Several years ago, I won an eBay auction where I obtained from M.L. Obrecht of Ann Arbor, Michigan, an authentic press kit publicising Pink Lady prior to their 1979 assault on the U.S. music scene. The kit consisted of a press release (printed on pink paper) which gave a brief bio on Mie and Kei along with their many amazing achievements in the Japanese music industry. Next came reprintings of two magazine articles, one from the May 14, 1979 edition of Newsweek and the other from the June 11, 1979 issue of Look. By the by, both were also printed on pink paper. Lastly, an 8 X 10 black and white glossy of the girls, and it all came in a pink folder with their logo on the front. All in all, it was highly informative, giving U.S. media members just about everything they needed to know about Pink Lady. And now, here it all is for your reading and viewing enjoyment.
FROM THE PINK LADY PRESS RELEASE:
Pink Lady is the largest selling female recording group in the world. More precisely, Pink Lady is the teaming of two stunningly attractive young Japanese singers, 21-year old Mie ("Mie") and 21-year old Kei ("Kay"). Since forming a little over two and a half years ago, the girls have became national heroines in Japan, while compiling a string of musical achievements not only unprecedented in the history of Japanese music, but staggering for the entire international music community. In their meteoric rise to superstardom in Japan, Pink Lady has already grossed more than $72,000,000 in record sales and have sold more than 17,000,000 records. In concert appearances alone, they have grossed over $12,000,000.
In Japan, the second biggest music market in the world, Pink Lady has had ten consecutive #1 singles and eight #1 albums in succession. All of the duo's singles have sold more than 1,000,000 copies. Pink Lady was the 1978 winner of the prestigious Japan Popular Song Award, considered one of the top three music awards presented in the world. They received the award for their single recording of "U.F .0." which sold over 1,750,000 copies. In the past two years, Pink Lady has also captured every other major Japanese music award presented by the needier, music press, television and radio including: the Cable Radio Broadcasting Award, N'IV Music Festival Award, and the Record Award.
In addition to Pink Lady's staggering recording success, the response to their live performances has been equally phenomenal. Last summer, pink Lady performed for some 140,000 fans for two outdoor concerts at the Korakeun Stadium, home of the Tokyo Giants baseball team, and this past Christmas set a new attendance record by performing five sold-out concerts at Tokyo's 16,000 seat Budokan Hall. Mie and Kei have wasted little time since attending junior high school together. They participated in the sane theatrical group in high school, took vocal lessons from the Yamaha School of Music, and in February 1976, auditioned for a network program called "Star Is Born." After winning top honors for the show, Pink Lady was quickly signed to Japan's Victor Records. Their first single, "Pepper Keibu," was released in August 1976, and the rest is history--almost.
One of Pink Lady's biggest ambitions has been to record in the United States, and this past year that dream has come to fruition.. The duo were brought to America by radio impresario Paul Drew. Drew signed the group to Elektra/Curb Records, and arranged for veteran writer/producer Michael Lloyd to compose songs and produce the group. Lloyd, who has helped mold the sound of Shaun Cassidy and Debby Boone, has written and produced Pink Lady's debut single, "Kiss In The Dark," which was released in late. April. Their debut album, "Pink Lady" will be released this summer. Pink Lady's achievements in the past two years have been amazing, but it's only the tip of an iceberg... next stop... America.
FROM THE NEWSWEEK ARTICLE ON PINK LADY, MAY 14, 1979:
What has two attractive faces, four perfectly acceptable legs and a ton of money? Japan's Pink Lady--a pop music act that doubles as one of the country's most prodigious growth industries. Fans have spent more than $40 million on Pink Lady records. Last year, the singers--two 21-year-olds known as Mie and Kei--won every major pop-music award in Japan. Their eleventh record has just hit the racks at home and an album soon will be released in America. Great singers, one would imagine. Dazzling performers, no doubt. Not particularly. "They may not sing well," said one Japanese music expert, "but they don't sing badly, either." That hardly qualifies as critical acclaim, and in fact, Pink Lady's success story reads like a chapter from the lore of averages. "The~ look like ordinary girls you could find anywhere," said one 17 -year-old Lady's fan. "So naturally you feel like supporting them."
