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Alecia Beth Moore (born on September 8,
1979), known professionally as Pink (often stylized as
P!nk), is an American singer-songwriter who gained
prominence in 2000.
Pink released her first record, the R&B based Can't
Take Me Home, in 2000 via LaFace Records. Her pop
rock-based second studio album, M!ssundaztood, was
released in 2001 and is her biggest seller to date,
producing three top ten hits in the U.S. 2003's Try
This, her third album, failed to match the success of
M!ssundaztood. After taking a break, Pink released her
fourth studio album, I'm Not Dead, in 2006; has been a
huge success outside the U.S., going gold/platinum in
more than sixteen countries outside the U.S. and selling
more than two million albums in Europe, and 420,000
albums in Australia. She is known for her unorthodox
fashion sense and soulful sound.
Childhood and discovery: Alecia Beth Moore was
born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania to Vietnam veteran
James Moore and nurse Judy Kugel. She is of Jewish
ancestry on her mother's side, and is Irish, German and
Lithuanian on her father's. Moore has identified herself
as Jewish. She grew up in Doylestown, Pennsylvania,
where she attended Central Bucks West High School. Her
father played guitar and sang songs for her, and from an
early age she aspired to be a rock star. While in high
school, Moore joined her first "official"
band, Middle Ground, but the band never took off.
According to Moore, her biggest influences are Janis
Joplin, Steven Tyler, Bad Religion, Mary J. Blige, Bob
Marley, Billy Joel, Indigo Girls, Don McLean, 2Pac, and
The Notorious B.I.G..
Moore developed her voice early on in her life. An
asthmatic, she learned to breathe from her lower abdomen
instead of her chest on doctor's advice, and started
singing lessons to learn this technique. She began
performing in Philadelphia clubs when she was fourteen
years old. At age sixteen, she joined an R&B
Atlanta-based trio called Choice, which included Chrissy
Conway of the Christian girl group ZOEgirl. The group
signed with LaFace Records and contributed "Key to
My Heart" to the soundtrack of the 1996 film
Kazaam.
Choice eventually disbanded after
recording an unreleased album; Moore remained at LaFace
as a solo act under the stage name Pink. Daryl Simmons
took her to recordings where she sang backing vocals for
artists such as Diana Ross, 98 Degrees, Kenny Lattimore
and Tevin Campbell. Pink's debut single, the dance track
"Gonna Make Ya Move (Don't Stop)", was
released in the UK in 1998 by Activ Records and appeared
on the UK top 200.
Music career, 2000–2001: Can't Take Me Home era:
Pink's debut album, Can't Take Me Home, was co-produced
by Babyface and released in April 2000. A substantial
success, it went double platinum in the U.S., sold four
million copies worldwide and produced two U.S. top ten
singles: "There You Go" and "Most
Girls" (which reached number one in Australia). The
album's third single, "You Make Me Sick",
became a smaller top forty hit in early 2001 and was
featured in the film Save the Last Dance. Pink later
acknowledged, in regard to Can't Take Me Home, that she
chose to relinquish creative control to her record label
and that she did not like the music she made at this
time or her image, which included bright pink hair.
In 2001 she collaborated with pop singer Christina
Aguilera, rapper Lil' Kim and R&B/pop singer Mýa on
a cover of Labelle's 1975 single "Lady
Marmalade" recorded for the soundtrack of the film
Moulin Rouge!. Produced by hip-hop producers Rockwilder
and Missy Elliott, the song topped the charts in
countries including the U.S., the UK and Australia and
won a Grammy Award (Alecia's first) for "Best Pop
Collaboration with Vocals". The video won the MTV
Video Music Award for "Video of the Year".
2001–2002: M!ssundaztood era: Tired of being
marketed as another cookie-cutter pop act and eager to
become a more serious songwriter and musician, Pink took
her sound in a new direction and sought more creative
control during the recording of her second album. She
recruited former 4 Non Blondes vocalist Linda Perry, and
together they wrote most of the tracks on M!ssundaztood,
which was released via Arista Records in November 2001.
