Pinky Steede to put on gala performance
Pinky Steede is coming home.
The veteran singer, who now lives in Portugal, will perform at a gala fundraiser for cancer charity PALS later this month.
“I last performed in Bermuda a few years ago at the Jazz Festival, and I am very excited and looking forward to performing again for my people,” she said.
She and her former husband Gene Steede were popular entertainers with the Holiday Island Revue in the 1960s. A decade later, she was performing in hit musicals such as Bubbling Brown Sugar, in London’s West End.
Age hasn’t slowed her down. At 73 — she describes herself as “30 years and holding” — she’s about to publish her memoirs and last year released her most recent album, Love Is.
“All I have ever wanted to do is sing and travel,” said Ms Steede, who lives in Lagoa with her husband Mike Wall.
Ms Steede performs regularly in Portugal, where she’s lived for the past 20 years; the press there have called her a “diminutive ball of energy”.
PALS volunteer Patricia Purvey thought that fire was exactly what was needed for the cancer charity’s fundraiser.
The pair met at a party in Lagoa, held in honour of Mrs Purvey and her husband Sidney.
“We don’t often have Bermudians coming through town,” Ms Steede said.
“Mrs Purvey was on the other side of the room and my husband and I were sitting on a couch.
“I said to him, ‘We ought to offer to perform for PALS in Bermuda’. When she came over, I said that to her, and she said, ‘That’s funny. I was coming over here to ask you just that’.”
Ms Steede said she has never had cancer herself, but family members have died because of the disease.
“That is one of the reasons I was happy to help,” she said. “I think cancer is horrendous. I have done several similar performances for the oncology department of several hospitals [in Lagoa].”
Ms Steede’s parents didn’t have the money for singing and acting classes when she was growing up.
“Everything I have ever done has come off the top of my head,” she said. “It is my gift and it has worked really well.”
She said she usually sounds “like Barbara Streisand”, but switched gears a bit for Love Is.
“It had a very different sound for me. Normally, I have this theatrical kind of big sound, but I wanted to do this one very quietly, to see how it worked for me. I didn’t like it very much. It is quite a beautiful album because of the music that I chose, it’s just not me.”
Pinky, the working title of her autobiography, is being published through Memoirs, an offshoot of Amazon Books. She expects it will be available for sale early next year.
“I am over the moon about it because it is something that has been floating in my head for a long time,” she said.
A Gala Evening with Pinky will be held at the Fairmont Southampton on October 18. Steel pan Artist Robert Symons will also perform and comedian Bruce Barritt will serve as emcee. Tickets are $275. For more information e-mail sppurvey@hotmail.com or telephone 292-4835.
Pinky Steede has a lot to fill her memoirs.
In 1959, she and her first husband, Gene Steede, became the stars of The Holiday Island Revue, organised by Don and Elspeth Gibson. The couple performed in all the local hotels throughout the 1960s. Among their albums: Step Through A Moongate with Gene and Pinky and You’re Gonna Hear from Us.
The Steedes divorced and Ms Steede left Bermuda to take her career further. In 1978 she performed in London’s West End in the hit musical Bubbling Brown Sugar. While performing she met her current husband, Mike Wall, who was in the audience. At this time, she entertained Prince Charles in a Royal command performance.
Throughout the 1980s she toured the world as a cabaret singer. She has appeared in such television programmes as The Pearl K-100 Show on TVB Hong Kong, Duets for Piano and Voice on Ireland’s RT Eire and a BBC adaptation of Bubbling Brown Sugar.
In 1980 she took the lead role in the touring production of Guys and Dolls in Hong Kong. She was based there for 16 years.
In 1994 she sang in Bermuda at a banquet featuring American comedian Bill Cosby.
In 2000 she was a headline artist in the Millennium Celebration Show in Dockyard.
In 2009, she was inducted into the Bermuda Musical Hall of Fame.
Today, she sings in nightspots and casinos in the Algarve region of Portugal. Her latest album, Love Is, was made last year in Portugal.
She has two children, two stepchildren and 13 grandchildren.
