IN: Alecia Beth Moore (born September 8, 1979), known professionally as Pink (often stylized as P!nk), is an American singer, songwriter, dancer and actress. She was signed to her first record label with original R&B girl group, Choice, in 1995. The label, LaFace Records, saw great potential in Pink, offering her a solo deal. Choice disbanded in 1998.

Alecia Beth Moore was born on September 8, 1979, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, to emergency room nurse Judith "Judy" Moore (nee Kugel) and insurance salesman James "Jim" Moore. Her father is Catholic (of Irish and German descent) and her mother is Jewish (of Lithuanian Jewish and German Jewish descent). She has described herself as an "Irish-German-Lithuanian-Jew", and self-identifies as Jewish. Although a healthy baby at birth, she quickly developed asthma that plagued her through her early years. Pink attended Central Bucks High School West.  When Pink was a toddler, her parents began having marital problems, and before she was 10, her parents had divorced. Pink developed her voice early in life. In high school, Pink joined her first band, Middleground, but it disbanded upon losing a battle of the bands competition. As a teenager, she wrote lyrics as an outlet for her feelings, and her mother commented, "Her initial writings were always very introspective. Some of it was very black, and very deep, almost worrisome."  Pink began performing in Philadelphia clubs when she was about 14. She adopted her stagename, "Pink", around this time. She had that nickname for quite some time by that point, and initially it had been "a mean thing". She had gotten that name from the character "Mr. Pink" in Quentin Tarantino's film Reservoir Dogs. Pink has said, "I was extreme. I went through phases from skateboarder, to hip-hopper, to rave child, to lead singer in a band. I did it all, and all at the same time." At 14, she was convinced to audition to become a member of the all-female group Basic Instinct, and earned a spot in the lineup. Ultimately, the group disbanded without releasing any material. At 16, Pink and two other teenage girls, Stephanie Galligan and Chrissy Conway, formed the R&B group Choice. A copy of their first song, "Key to My Heart", was sent to LaFace Records in Atlanta, Georgia, where L.A. Reid overheard it and arranged for the group to fly there so he could see them perform. After that, he signed them to a record deal. Since the three girls were under 18 at the time, their parents had to cosign the contract. The group relocated to Atlanta and recorded an album, which was never released, and "Key to My Heart" appeared on the soundtrack to the 1996 film Kazaam. During a Christmas party, Reid gave Pink an ultimatum: go solo or go home. Choice disbanded in 1998.

Which group?

OUT: Basic Instinct,


IN: Wilson was born on November 26, 1895, in East Dorset, Vermont, the son of Emily (nee Griffith) and Gilman Barrows Wilson. He was born at his parents' home and business, the Mount Aeolus Inn and Tavern. His paternal grandfather, William C. Wilson, was also an alcoholic. William C. Wilson decided to stop drinking alcohol immediately after having a "religious experience" when he was under the influence of psilocybin  ( sy-l@-SY-bin) during a "soul searching" hike on Mount Aeolus.

Wilson met his wife Lois Burnham during the summer of 1913, while sailing on Vermont's Emerald Lake; two years later the couple became engaged. He entered Norwich University, but depression and panic attacks forced him to leave during his second semester. The next year he returned, but was soon suspended with a group of students involved in a hazing incident. Because no one would take responsibility, and no one would identify the perpetrators, the entire class was punished.  The June 1916 incursion into the U.S. by Pancho Villa resulted in Wilson's class being mobilized as part of the Vermont National Guard and he was reinstated to serve. The following year he was commissioned as an artillery officer. During military training in Massachusetts, the young officers were often invited to dinner by the locals, and Wilson had his first drink, a glass of beer, to little effect. A few weeks later at another dinner party, Wilson drank some Bronx cocktails, and felt at ease with the guests and liberated from his awkward shyness; "I had found the elixir of life," he wrote. "Even that first evening I got thoroughly drunk, and within the next time or two I passed out completely. But as everyone drank hard, not too much was made of that."  Wilson married Lois on January 24, 1918, just before he left to serve in World War I as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Coast Artillery. After his military service, Wilson returned to live with his wife in New York. He failed to graduate from law school because he was too drunk to pick up his diploma. Wilson became a stock speculator and had success traveling the country with his wife, evaluating companies for potential investors. (During these trips Lois had a hidden agenda: she hoped the travel would keep Wilson from drinking.) However, Wilson's constant drinking made business impossible and ruined his reputation.  In 1933 Wilson was committed to the Charles B. Towns Hospital for Drug and Alcohol Addictions in New York City four times under the care of Dr. William D. Silkworth. Silkworth's theory was that alcoholism was a matter of both physical and mental control: a craving, the manifestation of a physical allergy (the physical inability to stop drinking once started) and an obsession of the mind (to take the first drink). Wilson gained hope from Silkworth's assertion that alcoholism was a medical condition rather than a moral failing, but even that knowledge could not help him. He was eventually told that he would either die from his alcoholism or have to be locked up permanently due to Wernicke encephalopathy (commonly referred to as "wet brain").

Where did he work in business?

OUT:
Wilson became a stock speculator