie Ash
- Debbie Astell
- Bunty BaileyBunty BaileyTherese "Bunty" Bailey is an English model, dancer, and actress. Bunty started her career as a dancer in the erotic dance group Hot Gossip in the early 1980s...
- Elvis Baptiste
- Richard Bodkin
- Sarah BrightmanSarah BrightmanSarah Brightman is an English classical crossover soprano, actress, songwriter and dancer. She is famous for possessing a vocal range of over 3 octaves and singing in the whistle register...
- Bonnie Bryg
- Kathy Burke*
- Lindsay Cole
- Titian Deakin
- Lorraine Doyle
- Annie Dunkley
- Penni Dunlop
- Sandy Easby
- Mark Elie
- Yvonne Evans (Voyd)
- Donna Fielding
- Carol Fletcher
- Alan Forgie
- Debbie Fox
- Judey Ford
- Julia Gale
- Roy Gayle
- Donnette Goddard
- Heavon Grant
- Virginia Hartley
- Alison Hierlehy
- Nicky Hinkley
- Laura James
- Lavinia Lang (Hudson)
- Kim Leeson
- Perri ListerPerri ListerPerri Lister , is an English actress, dancer, and singer. She featured in her first film in 1980, and has since appeared in films and television series...
- Richard Lloyd King
- Madeleine Loftin
- Erin Lordan
- Barry Martin
- Jayne Melville
- Sarah Miles*
- Johanna Kate Morley
- Jane Newman (formerly Colthorpe)
- Trudy Pack
- Floyd Pearce
- Tristan Rafael
- Sinitta Renet
- Heather Robbins
- Wanda Rokikki
- Heather Seymour
- Bruno TonioliBruno TonioliBruno Tonioli is an Italian choreographer and TV personality who appears as a judge on the television dance competition Strictly Come Dancing for BBC TV in the UK, and its American adaptation Dancing with the Stars on ABC TV in the US, Tonioli co-created and appeared on the BBC talent show DanceX...
- Lyndsey Ward
- Susie Waring
- Lorraine Whitmarsh
- Chrissy Wickham
- David Wilkins
- Phillipa Williams
- Frances Wingate
- Michelle Gail Fellows
- Libby Rose
Sponooch
There was a spin-off group from Hot Gossip:in 1980 Dominique Wood, Mark Tyme, Lorraine Whitmarsh, Carol Fletcher, Lyndsey Ward, Donna Fielding, Lee Black, left Hot Gossip to set up 'Sponooch'.
They were featured in a BBC show called Dancing Girls (a documentary about them) and had their own spot on a TV show called Friday Night Saturday Morning on BBC1. They also were signed to EMI and made two records Crime Buster & Lady Dracular.