What is
Pink Lady? In Japan they are remembered for a string of pop hits in the 70s, but Americans might remember them either from their disco single "
Kiss In The Dark" or from an attempt to sell them to the US market in 1980 via a short-lived NBC variety show
Pink Lady & Jeff (
TVParty summary) with comedian
Jeff Altman. (
Opening). The show featured their Japanese hits,
UFO,
MONSTER (a bi
t more rock and roll), and
SOS along with US hits like
Boogie Wonderland,
McArthur Park and the
occasional guest star. (with
encore)
Also, Roy Orbison.
Sadly, the show failed to break out and the two returned to Japan for a series of farewell concerts and retrospectives. Much, much more available at this
charmingly retro, utterly exhaustive fan site devoted to them. Or just
read the recaps. [more inside]
posted by The Whelk
on Dec 11, 2011 -
33 comments
The
original
version of "My Way" ("Comme d'Habitude", Frank Sinatra's version was a cover) was written by
Claude Francois, AKA
"CloClo". Somewhere between a French Wayne Newton and Elvis, he died when he was taking a bath, saw a lightbulb had gone out, and tried to replace it while standing in water, completing the circuit. Some of his hit songs include:
Belinda,
Belles Belles Belles (cover of
"Girls Girls Girls"),
Si J'avais un
Marteau (if I had a Hammer),
Sale
Bonhomme (French country, cover of Johnny Cash's "Dirty Dan"),
Le Disco est Francais
His scantily clad female backup dancers, called the
"Claudettes" or
Clodettes, were the inspiration for the Solid Gold dancers and had
their own short-lived solo spinoff career where they tried to cash in on the
kung-fu + disco
craze.
posted by destro
on Aug 1, 2010 -
27 comments
