KISSING THE PINK BIOGRAPHY

Kissing The Pink

Original, genre-spanning, ahead of their time and infused with nearly three decades of songwriting and production experience: the prestigious and inventive production and songwriting collaboration of Kissing the Pink (KTP) is set to write and release their first new material under their own banner in over 15 years.

At the peak of their fame, and during 20 years as senior professionals in the music industry, Nick Whitecross, Jon Hall, George Stewart and Simon Aldridge have topped the US and European charts, toured with The Police, and worked with the music industry’s most successful scribes and hit-makers, people whose careers have crossed paths with the likes of The Happy Mondays, David Bowie and Scott Walker.

During the first wave of their success the band was signed to Warner Brothers, performed several times on Top of the Pops, recorded six albums and embarked on a series of lucrative sell-out world tours. Now, continuing to experiment with psychedelica, dance and jazz under the pop umbrella - and bringing their own abundant experience of co-writing, producing and discovering some of the world’s most successful artists into the equation - the quartet hopes to provide an antidote to the pre-manufactured acts whose careers they have helped vitalise.

Prior to teaming up with art-college-educated Aldridge, Whitecross, Hall and Stewart were classically trained at the Royal College of Music. Self-taught guitar player and front-man Whitecross bonded with his band-mates through an enjoyment of early house, classical music and pop-makers like Stock Aitken Waterman; their partnership soon blossomed into a seven-strong collective that lived together, worked together and made music together. They drew on everything from Robert Wyatt to Kraftwerk and The Human League, rehearsed at the Royal College and soon developed a following. A bidding war ensued. The band was signed to Lord Michael Levy’s Magnet Records, moving to Warner Brothers when the major label bought Magnet in 1988.

Kissing the Pink’s first album was engineered in George Martin’s AIR studios by Colin Thurston, the man behind Bowie’s Heroes. Their star quality soon shone through with single Last Film, which reached the UK Top 20. Their 1987 anthemic dance track Certain Things Are Likely spent three weeks at number one in the US dance charts, so, spurred on by their ambition to record dance-mediated pop (and bored with their classification as a “pop rock” group) the now-renamed KTP went almost totally pre-recorded for their live shows, experimenting with form and music. The band informally split during the 1990s when KTP ceased to allow its members the opportunity to achieve their unique array of individual ambitions.

Over the last 20 years KTP’s members have continued to sustain a presence at the forefront of British popular music. As a songwriter, Whitecross went on to work with Jem, A-Ha and with veteran songwriter/producer Martin Terefe on artists like James Morrison, juggling this with life as a teacher, specialising in songwriting and music production. Hall grew into another successful producer, writing and producing albums for Gareth Gates and The Puppini Sisters.

During the 1990s, Stewart echoed his former band-mates’ success, this time, in dance music, writing, producing and mixing tracks for artists such as Paul Oakenfold and The Shamen. Together with Hall he co-wrote Candy Dulfer’s 2003 jazz-funk album Right in My Soul. Aldridge rose up the ranks of A&R, signing artists such as Seal, Gabrielle, Mark Morrison, All Saints and The Bodyrockers. He is currently a senior executive at London’s Broadcast Music, Inc.

More recently, the four have been working as musical consultants for multinationals including such as BSkyB, before reuniting in the studio this month. “We are pissed off with having to contrive things for other people,” says Whitecross, “and want to get back to making music ourselves. It’s an exciting time and full of possibilities.