Tales Of The Pinkie

Your stories of being a part of
Pink Singers history!

As far as I know I am the youngest Pinkie ever to join. I was 19 at the time, just off the plane from Finland. Being so young also means that I wasn’t even born when Mark Bunyan and the late Brian Kennedy formed the Pink Singers in May 1983. It seems amazing to think that when I was just a twinkle in my fathers eye, the Pink Singers were born.

I cannot remember how I found out about the Pink Singers, it was probably while browsing through Diva or perhaps on the Internet, but anyhow, in the late summer 2003, I took up all the courage I had and went along to a rehearsal.

I remember wearing a bright yellow jumper and a big smile on my face. During that time the Pinkies rehearsed at the Drill Hall and we were not as many Pinkies as we are now in 2008. Now we cant even accept more altos as we have too many already.

In 2003 the Pinkies didn’t have a new members contact or even specific days for new members, you just turned up. And so I did. The rehearsal started with a little name game, and I remember that it being difficult as I have such a long name... I was hooked, the voice check revealed that I was an alto, back in Finland I had always sung soprano, perhaps struggled a bit, but still in a little church choir it didn’t really matter.

After the rehearsal we all headed to a nearby pub, and as my friend and fellow Pinkie Johnathon said at my recent civil partnership, he was amazed at how many vodka&lemonade such a small girl could get down in one night. I have so many good memories of sitting and chatting with various Pinkies in various pubs, it almost seems like the social stuff was more important than the singing. (oh and don't get me wrong i looove the singing too!, neverending Pinkies songs always play in my head when were not rehearsing)

But singing brings social stuff. My first concert had a James Bond theme, having movements to our Bond medley made the singing so much more fun. Movements has made their way slowly, slowly to our concerts, much to our audiences delight. During my time in the Pinkies we have danced, or moved to the tunes of James Bond tunes, Madonna, the Madness and Abba.

That first afternoon must have made an impression, as five years later I am still here. The Pink Singers for me was (and still is) a great way to meet new people and make new friends. Seeing the choir develop during these years that I have been with the choir has been incredible (and I can’t help but feel a sense of pride) and I can just imagine how amazed the original choir-members are after such a long time.

Bring on our 50 year anniversary!

- Nathalina Backman
Alto
Pinkie since 2003

"I had tried out another choir. Their rehearsal space was in a basement, the tea break chaotic, and we were required to stand for the entire practice. When I wandered into the Pink Singers, into a room with light streaming through the windows, there were chairs to sit down, and we had our break in the Drill Hall cafeteria with tasty snacks!

I had a small group of friends that would gather to belt out show tunes on occasional Sundays, and I had the idea to try out a song on them that was also, in my mind, a possibility for the Pink Singers. It worked okay so I wrote it out and presented it to Mladen, who was encouraging and happy to have me present it to the choir. I still remember playing out the parts for the choir, how warm and supportive everyone was, and knowing we'd work on it together. The song Big City was my love song to London and my friends there. "The way that hope grows there, any dream could come true. I love a big city, 'cause a big city is where I met you." That first concert that we sang it, I could have burst with joy.

It was great for me to feel part of a group and to contribute to it, but I also felt that the group was bringing out the best in me. There were solo spots for the concert at the London Lighthouse and I wrote a new song. Mladen, with cheerful exasperation, agreed to me singing it, but made comments on how epic and complicated my songs tended to be. I decided to ask Michael Derrick, whose arrangements of When You Tell Me That You Love Me and Always On My Mind I loved, for his advice - and we spent some time together on it. Key changes! What a good idea. Songwriting had mostly been a private affair for me. I'd never really had anyone give me advice on it before, and one doesn't run into people often who have expertise to offer. At the concert, when it was my turn, I sat down to play, and partway through the song, it started to fall apart! I'd put in too many key changes for my limited piano abilities! I stumbled to the end of it! I wasn't too upset. I'd challenged myself. Mladen had been right about trying to keep things a little more basic. Now, I manage to write songs which are simpler and have key changes. And I feel warmth and gratitude thinking about both Michael and Mladen for their contribution to my music.

My last concerts with the Pink Singers were in July 1998, first a joint concert with the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Choir and the London Gay Men's Chorus. It was great to meet the Sydney choir as I knew I'd be moving to Sydney at the start of 1999. From Hackney to Paris: we then all headed to Paris together where we sang with the Sydney Choir and the Melomen. I can't remember a lot of details actually: the striped shirts of the French choir for their sailor number, the full theatre, that we sang well. I do remember a last dinner though, on a cobblestone street, the summer night air was full and warm. It was time for me to leave, not only Paris, but London as well. I started saying goodbyes, but various people stood up from their dinner tables and then moved us out onto the street. There, they formed a circle, pushed me into the centre of it and started singing Hand In Hand. They took turns hugging me goodbye. The tears in my eyes glistened with the great affection I felt for my wonderful, dear, and irreplaceable Pink Singers."

