Hot Gossip
British television dance troupe and recording group, 1974–1986.
Hot Gossip was a British television dance troupe and recording group active from 1974 to 1986. The group gained prominence through regular appearances on The Kenny Everett Video Show, where their risqué costumes and routines—designed and choreographed by Arlene Phillips—stood out, especially given the early evening timeslot. In 1978, featuring Sarah Brightman on lead vocals, they scored a hit with "I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper," a disco song that reached number 6 on the UK Singles Chart. The group also released a synth-pop album, appeared in films, and spawned a splinter group called Sponooch.
Quick Facts
- Years active
- 1974–1986
- Label
- Ariola Hansa
- Atlantic
- Dindisc
- DJM Records
- Fanfare Records
- Spinoffs
- Sponooch
Facts from the source article.
Formation
Arlene Phillips moved to London to teach American jazz dance routines, working at Pineapple Dance Studios and the Italia Conti Stage School. In 1974, Phillips started forming the core of a troupe; Italia Conti student actress Lesley Manville turned her down. Hot Gossip spent two years performing in Munkberry's club in Jermyn Street, London W1, where Phillips and manager/producers Michael Summerton and Iain Burton developed the group's act. Phillips, Summerton and Burton continued to work together for eight years.
Career
British television director David Mallet invited Phillips to make Hot Gossip a regular feature of The Kenny Everett Video Show (Thames Television, 1978–1981). Dancers in this version included males Mark Tyme, Roy Gayle, Floyd Pearce and females Dominique Wood, Donna Fielding, Carol Fletcher, Perri Lister, Lyndsey Ward, Sarah Brightman, Lorraine Whitmarsh. Everett moved to the BBC for The Kenny Everett Television Show (1981–1988), which featured Hot Gossip only in Season 4 (1986). In 1978, during their initial impact period on The Kenny Everett Video Show, Hot Gossip, featuring Sarah Brightman on lead vocals, recorded "I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper", a disco song written by Jeff Calvert and Geraint Hughes. The song reached number 6 on the UK Singles Chart. In 1981, the group recorded a cover version of Suzanne Fellini's "Love on the Phone", and the same year released the synth-pop album Geisha Boys and Temple Girls, produced by former Human League and then current Heaven 17/BEF member Martyn Ware. Produced by Burton and Telecast for Channel 4 in 1982, the one-hour special The Very Hot Gossip Show was one of the highest rated shows for Channel 4 that year. The group appeared in the film The Golden Lady (1979). Members of the group appear in several scenes performing dance sequences in the Pet Shop Boys' 1987 Jack Bond-directed feature film It Couldn't Happen Here. In late 1979 Mark Tyme, Dom Wood, Lorraine Whitmarsh, Carol Fletcher, Lyndsey Ward, Donna Fielding and Lee Black left Hot Gossip to form Sponooch, which was featured in the BBC TV shows Friday Night Saturday Morning (1979) and Dancing Girls (6 January 1982). They signed to EMI and released two singles, "Crime Buster" and "Lady Dracula".
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