Pink Lady

Artist: Pink Lady

LP: 7" single

Song: "Southpaw"

[ listen ]

As everyone knows, you can't really be considered a serious collector of vinyl in Japan if you don't pick up at least one Pink Lady single or LP every time you set foot in a Japanese record store. This baseball-themed "Southpaw" single is one of the things my friend Aki found for me at Sonny Boy Records in Nagasaki last month. Childhood friends Mitsuyo "Mei" Nemoto and Keiko "Kei" Masuda made their first TV appearance together as Pink Lady in the spring of 1976. Before long their ship came in, followed by an entire fleet of ships, and the duo landed an impressive string of nine #1 singles between 1976 and 1979. "Southpaw," from 1978, was one of Mei and Kei's biggest hits, remaining at the top of the charts for nine consecutive weeks. Pink Lady's decline in popularity in the ensuing years—which involves a no-show audience from the school for the blind, a disastrous American English-language TV variety show, and choosing to perform at the wrong New Years Eve celebration in 1978—is all documented on Wikipedia here. And speaking of New Years celebrations, Aki and I have nearly mastered Pink Lady's "Southpaw" dance routine (see clip below) in preparation for our performance at his upcoming NYE work party at Boeing!

Pink Lady on YouTube:

[ "Southpaw" ]