Early history Mitsuyo Nemoto and Keiko Masuda were childhood friends who grew up and attended school together in Japan's
Shizuoka Prefecture. In 1973, they attended the
Yamaha Music School in
Hamamatsu. In May 1974, the duo formed a folk group called and passed Yamaha's audition. Nemoto and Masuda first appeared in March 1976 on
NTV's prime-time TV talent show
Star Tanjō!, performing a cover of Pīman's 1974 song . They were showcased as a cute, fresh-faced folk duo dressed in bib overalls. The duo's performance earned them a contract with
Victor Entertainment. They were also affiliated with the talent management firm , which gave them a makeover to compete with the teen trio
Candies. Songwriter/producer
Shunichi Tokura named the duo "Pink Lady" after the
cocktail, while
Yū Aku was assigned to write lyrics for their songs. Tokura and Aku previously composed hit songs for
Linda Yamamoto and
Finger 5. Hajime Doi supervised the duo's dance choreography while Yōko Noguchi designed their costumes. In addition, Nemoto and Masuda took the stage names of and , respectively. By the time the girls re-appeared on the show five months later, their image had completely changed - they were now dressed in slinky, beaded, short-skirted white dresses, performing upbeat pop tunes. This record was held until February 1983, when
Seiko Matsuda's "Himitsu no Hanazono" became her 10th consecutive No. 1 single. With their 1978 single "
Chameleon Army", Pink Lady stayed at Oricon's No. 1 position for a combined total of 63 weeks - a record they held until
B'z achieved a total of 64 weeks in January 2015 with their single "
Uchōten". The duo became commercial pitchwomen for various products, ranging from shampoo to radios to children's books to
ramen noodles. Just about every product Pink Lady endorsed enjoyed a massive uptick in sales. The peak of Pink Lady's popularity was in 1978, during which they headlined a concert at
Korakuen Stadium in Tokyo with over 100,000 fans in attendance. and starred in their first major full-length motion picture titled . The duo also traveled to
Greece to film a TV special and have photos taken for a special photobook. Furthermore, they became cartoon stars with the airing of , a 35-episode
anime television series directed by
Katsuhiko Taguchi and aired on
Tokyo 12 Channel. The series was commissioned by T&C Music, with animation production by
Toei Animation.
Voice actresses Michiko Nomura and
Junko Hori voiced Mie and Kei respectively. Pink Lady won the Grand Prix at two of Japan's most prestigious music awards, the
20th Japan Record Awards and All Japan Popular Music Awards. The duo's hectic schedule created the term in Japan's entertainment world. Pink Lady's net worth at the time was estimated to be between 20 billion and 50 billion, but T&C Music initially paid Mie and Kei 300,000 per month each on their first year; afterwards, their salary was raised to 3 million per month. As for the rest of the profits, it was reported that T&C Music was a subsidiary of a secret firm run by a
yakuza syndicate, which collected 70% of the earnings. Their decision backfired, as
Kohaku garnered ratings nine times higher than Pink Lady's show. In addition, T&C Music announced that they had invited students from a school for the blind to the studio for the taping of the show, but the school denied that any such arrangement had been made. Critics accused Pink Lady of using blind children to promote their own TV special. The duo was not invited to perform again on
Kōhaku the following year, and in fact did not perform on the annual special until 1988 - well after the duo had disbanded. In May 1979, Pink Lady performed a charity concert at the
Osaka Expo '70 Stadium in front of 200,000 spectators, of which all profits went to
UNICEF. It was the biggest event of its kind up until then.
Pink Lady in the United States At the beginning of 1979, Pink Lady focused on the American market. Mie and Kei appeared as guest stars on a
Leif Garrett TV special that spring, in a promotional picture of their eponymous show, 1980 Afterwards, the duo appeared with comedian
Jeff Altman in the
variety show Pink Lady and Jeff, a mixture of musical numbers and sketch comedy. The fact that Mie and Kei knew very little English limited their potential as comedians, and also caused them a great amount of stress, since both were essentially forced to memorize dialogue neither could understand. On top of that, they were forbidden to perform any of their Japanese hits until late in the show's short run, being forced to struggle through English-language disco and pop hits such as "
Yesterday" and "
Knock on Wood."
Pink Lady and Jeff lasted only six weeks in prime time on
NBC before being pulled off the air, and to this day is celebrated by many as one of the worst television shows in history, as well as single-handedly killing off the variety show format that had been a staple of American television since its early days. On September 1, 1980, the duo held a press conference at the
Akasaka Prince Hotel to announce their disbandment within six months. In 1996, to commemorate their 20th anniversary, Pink Lady reunited for a third time to release the compilation
Pink Lady Best Selection and "Pink Eyed Soul", their first new single in 12 years. In addition, Mie and Kei earned royalties of 100 million each after the pachinko game sold over 100,000 units. On September 1, 2010, Pink Lady held a press conference at Victor Studios to proclaim: and announce their comeback by releasing a specialized
photo-book titled .
Innovation, a two-disc album with re-recorded versions of their past hits, was released in December of that same year. A concert tour was followed in March 2011, which marked the 30th anniversary since their first official disbandment in 1981. Also in the same month, the duo's 12 albums released from 1977 to 1979 were remastered in digital format and distributed to various subscription services. In July 2020, Mie and Masuda were selected in the women's category of the 6th Platinum Age Awards, which honors celebrities over the age of 60. ==Legacy==