Sing It Pink

In 1983, a cabaret performer named Mark Bunyan decided London's gay music scene was missing a choir. When Mark and a few other singers got together for a first rehearsal, they had no idea that  they were creating a hope machine that would sing and dance through some of the greatest challenges in LGBTQ+ history. This is Sing It Pink!, the touching story of the Pink Singers, London and Europe's oldest LGBTQ+ choir, told through the people who sang for freedom. With archive recordings of pivotal rehearsals, touching stories from choir members from over 40 years, and intimate sound design, Sing It Pink! is a landmark documentary series and a piece of essential queer history.

It’s 1983, and Mark Bunyan is making a splash on the cabaret scene in London. Inspired by gay activist Brian Kennedy, Mark advertises for singers who want to join an LGBTQ+ choir. But it’s a time of homophobia and shame, so will anyone turn up to the first rehearsal?In this episode, Cassian Fagilde, one of today's youngest Pink Singers, looks back at the choir’s origin story: how did an LGBTQ+ activist and a cabaret performer make a choir that has survived for 40 years? Who were the folks who turned up to that first rehearsal? And how has the choir changed?Sing it Pink! is an Aunt Nell production for the Pink Singers. You can find out more about the Pink Singers at https://www.pinksingers.co.uk/ or follow them on Instagram or X @pinksingers.The theme music was composed by Simon Pearson with lyrics by Jaie Monroe. The artwork was by Fredde Lanka. Produced by Rachel ByrneAssistant producer: Marnie WoodmeadeExecutive producers for Aunt Nell: Tash Walker and Adam ZmithExecutive producer for The Pink Singers: Chris ScalesAudio mix by David PyeSpecial thanks to ALL the Pink Singers past and present, Laura Owen, Emily Barber from Creators Counsel, Acast studios, the Bishopsgate Institute and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. 

The Pink Singers are taking off, performing, partying and fighting for LGBTQ+ rights. But soon they are hit by one of the greatest threats to LGBTQ+ people: the AIDS crisis. In this episode, Philip Rescorla, one of the choir’s oldest members, remembers how the choir experienced HIV, through the hospice visits, the friends he lost, and the songs that lifted their spirits even in the darkest days.Sing it Pink! is an Aunt Nell production for the Pink Singers. You can find out more about the Pink Singers at https://www.pinksingers.co.uk/ or follow them on Instagram or X @pinksingers.The theme music was composed by Simon Pearson with lyrics by Jaie Monroe. The artwork was by Fredde Lanka. Produced by Rachel ByrneAssistant producer: Marnie WoodmeadeExecutive producers for Aunt Nell: Tash Walker and Adam ZmithExecutive producer for The Pink Singers: Chris ScalesAudio mix by David PyeSpecial thanks to ALL the Pink Singers past and present, Laura Owen, Emily Barber from Creators Counsel, Acast studios, the Bishopsgate Institute and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. 

As the Pink Singers belt out songs from the roof of Broadcasting House, they make a vital call: We need more lesbians. In this episode, Ali Milton-Doyle, a Pinkie who met their wife in the choir, investigates why it is so hard finding the early women of the Pink Singers, and how the experiences of her fellow femme Pinkies has changed with separatism, Section 28 and song. Sing it Pink! is an Aunt Nell production for the Pink Singers. You can find out more about the Pink Singers at https://www.pinksingers.co.uk/ or follow them on Instagram or X @pinksingers.The theme music was composed by Simon Pearson with lyrics by Jaie Monroe. The artwork was by Fredde Lanka. Produced by Rachel ByrneAssistant producer: Marnie WoodmeadeExecutive producers for Aunt Nell: Tash Walker and Adam ZmithExecutive producer for The Pink Singers: Chris ScalesAudio mix by David PyeSpecial thanks to ALL the Pink Singers past and present, Laura Owen, Emily Barber from Creators Counsel, Acast studios, the Bishopsgate Institute and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. 

