Geneviève Alison Jane Moyet aka Alison Moyet (born 1961) is an English singer, songwriter and performer noted for her bluesy contralto voice. She came to prominence as half of the duo Yazoo, but has since mainly worked as a solo artist and has her name on a total of ten albums.
After leaving school at 16, she worked as a shop assistant and trained as a piano tuner. She was involved in a number of punk rock, pub rock and blues bands in the South East Essex area during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
At the age of 21, Moyet’s mainstream pop career began in 1982 with the formation of the synthpop duo Yazoo with former Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke. In the United States, the band operated under the name Yaz, due to trademark issues with the Yazoo Records record label already operating in the region. Yazoo had several hits, including “Only You”, “Don’t Go”, “Situation” and “Nobody’s Diary”, and recorded two albums, Upstairs at Eric’s and You and Me Both.
In 1983, Clarke decided to disband Yazoo and Alison decided to go her own way, signed to CBS and began her solo career releasing her first solo, Alf, after her punk-era nickname in 1984. It was a success and led to a sustainable solo career. During this time she was involved in a lengthy legal battle with Sony, reluctant to record a radio-friendly “pop” album simply for the sake of creating chart hits.
Her UK album sales have reached a certified 23 million, with over a million singles sold. All seven of her studio albums and three compilation albums have charted in the Top 30 UK Album Chart, with two of the albums reaching number one.
Moyet has been candid about her battles with weight, bipolar disorder and agoraphobia.
Discography
Alf (1984)
Raindancing (1987)
Hoodoo (1991)
Essex (1994)
Hometime (2002)
Voice (2004)
The Turn (2007)
The Minutes (2013)
Other (2017)
Video