Celinda Cosby (born 1957), known professionally as Celinda Pink, is a female

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer. Between 1993 and 1995, she released two studio albums on

Step One Records Step One Records was an independent American record label established in February 1984 in Nashville, Tennessee. The label was founded by singer-songwriter and producer Ray Pennington with Curtis Potter, the former of whom had produced for Waylon ...

and three singles, including her 1993 single "Pack Your Lies and Go", which peaked at No. 68 on the

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

charts.

Biography

She was born Celinda Cosby in 1957 in

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal and Piedmont (United States), Piedm ...

. After being abandoned by her birth parents, she was raised by a foster family in Alabama. Cosby gave her first performance in the third grade, singing "

Elvira Elvira is a female given name. It is believed to have first been recorded in medieval Spain, while other sources claim that it is likely of Germanic ( Gothic) origin. In the Balkans, Elvira is popular among Bosniaks, Croats, and Slovenes in the ...

" at a talent competition. After moving in with her grandparents, she also attended a reform school. There she cited the presence of African American students who would listen to soul and R&B music as an influence. She moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

at age 16 in an attempt to find her mother and attend

Tennessee State University Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tennes ...

. After this she spent much of the 1970s singing in nightclubs around Tennessee. During this time she developed a heroin addiction for which she later went to rehabilitation, became the mother of two children, and adopted her stage name of Celinda Pink. It was in her nightclub gigs that she was discovered by promoter Buzz Ledford, who eventually helped her sign to

, an independent label. Her debut album ''Victimized'' came out in 1993 and charted the single "Pack Up Your Lies and Go". A review in ''

Stereo Review ''Sound & Vision'' was an American magazine, purchased by AVTech Media Ltd. (UK) in March 2018, covering home theater, audio, video and multimedia consumer products. Before 2000, it had been published for most of its history as ''Stereo Review' ...

'' was positive, calling Pink's voice "bluesy, ballsy, and full of rue". A second album, ''Unchained'', followed in 1995 also on Step One. A review published in the magazine ''

Gavin Report The ''Gavin Report'' was a San Francisco-based radio industry trade publication. The publication was founded by radio performer Bill Gavin in 1958. Its Top 40 listings were used for many years by programmers to decide content of programs. The ...

'' was positive, noting influences of

blues music Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

in her delivery.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pink, Celinda American women country singers American country singer-songwriters Living people 1957 births Step One Records artists Country musicians from Alabama 21st-century American women Singer-songwriters from Alabama