The Pink Singers are the oldest LGBTQ+ choir in Europe (if you’re to believe there’s ever been a heterosexual choir), but what makes up a choir? In this episode, Olivia Doust, a singing teacher by day, Pinkie by night, looks at the music that has made the Pink Singers sing, and how it’s been shaped by the treatment of LGBTQ+ people in society. But with their current musical director, Murray, leaving, and having only ever had cis male musical directors, will the music change tempo?Sing it Pink! is an Aunt Nell production for the Pink Singers. You can find out more about the Pink Singers at https://www.pinksingers.co.uk/ or follow them on Instagram or X @pinksingers.The theme music was composed by Simon Pearson with lyrics by Jaie Monroe. The artwork was by Fredde Lanka. Produced by Rachel ByrneAssistant producer: Marnie WoodmeadeExecutive producers for Aunt Nell: Tash Walker and Adam ZmithExecutive producer for The Pink Singers: Chris ScalesAudio mix by David PyeSpecial thanks to ALL the Pink Singers past and present, Laura Owen, Emily Barber from Creators Counsel, Acast studios, the Bishopsgate Institute and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. 

From Finnish saunas to the streets of Mumbai, the Pink Singers have gone global. In this episode, Hsien Chew, founder of Proud Voices Asia, takes us on a tour through time and space with the Pink Singers. Taking us back to European choirs rallying behind the Pink Singers as Section 28 came into force, to activism through songs and protest across the world today. Sing it Pink! is an Aunt Nell production for the Pink Singers. You can find out more about the Pink Singers at https://www.pinksingers.co.uk/ or follow them on Instagram or X @pinksingers.The theme music was composed by Simon Pearson with lyrics by Jaie Monroe. The artwork was by Fredde Lanka. Produced by Rachel ByrneAssistant producer: Marnie WoodmeadeExecutive producers for Aunt Nell: Tash Walker and Adam ZmithExecutive producer for The Pink Singers: Chris ScalesAudio mix by David PyeSpecial thanks to ALL the Pink Singers past and present, Laura Owen, Emily Barber from Creators Counsel, Acast studios, the Bishopsgate Institute and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. 

Music and song is something that transcends sexuality and gender, but society hasn’t always seen it that way. The Pink Singers are on a mission to change that, but have they always been that way? In this episode, Josi, a Pinkie performance poet who transitioned in their sixties, guides us through the history of choir members who go beyond the binary. Drawing on her own experience as a trans woman and police detective, she takes us through how voice parts aren’t the only thing that’s changed within the choir.Sing it Pink! is an Aunt Nell production for the Pink Singers. You can find out more about the Pink Singers at https://www.pinksingers.co.uk/ or follow them on Instagram or X @pinksingers.The theme music was composed by Simon Pearson with lyrics by Jaie Monroe. The artwork was by Fredde Lanka. Produced by Rachel ByrneAssistant producer: Marnie WoodmeadeExecutive producers for Aunt Nell: Tash Walker and Adam ZmithExecutive producer for The Pink Singers: Chris ScalesAudio mix by David PyeSpecial thanks to ALL the Pink Singers past and present, Laura Owen, Emily Barber from Creators Counsel, Acast studios, the Bishopsgate Institute and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. 

As the Pinkies prepare for their 40th Gala performance, they take the opportunity to look at something the choir has always had in abundance: love. In this episode, Mills Dyer looks at how relationships have formed in the choir and how they’ve created harmonies and the occasional wrong note. From family to wife-swaps, from love to friendship, the Pinkies are forging new ways of living and loving.Sing it Pink! is an Aunt Nell production for the Pink Singers. You can find out more about the Pink Singers at https://www.pinksingers.co.uk/ or follow them on Instagram or X @pinksingers.The theme music was composed by Simon Pearson with lyrics by Jaie Monroe. The artwork was by Fredde Lanka. Produced by Rachel ByrneAssistant producer: Marnie WoodmeadeExecutive producers for Aunt Nell: Tash Walker and Adam ZmithExecutive producer for The Pink Singers: Chris ScalesAudio mix by David PyeSpecial thanks to ALL the Pink Singers past and present, Laura Owen, Emily Barber from Creators Counsel, Acast studios, the Bishopsgate Institute and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.