CASH BOX MAGAZINE: January 20, 1979
clipping provided by William Bisch

PINK LADY FETED IN L.A. - Pink Lady, a young female duo from Japan, recently was feted with an elaborate record industry reception at Yamato's Restaurant in Los Angeles. The duo, which consists of Mie, a 20 year old and Kei, a 21 year old will have its debut American release on Warner/Curb records. Pink Lady, who was recently awarded the Japan Popular Song Award, was also honored by Waturu Miyakawa, the Japanese Consulate General, during its visit to the States. Pictured (l-r) at the reception are: Michael Lloyd, who will produce the duo's album; Mie; George Benson; Kei; Neushi Ertegun, president of WEA International; Mie; Kei; Miriam

Luttio, the duo's interpreter; Lloyd and Paul Drew, the duo's manager. Pink Lady is scheduled to return to America in March or April. GO TO APRIL 14, 1979 JUST BELOW FOR THE OTHER CLIPPING!

BILLBOARD MAGAZINE: January 27, 1979

JAPAN'S PINK LADY REACHES FOR WORLDWIDE RECOGNITION
by Haruhiko Fukuhara

TOKYO: The Pink Lady, the most popular song-and-dance female twosome here, have extended their string of consecutive number one hits to eight with "Tomei Ningen" which recently sailed past the the million mark.

With so many hits and sales records to their credit in just over two years since their debut, Kei and Mie, the Pink Lady partners, are now looking overseas for new challenges. The duo, who have signed a management contract with Paul Drew and also reached a worldwide (except Japan and the Philippines) recording contract with Warner Bros./Curb, recorded four songs in Los Angeles on October 19 and 20. One will be chosen for the next single due to be released worldwide on Jan.3.

Before leaving for the U.S., the two held a press conference at the Tokyo Hilton Hotel. Having glanced through the sheet music to "Love Countdown", one of the four songs and a prime candidate for release, Kei told reporters: "All the numbers that we've done have been fast but this one's slow and more adult. Now that I've turned 20, I've been wanting to to sing a song like this and am happy that it's actually coming out soon."

Mie added: "I'm happy that one of our dreams will be coming true. We're going to keep giving all our songs all we've got."

Next January, the duo plan to return to the States, record some more songs and host parties commemorating the release of their new single in L.A. and New York. This will be just the start of their busy schedule for the coming year.

Later in the month they will participate in the proceedings at MIDEM in Cannes. Around March or April they will do some promotional work on U.S. television. Promotional tours are planned for the U.S. and Canada in July, the U.K., France and other European countries in October and Australia in December.

CASH BOX MAGAZINE: April 14, 1979
clipping provided by William Bisch

PINK LADY ON ELEKTRA/CURB - The Japanese recording duo, Pink Lady, who have had eight consecutive number one albums in their homeland, stopped by the Elektra/Asylum offices in Los Angeles to chat with E/A executives. Pink Lady product will be presented on Elektra/Curb in the United States and a debut single, "Kiss in the Dark" will be released this month. Shown here are (l-r): Ken Buttice, E/A vice president of promotions; Mie of Pink Lady; Paul Drew, Pink Lady person

direction; Kei of Pink Lady; Joe Smith, E/A chairman; and Jerry Sharell, E/A vice president of creative services.

TIGER BEAT: June 1979

FAR EAST MEETS WEST IN HOLLYWOOD

Who's the top group in Japan? Ifya think it's KISS, Cheap Trick, or the (Bay City) Rollers, guess again----all of them are very popular, but Japan's own Pink Lady is

number one! 20 year old Mie and 19 year old Kei have had 10 number one singles and eight number one albums in a row, and now they'll be topping the U.S. charts too if music wiz Michael Lloyd has his way! He wrote and produced Pink Lady's single, "Kiss In The Dark", it's their first in English! Michael's been taking the pretty Ladies around to meet his music biz buddies, this pic was taken at a party in their honor, and Mie (left) and Kei (right) got to meet George Benson, Beach Boy Mike Love and rock group Van Halen!

