How to color TabControls text using plain win32 & c++

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C++

Win32

color

TabControl

text

Here's how I created the tabcontrol and the various associated tabs :

RECT client_rect;
//inside WM_CREATE:

		GetClientRect(hwnd, &client_rect);

		HWND tab_handle = CreateWindowEx(NULL, WC_TABCONTROL, NULL,
	                      WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE,
	                      10, 10, client_rect.right - client_rect.left - 20,
	                      client_rect.bottom - client_rect.top - 20,
	                      hwnd, NULL,
	                      GetModuleHandle(NULL), NULL);

		TCITEM tab_info;
		memset(&tab_info, 0, sizeof(tab_info));
		tab_info.mask = TCIF_TEXT;
		tab_info.pszText = L"Tab #1";
		tab_info.cchTextMax = 5;
		SendMessage(tab_handle, TCM_INSERTITEM, 0, (LPARAM)&tab_info);
		tab_info.pszText = L"Tab #2";
		SendMessage(tab_handle, TCM_INSERTITEM, 1, (LPARAM)&tab_info);
		tab_info.pszText = L"Tab #3";
		SendMessage(tab_handle, TCM_INSERTITEM, 2, (LPARAM)&tab_info);
		tab_info.pszText = L"Tab #4";
		SendMessage(tab_handle, TCM_INSERTITEM, 2, (LPARAM)&tab_info);
		tab_info.pszText = L"Tab #5";
		SendMessage(tab_handle, TCM_INSERTITEM, 2, (LPARAM)&tab_info);

I'm using win7 controls (I read somewhere you really can't change it's text color property, is it true ?)

SubQuestion: why it works without having the need to call InitCommonControlsEx() ?