P!nk

Debuting in the late '90s with a radio-friendly R&B sound similar to a crop of other young performers, singer/songwriter P!nk quickly developed her own identity, transforming pop songcraft and powerhouse, rock-influenced vocals into a winning combination that kept her in the Top Ten for decades. From 2001's quintuple-platinum M!ssundaztood to 2003's Grammy-winning Try This, P!nk steadily made moves away from her early R&B style, teaming with songwriters Linda Perry, Tim Armstrong (Rancid), and Butch Walker to give her rousing pop anthems a distinct rock edge. Nominated for over a dozen Grammy Awards, she won Best Pop Collaboration in 2002 for the hit cover of "Lady Marmalade" and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance in 2004 for "Trouble." She also won an Emmy in 2016 for "Today's the Day," the theme to The Ellen DeGeneres Show. In 2019, P!nk issued Hurts 2B Human, which, like her two previous efforts, topped the Billboard 200. Following the 2021 documentary and concert compilation All I Know So Far, she released her ninth album, 2023's Trustfall. With a string of number one singles and millions of albums sold globally, P!nk is one of the most commercially successful pop acts in the world. Born Alecia Beth Moore on September 8, 1979, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, P!nk received her nickname as a child, years before she dyed her hair accordingly. She grew up in a musical family and was a regular on the Philadelphia club scene by the age of 13, first as a dancer and then as a backing vocalist for the local hip-hop group Schoolz of Thought. At 14, she began writing her own songs; the same year, a local DJ at Club Fever began inviting her onstage to sing a song every Friday. P!nk was spotted one night by an executive for MCA Records, who asked her to audition for an R&B group called Basic Instinct. Although P!nk's strong vocals landed her the gig, the group imploded not long after. She was quickly recruited for a female R&B trio called Choice, who signed to L.A. Reid and Babyface's LaFace label on the strength of their demo; however, they too disbanded due to differences over musical direction. During Choice's brief studio time, producer Daryl Simmons asked P!nk to write a bridge section for the song "Just to Be Loving You." Impressed with the results, P!nk rediscovered her songwriting muse, and an equally impressed L.A. Reid soon gave her a solo deal with LaFace. P!nk recorded her solo debut, Can't Take Me Home, with a variety of songwriting partners and dance-pop and R&B producers. Released in 2000, the album was a double-platinum hit; it spun off three Top Ten singles in "There U Go," "Most Girls," and "You Make Me Sick." She toured that summer as the opening act for *N Sync, but soon found herself tired of being pigeonholed as strictly a teen act despite her sassy, forthright persona. As she set about working on her follow-up album, P!nk took part in the remake of Patti LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade" featured on the Moulin Rouge soundtrack, which also featured powerhouse divas Christina Aguilera, Mya, and Lil' Kim. The Grammy-winning song was a massive hit, topping the charts in both the U.S. and U.K. while expanding P!nk's own audience. Toward the end of the year, P!nk released her next single, "Get the Party Started," which climbed into the Top Five and became the singer's most inescapable hit to date. Her accompanying sophomore album, M!ssundaztood, quickly went double platinum; it boasted a more personal voice and an eclectic sound, plus heavy contributions from ex-4 Non Blondes singer Linda Perry, who helped bring more rock muscle to P!nk's sound (as did guest appearances by Steven Tyler and Richie Sambora). M!ssundaztood attracted positive critical notices as well, and its second single, "Don't Let Me Get Me," became another fast-rising Top Ten hit. P!nk next issued Try This in November 2003. The album continued her progression toward more rock-oriented material, due in part to the songwriting collaboration of Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong on eight of the album's tracks. Try This' lead single, "Trouble," cracked the upper regions of Billboard's Top 40 and earned P!nk a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. On the home front, P!nk wed motocross racer Carey Hart -- whom she had initially met at 2001's X Games -- on January 7, 2006, in Costa Rica. Her next album, I'm Not Dead, appeared that April; its first single, "Stupid Girls," quickly became a hit, while "Who Knew" and "U + Ur Hand" both cracked the Top Ten. I'm Not Dead reached platinum status in several countries and helped ramp up anticipation of P!nk's follow-up, Funhouse, which arrived in October 2008. "So What," the album's leadoff single, became her first number one hit since "Lady Marmalade." Another single, the double-platinum "Please Don't Leave Me," followed in 2009. All these hits were collected on the 2010 release Greatest Hits...So Far!!!, which featured the previously unreleased single "Raise Your Glass," an uplifting dance anthem that scored P!nk another number one and was later certified quintuple platinum. Around the time of the release of Greatest Hits...So Far!!!, P!nk announced that she and her husband were expecting their first child. In September 2012, P!nk released her sixth studio album, The Truth About Love. With production from Greg Kurstin, Butch Walker, Max Martin, Dan Wilson, and others, it became her first number one album in America and earned platinum status in half a dozen countries. The singles "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)," "Try," and "Just Give Me a Reason" all hit the Top Ten in the U.S., and the last (a duet with Fun.'s Nate Ruess) became her fourth number one hit in America. P!nk mounted a year-long tour -- the third best-selling in 2013, according to Billboard -- through Australia, Europe, and North America, and at the end of 2013, she was named Woman of the Year by Billboard. Taking a break from her solo work, P!nk teamed up with City and Colour vocalist Dallas Green for a collaborative acoustic effort called You+Me. They released their first album, Rose Ave., in October 2014. Rose Ave. debuted atop the Billboard folk chart and cracked the Billboard 200 Top Five. The following year, P!nk wrote a new theme song for The Ellen DeGeneres Show titled "Today's the Day," which won the singer an Emmy. She also contributed "Just Like Fire," a new song, to the 2016 movie Alice Through the Looking Glass. P!nk returned in August 2017 with the socially charged track "What About Us," the first single from her Beautiful Trauma album, which arrived in October. Upon release, the LP topped the Billboard 200 -- her second consecutive number one -- while "What About Us" and Beautiful Trauma were both nominated for Grammys. Kicking off her seventh world tour in early 2018, she spent the following year on the road, also contributing to Elton John's Revamp & Restoration project and The Greatest Showman: Reimagined compilation. In April 2019, P!nk released Hurts 2B Human, her third straight Billboard 200-topping album. She teamed up with Keith Urban the following year for the single "One Too Many," and in 2021 she released "Cover Me in Sunshine," a duet with her daughter, Willow Sage Hart. That track landed on All I Know So Far, a live companion to the documentary film of the same name, which was recorded mostly at London's Wembley Stadium in June 2019. The radio hit "All I Know So Far" was later nominated for a Grammy Award. In July 2022, she delivered the punk-edged women's rights single "Irrelevant," released in protest of the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade. At the end of 2022, P!nk issued "Never Gonna Not Dance Again" as a precursor to her ninth studio album, Trustfall, which arrived in early 2023. The anthemic set peaked at number two on the U.S. pop chart and featured production by Fred Again, Max Martin, and Shellback, as well as appearances by the Lumineers, First Aid Kit, and Chris Stapleton. "Dreaming," a collaboration between P!nk, Sting, and Marshmello, appeared in October and, along with "All Out of Fight," anchored the Tour Deluxe Edition of Trustfall, released in December. ~ Steve Huey & Neil Z. Yeung