- Andy Quan
Tenor
& composer/arranger
Pinkie since 1998

"The Stonewall Equality Show, Royal Albert Hall, 1995:

Directed by Ian McKellen and compered by Sandi Toksvig, the show included the first live performance by Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders as Patsy and Eddie, Lily Savage, Marc Almond, Michael Barrymore - recently "out" - and topping the bill, Elton John, whom the Equality Choir was to accompany.

We rehearsed weekly (in Aldgate) without Elton John who was then touring the States. It was arranged that he would fly in and out on the day of the concert (a Sunday) via Concorde and we would rehearse with him from noon at the concert venue. We were positioned at gallery level behind him and were able to sit there throughout the evening.

We jointly rehearsed I'm in Love With a Wonderful Guy, and were most surprised and intrigued when Kylie Minogue joined him and they sang Sisters. He completed his set with "There is Nothing Like a Dame".

The latter song also proved to be a surprise - what a strange combination we whispered amongst ourselves, but all was explained when he appeared that night dressed in enormously high heels, a black cocktail dress and waist-length hair - it was a drag act!"

- Bill Barry
Tenor
Pinkie since 1995

"I'll be completely honest and say that my arm was very heavily twisted by Brian Kennedy, and Michael Mason of Capital Gay, to start the choir in 1983. I'd had some success with my musical the year before, and my cabaret career was going great guns, so I must admit that I didn't really want to commit that much time to it and said that I'd do it for exactly three months.

The first choir meeting was April 7th 1983. Diary reads: 'The rehearsal for the gay choir survived both my incompetence and the potential splits of cultural/political and male/female but we'll see how next week goes.' The first meeting was at the Oval House as was the one a week later: 'There were only fifteen people at the choir practice but at least two women still. Managed to balance the meeting again between Radfems and SDP Yale Gleeclub (the latter was so silly/awful it make me giggle). Afterwards some of us went to the White Bear... Bob Stratton came in delivering Gay News and gave Brian and I a copy each "because you do things." He's off to Devon or would have joined the choir.'

May 15th: 'Was late to choir practice in County Hall and felt awful and incompetent though when we got it together God Rest You sounded pretty good. The name is now The Pink Singers (over my suggestion That Choir). I enjoy it even when feeling appalling.' I was hungover.

I remember Robert being really surprised when I said that not only could he do some of the musical direction but could also take over the whole thing. It was at the last meeting of my promised three months and his arrival could not have been timed better. I'd been assuming that I'd have to go on with it despite my (clear from the diary entries) feeling that this wasn't something I was too skilled at."

- Mark Bunyan
Founding member
& first musical director
Pinkie since 1983

"GALA in Montreal in the summer of 2004 was a big event for me. It was the first time that I was heading overseas with the Pink Singers and also the first time I had ever been to a choir festival, let alone a gay one. Even more importantly, it was the first time that Simon and I were going away on holiday together since we had started dating, so there was quite a bit of excitement to the whole trip.

Due to really bad co-ordination on our parts, however, Simon and I ended up flying to Canada separately. He went there directly, while I made a detour via New York in the company of Stephan from the basses. Stephan and I checked into a tiny little hotel room just north of Washington Square with a view of a brick wall and no natural light. But at least it was cheap! Most of our time there was spent shopping and eating, with the odd foray into Chelsea of course. Another friend of mine was in New York at the same time and, on the recommendation of a native he had picked up, we went to a very down-to-earth Venezuelan restaurant in the East Village. It pays to get to know the locals - I now visit religiously whenever I am in Manhattan.

Simon had already been in Montreal for a couple of days, mooching around the city with Mladen, by the time I arrived. When I got to the train station, he was there on the platform, crying, ready to greet me. Whether the tears were due to his joy at our being reunited, or the trauma of travelling with our musical director wasn't clear, but I cried too!

If you have never been to a large gay gathering before, you will feel as I did, awe-struck and quite overcome. The area in the city center where the festivities were held was decked in banners, and the registration area within the convention center was a crush of stalls, flyers, posters and all sorts of paraphenalia from T-shirts to CDs. And the people! Thousands and thousands of gay men and women overrunning the town. What a sight to behold, there was no way of avoiding us!

I am amazed that we found each other in the throng, but after some careful planning the Pinkies did get together and even had the chance to rehearse in one of the meeting rooms. It is always a little difficult to get the numbers for overseas concerts, but we had a fairly motley crew. I will always remember Nick and his chronic inability to do up the upper three buttons of his performance shirt, which meant he just had to wear the bow tie Chippendale style! And of course there was Jo in her ever-sexy shades and spaghetti strap tops - it was very hot after all - with her partner Bea, our unofficial groupie and bag-minder.