Perry co-produced the album with Dallas Austin and Scott
Storch. According to VH1 Driven, Antonio "LA"
Reid of LaFace Records wasn't initially content with the
new music Pink was making.
Its lead single, "Get the Party Started"
(written and produced by Perry), went top five in the
U.S. and many other countries. The album's other singles
— "Don't Let Me Get Me", the Dallas
Austin-produced "Just like a Pill", and
"Family Portrait" — were also radio and
chart successes, with "Just like a Pill"
becoming Pink's first solo UK number-one hit. The
singles were substantial hits on Adult Top 40 radio and
the United World Chart, and "Family Portrait"
became a theme song for many children whose parents were
divorced (according to MTV Diary). In 2002, after
opening for 'N Sync on their American tour, Alecia
started a headlining American and European tour, the
Party Tour. The 2002 Faith Hill album Cry features a
song co-written by Pink and Perry called "If You're
Gonna Fly".
M!ssundaztood reached the top ten in the U.S. and the
top five in the UK, and it was certified gold or
platinum status in more than twenty countries, with
worldwide sales of twelve million. It was the
second-best-selling album in the UK during 2002, and
Pink was the best-selling female artist globally. As of
2007, it is the best-selling album of her career. At the
2002 MTV Video Music Awards, "Get the Party
Started" won in the categories of "Best Female
Video" and "Best Dance Video".
M!ssundaztood and "Get the Party Started"
earned nominations at the 2003 Grammy Awards for
"Best Pop Vocal Album" and "Best Female
Pop Vocal Performance", respectively.
2003–2004: Try This era: In mid-2003 Pink
contributed the song "Feel Good Time" to the
soundtrack of the film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle,
in which she had a cameo appearance as a motorcross race
ramp owner/promoter. "Feel Good Time" was
co-written by singer Beck, produced by electronic music
artist William Orbit and based on the song "Fresh
Garbage" by 60s band Spirit. It became Pink's first
single to miss the top forty on Billboard's Hot 100
chart, although it was a hit in Europe and Australia.
"Feel Good Time" was included on non-U.S.
editions of Pink's third album, Try This, which was
released in November 2003. Eight of the thirteen tracks
were co-written with Tim Armstrong of punk band Rancid,
and Linda Perry was featured on the album as a writer
and musician. Though Try This reached the top ten on
album charts in the U.S., Canada, UK and Australia,
sales were considerably lower than those of
M!ssundaztood; it sold 720,000 copies in the U.S.
(receiving a platinum certification), and three million
worldwide.
The singles "Trouble" and
"God Is a DJ" did not reach the U.S. top forty
but went top ten in other countries, and "Last to
Know" was released as a single outside North
America. "Trouble" earned Pink her second
Grammy Award (for "Best Female Rock Vocal
Performance") at the 2004 Grammy Awards, and
"Feel Good Time" was nominated in the category
of "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals". Pink
toured extensively through Europe, where the album was
better received, on the Try This Tour.
2006–present: I'm Not Dead era: Pink took a
break to write the songs for her fourth album, I'm Not
Dead, which she said she titled as such because
"It's about being alive and feisty and not sitting
down and shutting up even though people would like you
to."[9] Pink worked with producers Max Martin,
billymann, Christopher Rojas, Butch Walker, Lukasz
Gottwald and Josh Abraham on the album. It was released
in April 2006 through LaFace Records and reached the top
ten in the U.S., the top five in the UK and number one
in Australia and Germany. It was a substantial success
throughout the world, but initially sales were low in
the U.S. until the success of the single "U + Ur
Hand" in early 2007. I'm Not Dead is Pink's second
biggest seller worldwide.
Lead single "Stupid Girls" gave Pink her
biggest U.S. hit since 2002 and earned a Grammy Award
nomination for "Best Female Pop Vocal
Performance". Its controversial video, in which she
parodies celebrities such as Lindsay Lohan and Paris
Hilton, won the MTV Video Music Award for "Best Pop
Video". Subsequent singles "Who Knew" and
"U + Ur Hand" were substantial hits in
Australia and Europe, but "Who Knew" didn't
reach the top forty in America; "U + Ur Hand",
however, became the album's biggest hit in the U.S. The
non-U.S. singles were "Nobody Knows", a minor
hit in the UK and Australia; "Dear Mr.
