Pink Singers Archive
In 1983 Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister since 1979, won a landslide victory, unemployment was at a record high and Peter Tatchell faced homophobic attacks while campaigning for the Bermondsey by-election; meanwhile at a rehearsal space in Oval House a new choir was coming together.
Mark Bunyan, composer, writer and cabaret performer, was persuaded by Brian Kennedy, editor of 'Kennedy's Gay Guide to London' and the gay section of City Limits and Michael Mason of Capital Gay, that ‘London needed a gay choir, a mixed gay choir...’ Mark agreed to do it for three months, overseeing the first appearance of the Pink Singers at Pride where they headed up the crowd that marched to Malet Street.
At the end of three months Mark and the choir were wondering what would happen next. Fortuitously Robert Hugill, a new member who had been running a choir in Salisbury, asked if he could conduct the occasional piece….that turned into a 5 year stint as director. During this time the choir developed a repertoire that created a balance between the need to entertain and the need to be political; and put themselves on a more formal footing by having an AGM and voting themselves a constitution.
Affectionately known as the ‘Pinkies’, the Pink Singers aim to promote equality and raise awareness of LGBTQ+ issues in wider society through their music, and in 2023 the choir will celebrate 40 years together.
In 2013, to celebrate both their 30th anniversary and the fact that they were the first gay choir in the UK and the longest-running mixed gay choir in Europe, the Pink Singers put together an exhibition called ‘Singing the Changes’. The exhibition reflected on 'three decades of LGBT social history in London, told through the lens of choir members past and present'.
Filmed interviews with choir members were made especially for the exhibition and are not just about the choir and singing but explore all sorts of personal issues and aspects of the LGBTQ experience.
"Looking back now to 1983, I mean it was a very, very different world. I mean this was five years before Clause 28 happened. Through the ‘80s you sort of realize in retrospect there was a growing worry by the Establishment that they had let this genie out of the box, and they thought, and I think it was Leo Abse actually who did the 1967 Act, sort of said “I didn't expect them to behave like this, I didn't expect them to start wanting human rights. I expected them to just be quiet and not be prosecuted."
Mark Bunyan
As well as the recordings and testimonies of the ‘Pinkies’, the choir’s early history is documented by images from Robert Hugill’s scrap books, which consist of many disparate items, from concert flyers and programmes, to letters and sheet music. There are also research materials used in the creation of the exhibition and a hard copy of the anniversary book which includes transcripts of the interviews and full images from the exhibition.
The archive created through this project can now be viewed at LMA and in the words of the ‘Pinkies’...
"We…celebrate the fact that we are also all Londoners, and a part of the wider UK and LGBT choral community. At its heart, the Pink Singers has always been about the power of great music to move people and bring people together."
You can find out more about the choir and its history on the Pink Singers website.