Nine of their ten singles have topped the national charts and Japan is awash in Pink Lady gewgaws: colorful posters, pens, mirrors, change purses, beach balls, aprons and kiddie underwear. Mie and Kei preside over four television series, make frequent guest appearances on other programs and show up dozens of times a day in commercials hawking everything from hot dogs to fried noodles. "In Japan," says Mie, "the more you appear on television the more popular you become." Apparently so: a Pink Lady cartoon has now hit the airwaves and the duo's first feature film, "Pink Lady Big Movie," earned around $10 million, even though the plot was no more engrossing than the title. Mie and Kei have guaranteed annual incomes of $90,000, residuals that could keep the yen steady for years, and a pink-carpeted duplex apartment in Tokyo that cost $600,000. And now the pair is packing to go off to the Promised Land of pop: the Pink Lady is invading America.
IDOL: Their itinerary is a paean to the profit motive. Mie and Kei will make a promotional tour of the West Coast to plug their first American album, "Pink Lady," and appear with U.S. teeny-bopper idol Leif Garrett on a network special. They even are taking their act to Broadway, where promoters have rented a huge Times Square billboard displaying the Lady's likenesses. Yet, for all the advance work done by their American manager, Paul Drew of Los Angeles, Mie and Kei could find the U.S. tough territory. In a previous visit, the act has had only modest success. Mie and Kei performed last year in Las Vegas and, although the house was packed, most of the audience was Japanese--not the kind of cultural breakthrough they were hoping for. This time, their act is being repackaged for stateside consumption. "Up to now," says Mie, "all our songs have been comical, cute and funny. "On the U.S. tour, the new emphasis, frankly, will be more on sex. In addition, the duo is taking language lessons. Until recently Mie and Kei spoke only a bit of English and even with the simplistic English lyrics to songs like "Love Me Tonight" and "I Just Want to Give You My Everything," the women's language deficiencies would have tried the patience--and the ears-of an American audience.
TALENT SHOW: Mitsuyo Nemoto (Mie) and Keiko Masuda (Kei) were high-school chums in Shizuoka. Neither was a brilliant student but both did well in the song and dance lessons they took, and were encouraged to enter a talent contest called" A Star Is Born." In this case, it was a two-star performance: the girls won the finals and were signed by a promotional outfit named the True and Conscious Music Co. Next came the name. A songwriter suggested Pink Lady, recalling that the drink was sweet and colorful. At first, it was hard for the girls to swallow. Pink is a sexual buzzword in Japan and seemed to clash with the girls' self-image. "The name," said Mie, "was repulsive to us. " They eventually agreed, but the Pink Lady's act--in Japan, at least--is hardly hot stuff. Their songs are "sweet, saccharine and dumpy," said one critic, their dance routines sometimes seem choreographed by a gym instructor and most of their elaborate costumes leave everything to the imagination. Mie and Kei never perform in nightclubs and children make up a large part of their audience.
If Pink Lady seems hopelessly pristine, nobody cares. Dozens of advertisers have discovered that a recommendation from Mie and Kei clicks with the consumer. "Our sales of Nippon Ham are up and will continue to grow because of the advertising campaign," says a butcher in Osaka. The Pink Salesladies earn royalties of up to $150,000 for a brief television spot and have more offers than they can handle. "If we did any more than we do now," sighed Mie in the midst of a twelve-hour workday, "we couldn't possibly sing." Much of the act's revenue is siphoned off by agents, managers and promoters. Initially, Mie and Kei received only $250 each for their hit records and even now they get no percentage of the profits--an arrangement that would cause a rock revolution in the West. Nevertheless, the duo receives cash aplenty to live in luxury and to pursue their non musical outside interests: poetry (Kei), horror movies (Mie) and collecting stuffed animals (both). In an age when the rock star is often synonymous with malcontent, the two young Pink Ladies are not only successful, but satisfied.
by Fred Bruning with Alan M. Field (in Tokyo) and Patricia W. Mooney (New York)