President", an open letter to American President
George W. Bush and a number-one single in Belgium; and
"Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)", a download-only
UK top forty single, and top twenty Australian single.
Pink has toured around the world during 2006 and 2007 on
her I'm Not Dead Tour, for which ticket sales in
Australia were particularly high.[citation needed] A
special tour edition of the album was released only in
Australia in March 2007. Her concert on December 4, 2006
in Wembley Arena on the UK leg of the tour was hosted by
London club G-A-Y, and it holds the record as the UK's
biggest indoor gay and lesbian event. In 2007 she opened
for Justin Timberlake on the American leg of his
FutureSex/LoveShow Tour.
In 2006 Pink was chosen to sing the theme song for NBC
Sunday Night Football, "Waiting All Day for Sunday
Night", which is a take on "I Hate Myself for
Lovin' You" by Joan Jett. She contributed a cover
of Rufus's "Tell Me Something Good" to the
soundtrack of the film Happy Feet, and lent her name to
PlayStation to promote the PSP, a special pink edition
of which was released. Pink recorded a song with Annie
Lennox for Lennox's fourth solo studio album, which is
scheduled for release in 2007. "Outside of
You", a song co-written by Pink, Chantal Kreviazuk
and Raine Maida, was recorded by dance-pop singer Hilary
Duff and released on her 2007 album Dignity.
Acting career: Pink appeared as herself in the
films Ski to the Max (2000) and Rollerball (2002). After
her cameo performance in Charlie's Angels: Full
Throttle, Pink looked for another film script and
settled on the horror film Catacombs, which was shot in
early 2006 and co-stars Shannyn Sossamon. "It's
pretty intense", Pink said. "It's not only a
sort of slasher type, scary movie; it's also
psychological and shows how mean and cruel siblings can
be to one another. I liked that part of it." Pink
was once on the short list of people to play Janis
Joplin in an upcoming biopic titled The Gospel According
to Janis Joplin, but she chose not to, saying it would
be disrespectful to Joplin because the film makers
didn't want to say she died of a heroin overdose.
Personal life: Pink dyes her hair frequently, but
she is a natural blond. On The Ellen DeGeneres Show she
revealed that there are real diamonds attached to her
teeth. According to her, her dog's name is
"Fucquerre", which she revealed in a live
broadcast for MuchMusic in 2003, forcing broadcasters to
censor the name in subsequent showings. She later said
on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross that her father
adopted this puppy and changed its name to Fred, saying
"He's a much happier dog." Elvis, one of
Pink's other dogs, drowned in Pink's backyard pool in
January 2007.
Pink married motocross racer Carey Hart in Costa Rica on
January 7, 2006. She proposed to him by holding up a
sign for him to see during one of his races. Before she
began her relationship with Hart, she was rumored to
have dated Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee.
Pink kissed actress Kristanna Loken at the 2003 World
Music Awards in Monte Carlo and said she had a
girlfriend at age thirteen. Pink doesn't identify as
gay, but she says most of her friends are gay and that
she's "had her moments." She has worked with
the gay rights group Human Rights Campaign.
Pink is also a prominent campaigner for PETA,
contributing her voice towards causes such as KFC's
alleged poor treatment of chicken before slaughter. She
sent a letter to Prince William, criticizing the Royal
Family's guards' usage of bearskin for their headwear.
In November 2006 Pink mentioned in the News of the World
that she is disgusted with fellow singer Beyoncé for
wearing animal fur. Pink has most recently taken on the
Australian wool industry over its practice of mulesing,
lending her face and fame to PETA. In January 2007 Pink
conceded that she had been misled by PETA over the issue
and that she had not done enough research of her own
before lending her name to the campaign. |
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