Pink Singers

The Pink Singers are Europe's longest-running LGBT choir, founded in April 1983 by Mark Bunyan and Brian Kennedy. They are a mixed four-part choir, with over 80 LGBT singers. The repertoire includes everything from pop to classical to jazz, folk and show tunes. The choir has had six musical directors since its inception.

Setting up: Mark Bunyan and Brian Kennedy, April–July 1983

The first rehearsal was at the Oval House Theatre on 7 April 1983 with about 20 people, and their first public performance was at that year's London Pride march. In the early days there was a radical aspect to the choir's repertoire. The sign-up sheet from the first choir rehearsal shows members’ awareness of the significance of joining a gay choir. Asked to indicate which voice part they intended to sing, some people simply wrote ‘political’. Kennedy was the driving force behind the creation of the choir, as he had visited the USA and seen some of the choirs which had been set up there. However, he did not feel capable of fronting it himself and persuaded cabaret artiste Mark Bunyan to take on the role of musical director. Bunyan's diary for the first meeting recorded, ‘The rehearsal for the gay choir survived both my incompetence and the potential splits of cultural/political and male/female but we’ll see how next week goes.’

Radical politics and cabaret: Robert Hugill, July 1983–September 1988

Bunyan's own performing career was taking off at the same time and he felt that he did not have the time to give to the choir. Robert Hugill expressed an interest in becoming musical director and Bunyan gladly handed over the reins.

Return of the women: Michael Derrick, September 1988–September 1992

Paul Cutts, 1992-1997

Mladen Stankovic, 1997-2010

Murray Hipkin, November 2010–

External sites
http://www.pinksingers.co.uk/