PINK - Seeing Red

Outspoken, outrageous, and opinionated, Pink is the brash and defiant pop star who lectured the British Royal Family on animal rights, took a controversial swipe at vapid celebrity culture, publicly criticized George W. Bush, and continues
to inspire legions of women all over the world to be themselves.

At 30, she has built a widely successful singing career that has generated 23 million album sales and won her two Grammy Awards and five MTV Music Video Awards. She’s currently in the middle of a world tour which has broken box office records in Australia and is one of the highest grossing concert series this year, ahead of Coldplay, Celine Dion, and Beyoncé.

But her brand of infectious rock-oriented pop is more than just catchy melodies and punky persona—she has something to say, too. Whether she’s laundering her dirty linen in public in “Family Portrait,” where she raged about her parent’s divorce when she was a child, or attracting controversy with “Dear Mr. President,” an open letter to George W. Bush asking him how he really feels about controversial subjects, Pink bares her soul and shares her innermost feelings.

A colorful background

Pink was born Alecia Beth Moore in Doylestown, Pennsylvania in 1979, and was later raised in Philadelphia. At age 8, her parents, Judith and Jim, divorced. She responded by turning to pen and paper to express how she was feeling. A rebellious teenager, she was smoking and drinking by the time she was 13, had piercings and tattoos, and was experimenting with drugs, including heroin. Her mother couldn’t cope and so sent her to live with her father, a politically active Vietnam veteran whom Pink has called “Mr. Cause” because he was always standing up for important rights and issues. At 14 Pink was singing in clubs, and at 16 she joined the R&B group Choice. They signed to LaFace Records but quickly floundered, making little impact on the charts. However, the label saw star quality
in Pink and kept her on, where for a short spell she sang backing vocals for numerous acts including Diana Ross.

Getting the party started

Her party started in 2000 with her first album, Can’t Take Me Home, on which she co-wrote half the tracks. It went double platinum in the U.S., and sold five million albums worldwide, spawning two U.S. top ten singles and establishing her alongside new teenage singing sensations Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. It was very much an R&B record, but following its success, Pink was determined to move her music in a different direction. She did not want to be thrown into the same pot as the other women who burst onto the scene at roughly the same time, and she was keen to be seen as a more serious songwriter.

It was no small feat that she somehow managed to convince her record company bosses that the smartest move was to let her follow her instincts. According to the singer-songwriter, they already had an inkling of how strong willed she can be. On becoming a recording artist she was supposed to take media training and etiquette classes. She thought the latter were an insult to her mother, and so didn’t bother to attend. However, she did turn up for the media training, but only for it to be abandoned after a few minutes with her tutor despairing that she would not listen. Pink does not like being told what to say, or how to say it.