Kissing The Pink

If Kissing the Pink's name sounds like sexual innuendo, it's because it is. The band eventually changed their appellation to the modest KTP. Often chastised by the U.K. press in the '80s, Kissing the Pink's music is not as suggestive as their name. The group's hybrid of soul, electronic experimentation, and synth-pop should've landed them hits when that sound was in flavor, but the band merely flirted with the Top 40 in England and was virtually unknown in America except for new wave diehards. Kissing the Pink was formed in 1980 at the Royal College of Music in London, England. All of the members lived together in the same house in North London. Comprised of Nick Whitecross (vocals, guitars), Jon Kingsley Hall (keyboards, vocals), Peter Barnett (bass, violin, vocals), Simon Aldridge (guitars, vocals), Stephen Cusack (drums, vocals), George Stewart (keyboards, vocals), and Josephine Wells (saxophone, vocals), Kissing the Pink released their first album, Naked, in 1983. By 1986, Kissing the Pink had shortened their name to KTP and recorded their most successful LP, Certain Things Are Likely. More commercial than any of their previous efforts, Certain Things Are Likely was Kissing the Pink's concession to their label Magnet's demand for a chart smash. The hits never really came, except that the title track reached number one on the Billboard dance charts; moreover, the single "One Step" went to number one in Italy. In 1988, KTP became Kissing the Pink once again. The group released Sugarland in 1993. After that, the band cut their roster to Whitecross, Hall, and Stewart, doing mainly production work for other artists. In 1999, Hall recorded Moving Into One, a trance CD, for his wife. Kissing the Pink collaborated with Steve Balsamo that year on a number of songs, but they were rejected by Sony and shelved.