Alison Moyet in Dublin

About the artist

Alison Moyet (born Geneviève Alison Jane Moyet, 18 June 1961), is an English pop singer-songwriter noted for her bluesy voice. Moyet was born in Billericay, Essex, England, to a French father and English mother. She grew up in Basildon, where she attended St Nicholas School. 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, including The Vandals and the Screamin' Ab Dabs, The Vicars and The Little Roosters (the latter featuring Gary Lammin formerly of Cock Sparrer). Her mainstream pop career began in 1981 when she formed the electropop duo Yazoo with former Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke. In the United States, the band became known as Yaz, as there was a record label in the region already operating as Yazoo Records that presented trademark issues. 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 Moyet and Clarke decided to disband Yazoo. While Clarke went on to form The Assembly (another duo, this time with former Undertones vocalist Feargal Sharkey) and then Erasure (a duo again, with Andy Bell (singer)), Moyet signed to CBS (in part because it had been Janis Joplin's label), and began her solo career. During mid-2008, Moyet reunited with Clarke as Yazoo for a series of live dates.