The singing duo known as Pink Lady consisted of Keiko Masuda and Mitsuyo Nemoto, who were usually referred to as Kei and Mie. The two Shizuoka girls were "discovered" through an NHK talent contest, where they performed folk music wearing bib overalls, impressing with an innocent charm. When they made their professional debut with the song "Pepper Keibu" in 1976, however, they were a well rehearsed pure pop confection, equal parts cute, sexy clothes, hook laden pop songs, and...

The singing duo known as Pink Lady consisted of Keiko Masuda and Mitsuyo Nemoto, who were usually referred to as Kei and Mie. The two Shizuoka girls were "discovered" through an NHK talent contest, where they performed folk music wearing bib overalls, impressing with an innocent charm. When they made their professional debut with the song "Pepper Keibu" in 1976, however, they were a well rehearsed pure pop confection, equal parts cute, sexy clothes, hook laden pop songs, and disco influenced dance routines. Their dance routines are certainly tame by today's standards, but at the time most idols made simple hand gestures to accent their songs, and the booty shaking disco routines the girls performed were considered shocking, but soon became wildly popular. Pink Lady were quickly launched into superstardom, scoring a steady stream of hits, appearing often in magazines and on TV, having their own feature film, and being used extensively in advertising. The Pink Lady image helped sell all kinds of consumer goods. They had their own Pink Lady brand of shampoo, their image on ice cream bars, and a tremendously popular noodle commercial, amongst many other advertising tie-ups. "UFO" was the name of one of their biggest ever singles, as well as the name of the Noodles they endorsed. The dance routine for "UFO" can be performed by most Japanese people who grew up in this era even today, given enough prodding or drink. Other of their biggest hits were "SOS", "Southpaw", and "Nagisa No Sinbad". At the end of 1978 Pink Lady was cast in controversy over which TV show they would appear in; the year end standard NHK program "Kohaku Uta Gassen" or their own TV special, and the fall-out from this some mark as the beginning of their decline. Their next single "Jipangu" broke their streak of #1 singles, only reaching #4. Their minders tried to shore up interest by having Pink Lady collaborate with the Village People, and later with the Beach Boys, which worked to a degree but did not put them back on top. Next they were booked to play the Tropicana in Las Vegas, and partly as a result were in 1980 given an American recording contract and their own US TV variety show. Their US album Kiss In The Dark did reach #37 in the Billboard charts, but it soon fell out. Their TV show Pink Lady...and Jeff was a disaster and was cancelled after only six shows. The show's executives had somehow overlooked the fact that Pink Lady did not speak English, and while they managed to memorize a fair amount of dialog, comedian Jeff Altman was brought in to fill the gaps. The series was released on DVD by Rhino in 2001 and advertised as "the world's worst TV show". The duo regrouped back in Japan but the writing was on the wall, and in March 1981, Pink Lady, with great fanfare, gave their "farewell concert" at Korakuen Stadium. This however was far from the end of Pink Lady. They remain a popular nostalgic item, and their memorabilia is widely collected. They have done some acting, Mie raising eyebrows playing against character in the 1982 film Call Girl. Pink Lady have made a number of comebacks, some bigger than others. In 1984 they returned with the album Pink Lady Again: Suspense, a laserdisc called Pink Lady: Now in Los Angeles and their in-concert TV special Forever Pink Lady. In 1996/7 they released Pink Eyed Soul and the video Saikai Pink. Also in 1997 Mie briefly joined the group Animetal, which her husband-to-be managed, and for awhile the group was known as "Animetal Lady". Mie married in March 1998, and divorced in March 2004 (Kei married in 2002). In 2000 the duo again reunited, for an appearance on Kohaku Uta Gassen. In 2003 Pink Lady made yet another return, this time with a two-year marketing campaign and tour. Kei wrote her autobiography, which was published in September 2004. The popularity of Pink Lady may wax and wane, but the mark of this dynamic duo is deeply etched into the history of Japanese pop culture, and shows no sign of fading any time soon.