Choir festivals are always slightly stressful because the musical standards are pretty high. We were all fairly anxious, and it certainly showed in the warm-up room backstage. Thankfully, the concerts themselves were manned with military precision and guides with stopwatches kept us moving along until we appeared under the spotlights. The nerves meant that it was musically not one of the best performances of the Pinkies, but in our set we showed off what we are great at: a diverse mix of classical, jazz and pop, with a gentle amount of campery thrown in for good measure. Despite a bit of mentally catastrophic stumbling in our Beach Boys number, we did manage to pull it together, and in any case the audience was incredibly supportive and the applause at the end long and heartfelt.

As far as I can remember, we were one of the closing acts of the festival, so no sooner had we let our hair down, than everyone packed up and left. And so we left Montreal too, but not before seeing some of the sights, and trying out a Segway on the bay. It was a romantic week for Simon and I, and we got to sing with the Pinkies - what bliss!

...and the strange icing on the cake was that one of Stephan's friends was the air steward for our return flight, so we were bumped up to business class!"

- Hsien Chew
Tenor
Pinkie since 2002

"The first part of I Feel Love’s recording was in London, and this was where the cowboys rode into town, twenty of them in the collective posse of the Pink Singers. This male voice choir with a difference embraced an extraordinary range of character types, from loudly extrovert to painfully shy. Appearance was just as varied. The group couldn’t resist giggling, non-maliciously, at this odd human assortment. The big sound of the resulting layers, the harmonies of which were recorded one at a time sounds quite Volga Boatmen, belying the hot summer night on which it was recorded in an East London basement studio, sounding considerably larger than the recording room.

The Pink Singers were even more effective on the other cover on the album, of the Gershwins’ It Ain’t Necessarily So. This is possibly the track which shows off the diverse talents of all concerned, starting with Arno (Uptown Horns) Hecht’s clarinet taking the melody at the beginning. Jimmy’s singing is effortlessly fluid, the more remarkable that he is delivering it on his first album. The harmonized scat sections are flawless, although we would admit that they took time. You can feel the enthusiasm of the Singers. When they enter in the second verse they sound as if they have just been uncaged, which knocked the track nicely out of being comfortable middle-of-the-road anodyne. They were so anxious and anticipating that it was impossible for them to sing at any level less than raucous, even when humming under the a cappella verse."

- Mike Thorne
Record Producer
Age of Consent
in which the Pink Singers
backed Bronski Beat

"I joined the Pink Singers in 1988, walking into the rehearsal ‘dungeon’ that was the basement of the London Lesbian & Gay Centre, in Farringdon. I was young and a bit nervous at first, but soon found a place in the tenor section and started to sing my heart out for the next seven years.

The first big event for me was a Christmas concert in Stratford. Why? Well it was my first concert and someone had suggested I sing a solo – Getting to be a Habit With Me from 42nd Street. I can still remember the words. I can’t remember who suggested I do it, so I can’t ‘thank’ them for the experience.

In Miami, disaster was averted when our accompanist, Brian, lost one of the pieces of music and had to run back to the dressing room. Philip Rescorla (our resident continuity announcer) was only vaguely aware of the problem and carried on making jokes. As he returned to his position next to me, I whispered, “Just in time” as Brian scampered back with the lost music.

Another highlight has to be our visit to Hamburg to perform at the European Festival of Song. Not only was I part of organising this trip, but I was also presenting the songs solo, as Philip was unable to attend. Aside from the presenting, there was a memorable boat tour of Hamburg harbour in the rain, and a not so memorable all night end-of-festival party (because I drank a lot and can’t remember much) followed by fresh fish from the early morning market.

In Denver we started with a concert at the AT&T offices during their lunch break. I must have been a bit jet lagged, because my memory of this is the strange experience of performing to people eating sandwiches. More glitter. With two performances in Seattle and two in Denver, I also know that I was getting sick of saying the same joke during my introduction of the final song – “I was on a beach in Hollywood, laying on the sand looking at the stars – I think I got that the right way round”. In all, another memorable experience I will treasure forever. I found glitter in my passport at Heathrow.

And how can I forget the magic act. When introducing the songs during a concert, I soon learnt that comedy was Philip’s department. I couldn’t keep up. So, together we developed a bit of magic involving a number of hankies, a pair of trousers with a hole in the pocket, and a very embarrassed audience member who had to confirm there was nothing in said pocket. Shame we never got to try the rabbit in a hat bit.

Above and beyond the concerts, tours, and gay pride performances, the most enduring memory I have is of the people I met and the laughing: Paul Firth, valiantly trying to choreograph movement; Barbara, quiet but dedicated; Philip Newton, close friend, duet partner and sometime treasurer; Tim, leading the altos; Rosie and her tambourine; and many more too numerous to list. Weekend retreats in a Norfolk caravan park, in the middle of March, freezing to death by the sea, scaring the locals, and singing.

I can honestly say my time with the Singers provided me with stories and memories to last a life time."

- Richard Seymour
Tenor
Pinkie since 1988

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Nathalina Backman
Andy Quan
Bill Barry
Mark Bunyan
Hsien Chew
Andy Quan
Richard Seymour
Mike Thorne

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