LOOK MAGAZINE: June 11, 1979

HOT PINK LADIES

The singing duo Pink Lady has taken over Japan. Its 10 number one singles and eight number one albums have spawned Pink Lady dolls, Pink Lady notebooks, even Pink Lady bicycles. The two women sing on Japanese television shows and commercials; their images are plastered all over advertising posters. And now, says their American represenative, Paul Drew, the group is "in the process of being adapted to the world market outside Japan, like the Datsun car or the Sony."

Pink Lady, named for the drink, consists of two 21-year old former junior and senior high classmates, Mitsuyo Nemoto and Keiko Masuda. Mie ("me") and Kei ("kay") were both born in Shizuoka City. In February 1976, they auditioned for the Japanese TV talent show A Star Is Born and walked away with the top prize and a recording contract. Since then, it's been one success after another. Even their movie debut, in Pink Lady's Great Motion Picture was a box office hit.

After all the acclaim in Japan, why bother with the American Market? "An adventure," says Kei. "An adventure," echoes Mie. And, of course, the United States market is the largest in the world.

Mie's and Kei's "adventure" is well planned. Michael Lloyd, a major force in the success of Shaun Cassidy and Debby Boone is composing and producing their songs. The group's biggest success is with children; their U.S. debut will take place on America's own preteen heartthrob's TV extravaganza, The Leif Garrett Special, airing May 18 on CBS. And for added insurance, their first single is a disco tune called "Kiss In The Dark."

Despite the extensive professional plans, Pink Lady has another goal. As Mie recently told a reporter, "We are females, and a woman's happiness lies in getting married. We will continue only until one, or both of us, marries."

BILLBOARD MAGAZINE: June 15, 1979

PINK LADY ENDS DROUTH

TOKYO: Music industry people here are elated over a single which this week has moved up to 63 on Billboard's Hot 100. It's "Kiss In The Dark" by Pink Lady on Elektra/Curb.

Not since 1963, when Capitol imported Kyu Sakamoto's "Sukiyaki" from Toshiba records here and watched it become number one throughout the world has there been a Japanese hit in North America. That's a 16-year dry spell. "Kiss In The Dark" and "Sukiyaki" are the only two hits ever charted in the U.S. by Japanese in the entire history of the recording industry.

ROLLING STONE: September 6, 1979

PINK LADY: JAPANESE BUBBLEGUM
by Ben Fong-Torres

"A Pink Lady?" the bartender at Vanessi's repeats. "It's---let's see---gin, lemon juice, grenadine....apple brandy, an egg and heavy cream. It's very heavy and very sweet."

I order a Scotch and water while waiting to meet Pink Lady, the two-woman pop sensation from Japan who are on the West Coast cutting their first Englsh langauge records. Half an hour later, the two twenty-one year olds, Mitsuyo Nemoto (nucknamed "Mie") and Keiko Masuda ("Kei") jump out of a limo and breeze into the restaurant with their two managers: Kazuhiko Soma, who discovered and groomed them, and Paul Drew, who's guiding their invasion of the U.S.

Dressed like Olivia Newton-John in Grease, black sweater for Kei, chenille top for Mie, pink slacks and boots, they're anonymous here, talking and giggling at each other like the girlhood friends they are. They neither look or act like the best selling female recording act in the world, based on $75 million in sales in two years, from eight albums and nine singles, all but one Number One in Japan. At home, their concerts fill baseball stadiums; they are all over TV, doing pitches for everything from insecticides to underwear, and their image in marketed on some 350 Pink Lady products.

What have they done to deserve this? Followed orders, basically, and put together a pop sound rooted in The Archies, with touches of Abba and The Supremes. Their first American single, "Kiss In The Dark," is Disco, with an innocuous remake of Left Banke's "Walk Away Renee" on the flip side. Since neither lady speaks fluent English, they sing phonectically, and although they handle the language impressively, their readings inevitably seem souless. Still, with "Kiss In The Dark" nearing the Top Forty, Pink Lady is the first Japanese act to make the U.S. charts since Kyu Sakamoto hit with "Sukiyaki" (which was in Japanese) in 1963.

