The Kids from "Fame" is the first album released by the cast of the American TV series Fame. It was released in 1982 and featured the hit singles "Hi Fidelity" and "Starmaker". The album was a major global success, most notably in the United Kingdom, where it stayed at the top of the UK Album Chart for 12 weeks.[2]
Overview
The US TV series Fame became an international success, most prominently in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, where the series debuted in June 1982 on BBC One and RTE One respectively, and achieved high ratings for both networks. The first song from the series to be released in both countries, "Hi Fidelity", peaked at number five and number three on the UK Singles Chart and Irish Singles Chart respectively.[3][4] Simultaneously, this album was released in July 1982 and quickly topped the UK Album Chart, remaining at the top of the chart for 12 weeks.[3] Soon after, a second song "Starmaker" was released and became an even bigger success in the United Kingdom and Republic or Ireland than its predecessor, peaking at number three and number one on the UK Singles Chart and Irish Singles Chart respectively. The album ended the year as Britain's second-best selling album of 1982, beaten only by Barbra Streisand's Love Songs album. It remained on the UK Album Chart for 46 weeks and sold over a million copies - the biggest-selling album ever released by BBC Records (who had licensed the songs from RCA).[5]
The album was also a top 30 hit in Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and New Zealand, but only managed to reach #146 in the US.[5] A third single was released in the Netherlands, "Life is a Celebration". In the United Kingdom, a follow-up album The Kids from "Fame" Again was released just three months later, and peaked at number two on the UK Album Chart.[3]
