Featuring a dozen musicians, with songs in 25 languages, Pink Martini performs its multilingual repertoire on concert stages on six continents. After making it’s European debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 and its orchestral debut with the Oregon Symphony in 1998, the band has gone on to play with more than 50 orchestras around the world, including multiple engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the Boston Pops, the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center, the San Francisco Symphony, and the BBC Concert Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall in London. Pink Martini has released 11 studio albums on its own independent label Heinz Records (named after Lauderdale’s dog), selling over 3 million albums worldwide. 

In 1994 in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, Thomas Lauderdale was working in local politics when he saw the need for most engaging and inspiring music at political fundraisers. Drawing inspiration from music from all over the world – crossing genres of classical, jazz and old-fashioned pop – and hoping to appeal to conservatives and liberals alike, he founded the “little orchestra” Pink Martini in 1994 to provide more beautiful and inclusive musical soundtracks for causes such as civil rights, affordable housing, the environment, libraries, public broadcasting, education and parks. One year later, Lauderdale called China Forbes, a Harvard classmate who was living in New York City, and asked her to join Pink Martini. Their first song writing collaboration was “Sympathique (Je ne veux pas travailler)”  which became an overnight sensation in France, was nominated for “Song of the Year” at France’s Victoires de la Musique Awards, and is still the band’s number one song.  In 2024 the band is celebrating it’s 30^th anniversary. 

Raised on a plant nursery in rural Indiana, Pink Martini bandleader Thomas M. Lauderdale began piano lessons at age six with Patricia Garrison.  When his family moved to Portland in 1982, he began studying with Sylvia Killman, who to this day continues to serve as his coach and mentor. He has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras and ensembles, including the Oregon Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, Portland Youth Philharmonic, Chamber Music Northwest and several collaborations with Oregon Ballet Theatre.   In 2008, he played Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F with the Oregon Symphony under the direction of Christoph Campestrini. 

Active in Oregon politics since a student at U.S. Grant High School (where he was student body president), Thomas served under Portland Mayor Bud Clark and Oregon governor Neil Goldschmidt. In 1991, he worked under Portland City Commissioner Gretchen Kafoury on the drafting and passage of the city’s civil rights ordinance. He graduated with honors from Harvard with a degree in History and Literature in 1992.  He spent most of his collegiate years, however, in cocktail dresses, taking on the role of “cruise director” … throwing waltzes with live orchestras and ice sculptures, disco masquerades with gigantic pineapples on wheels, midnight swimming parties, and operating a Tuesday night coffeehouse called Café Mardi. 

Instead of running for political office, Lauderdale founded Pink Martini in 1994 to play political fundraisers for progressive causes such as civil rights, the environment, affordable housing and public broadcasting. In addition to his work with Pink Martini, Lauderdale has most recently completed two long awaited collaborations with dear friends.  In 2018 he completed Love for Sale, an album of jazz standards with singer/civil rights leader Kathleen Saadat, that began as a gift to a few friends and ended up being a Billboard Jazz charts-ranking album the month it was released. 

In 2019, Thomas Lauderdale and members of Pink Martini collaborated on a new release with the international singing sensation Meow Meow. The album Hotel Amour - the culmination of almost a decade of work- features guest appearances by Rufus Wainwright, The von Trapps, Barry Humphries (of Dame Edna fame), and the inimitable late French pianist and composer, Michel Legrand. Currently, Thomas is collaborating with the iconic Iranian singer Googoosh, on her forthcoming album. Spring of 2023 saw the long-awaited release of Thomas Lauderdale Meets the Pilgrims, his collaboration with Portland’s own surf-rock indie icons, Satan’s Pilgrims. 

Lauderdale currently serves on the boards of the Oregon Symphony, Pioneer Courthouse Square, the Oregon Historical Society, and the Confluence Project with Maya Lin. He lives in Portland with his partner Hunter Noack.

China Forbes was born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She graduated cum laude from Harvard, majoring in painting and English literature, with a minor in theater. After winning the Jonathan Levy Prize at Harvard for “most promising actor,” Forbes earned her Equity card appearing in New York regional theater and off-Broadway productions while also performing regularly as a singer/songwriter in NYC clubs. Her first album Love Handle (November Records) was released in 1995 and she was chosen to sing "Ordinary Girl," the theme song to the TV spin-off of the movie, Clueless (ABC/UPN). 

It was then that Harvard friend and classmate Thomas Lauderdale invited her to sing with fledgling Portland, Oregon band Pink Martini. China has fronted the little orchestra ever since. Co-writing many of Pink Martini’s most beloved songs with Lauderdale beginning with “Sympathique (Je ne veux pas travailler),” the duo also composed “Lilly,” “Hang on Little Tomato,” “Una Notte a Napoli,” "The Lemonade Song" and “Let’s Never Stop Falling in Love,” among many others. In 2000, “Sympathique” was nominated for song of the year at (the French Grammy awards) Les Victoires de la Musique. 

Forbes’s original song “Hey Eugene” appears on her second solo album '78 (Heinz Records), a collection of autobiographical folk-rock songs, and is also the title track of Pink Martini’s third album. Her voice and songs have been featured prominently on acclaimed film and television soundtracks such as Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Hitch, Emily in Paris, Parks and Rec, Money Heist, Sherlock and season two of The White Lotus. She sings “Que Sera, Sera” over the credits of Jane Campion’s film In the Cut, and her original song "The Northern Line" plays over the end credits of sister Maya Forbes' autobiographical directorial debut Infinitely Polar Bear (Sony Pictures Classics). 

With Pink Martini, Forbes has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, Later with Jools Holland, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and twice on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She has duetted with Rufus Wainwright, Michael Feinstein, Carol Channing and Little Jimmy Scott. Singing in over 20 languages on nine Pink Martini studio albums, China has graced the legendary stages of Carnegie Hall, Red Rocks, the Hollywood Bowl, Paris’s l’Olympia, the Sydney Opera House and Royal Albert Hall. 

In 2021 China released her post-pandemic anthem “Full Circle,” followed by her suicide prevention anthem “Rise,” both featured tracks on her upcoming solo album The Road, set for release May 17, 2024. China Forbes is the recipient of the 2022 Ella Fitzgerald Award at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. Previous winners include Diana Ross, Etta James, Liza Minelli, Diana Krall and Aretha Franklin.