In Japan, the Pink Lady phenomenon is based on a peculiar mix of bubblegum music and peekaboo imagery. Although their audience is mostly teens and preteens who've seen them on TV, in concert, Mie and Kei wear scanty outfits along the lines of go-go nighties and torreador tights. And while they do sort of dance together, mostly childish head bobbing and simple hand waving and pointing motions, they exude wholesomeness.

That's where the grooming comes in. Mie and Kei were spotted at a TV audition three years ago by Soma. "Most Japanese singers are short, and they are tall," says Soma. (Mie is five feet five, Kei is five three) "And I felt their singing was....trainable." Soma put Kei on a diet, which trimmed her by fifteen pounds and began dressing them in matching minskirt outfits ("By being half naked," he says, "they presented health, not sex") and named them Pink Lady. "I was looking for a striking name."

Mie and Kei say that despite their initial resistance to the vaguely suggestive name and bubblegum image, they are happy. As for the music they do: "My ideal is to sing my own songs," says Kei, who agrees that Pink Lady's product is on the childish side. But they don't want to expand their audience too suddenly, she says, because that would be "too adventurous" and might leave their younger fans stranded. Kei's favorite artists are Wayne Newton and Tom Jones while Mie named Diana Ross and Donna Summer.

They also have no complaints about their contract with Soma's management-production company, which paid them $250 a month each for their first year, while their records made millions for management. Now they recieve $40,000 a year each and earn a penny per single and twelve cents per album sold. They get nothing for their advertising work and do not share in merchandising profits, except as stockholders in the production company. "It may sound unfair," said Soma, "but it's all part of the system. If they get sick, the company secures their security, until age twenty-five." Mie and Kei drew salaries before their debut, he argues, and were gauranteed their pay whether or not they had a hit.

Now they have their own condos in a "nice part of Tokyo" and are busily attending English classes at Berlitz as part of Paul Drew's strategy for Pink Lady to make it in the U.S. Mie doesn't put it in business terms: "We want to test ourselves," she says. "Japan (the world's second largest record market) is still a small market. The United States is at the center of the world." And Drew is thinking platinum all the way. Pink Lady's first English-language album is out (on the Elektra/Curb label) and Drew, formerly the main ear at the RKO chain of powerhouse AM stations, has picked the music.

"Kiss In The Dark," he says, "is a formula record with the hooks in it, "Kiss and you run away" which means that the radio stations should pick up on it immediately. It's just one of those manufactured pieces of hit material that should do extremely well."

TIGER BEAT MAGAZINE: October 1979

THE TIGER'S BEAT: PINK LADY

Pink Lady! They're taking the U.S. by storm! Pink Lady is made up of two lovely girls from Japan, Mie (pronounced "Me") and Kei ("Kay). You probably remember them from Leif Garrett's TV special in May when they made their U.S. debut. Their American debut song is an upbeat disco song called "Kiss In The Dark" and is fast becoming popular with dancers all over the country!

Speaking of dancers, these two young ladies could give us all a lesson or two! To see them perform is a rare treat you don't want to miss! Mie and Kei were classmates in both junior and senior high school and enrolled in a creative dance modern ballet school in hopes of one day becoming peformers. Their hard work paid off and now their spectacular dance numbers almost resemble acrobatics. Mie says, "If we did any more dance than we do right now, we couldn't possibly sing, too!"

Pink Lady is currently the hottest group in Japan. They're on top the top of the music charts and have attracted a following that borders on the edge of fanatic. There are over 81 Pink Lady products being sold in Japan today, everything from notebooks to bicycles! And now, new horizons have been set for them to conquer----the U.S.

The name Pink Lady was given to Mie and Kei by the composer of their Japanese songs. He says he named them after the cocktail Pink Lady because he thought it was a drink that was sweet and strong &endash; a colorful drink that is cute and and has a mixture of contents. But at first Mie and Kei objected, because pink also has another meaning in Japanese, it suggests something sexy!

But, Mie and Kei are probably two of the nicest, charming and most traditional girls you could ever meet. Mie and Kei strongly believe in their Japanese values which say that a woman's place is in the home. Mie says, "We are females and a woman's happiness lies in getting married. We will continue only until one or both of us marry." But, for the moment, marriage seems to be far away. Mie and Kei are too busy winning your heart!