Alison Moyet

Alison Moyet at the Night of the Proms 2011 in Hanover

Alison Moyet, Dublin 2008

Alison Moyet in the Gruenspan Hamburg in September 2013

Alison Moyet (born June 18, 1961 in Billericay , Essex , England ; full name Geneviève Alison Jane Moyet ) is a British pop singer who was particularly successful in Great Britain in the 1980s. Her expressive blues voice and her musical range, which ranges from punk rock , sophisticated pop, chanson and blues, characterize her work.

Musical career

With experience as a singer in various unknown punk and blues bands, Moyet looked for partners in the early 1980s to start his own project. This is where ex Depeche Mode keyboarder Vince Clarke came across Moyet. Together they founded the synth-pop project Yazoo . Her debut single Only You reached number 2 on the UK charts .

The name was changed to "Yaz" for the American market . With the two albums Upstairs at Eric’s and You and Me Both , the duo was mainly successful in Europe. In 1983 Yazoo separated due to different musical conceptions. Clarke started The Assembly , then Erasure ; Alison Moyet started her solo career.

With her passionate, soulful alto voice, produced in a pleasing pop sound, she initially followed up on the Yazoo successes. Her first album, Alf (1984), named after her previous nickname, stayed in the British charts for a year and climbed to the top there. The first three singles released became UK top 10 hits. At the end of 1985 the fourth single For You Only reached seventh place in Germany and thus Moyet's highest position in the German charts.

In 1985 she toured the UK with John Altman's jazz band . With the cover version of the Billie Holiday classic That Ole 'Devil Called Love , Moyet then posted another top ten hit in their homeland.

After the birth of a daughter and the divorce from her husband, her duet with Paul Young , That's the Way Love Is , became one of the artist's last musical signs of life at the Live Aid Festival in London's Wembley Stadium in July 1985 . Moyet initially withdrew into private life.

She sang a duet with him on James Brown's 1986 album Gravity . Her second album, Raindancing , followed in 1987 , and she won a third BRIT Award . Is This Love reached number three on the UK charts. For the first time she went on tour in the USA as a solo performer. The single All Cried Out (No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart) was recorded in two different versions by the No Angels in 2002.

Alison Moyet retired again and became a mother a second time.

In the early 1990s, Moyet could barely gain a foothold in the music business. Neither with the soulful, critically acclaimed and predominantly self-composed Hoodoo (1991) nor with Essex (1994), she was able to achieve greater success. Only their compilation Singles , on which only two new titles were to be found, but all hits by Yazoo, hit the charts again.

In August 2001, Alison Moyet made her London stage debut in the play Chicago . A year later, also in late summer, the album Hometime hit stores. To support were u. a. the Massive Attack producers there. In 2004 the album Voice was released , which was only successful in Great Britain, but there reached a top ten placement and gold status .

Moyet now mainly shifted to ballads in various styles. Her album The Turn , released in October 2007, included songs that she wrote for the play Smaller . There she took on a role on the side of Dawn French and June Watson .

At the end of May 2008 Moyet went on stage with Vince Clarke as Yazoo for the first time in 25 years as part of the Reconnected Tour.

In May 2013, their album The Minutes was released , which reached fifth place in the UK charts.

Alison Moyet achieved another success in her homeland with the album Other , released in June 2017 , on which she experiments with modern electro-pop sounds.

Discography

See also : Yazoo (band)

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1984	Alf	DE5 platinum (60 weeks)DE	-	CH2 (22 weeks) CH	UK1 × 4 Quadruple platinum (84 weeks)UK	US45 (22 weeks) US	First published: November 5, 1984 Producers: Tony Swain, Steve Jolley
1987	Raindancing	DE3 gold (22 weeks)DE	AT23 (2 weeks) AT	CH4 (13 weeks) CH	UK2 × 2 Double platinum (53 weeks)UK	US94 (17 weeks) US	First published: April 6, 1987 Producers: Alison Moyet, David Freeman, Jean Guiot, Jess Bailey, Jimmy Iovine , Joseph Hughes
1991	Hoodoo	DE36 (12 weeks) DE	-	CH22 (6 weeks) CH	UK11 silver (6 weeks)UK	-	First published: April 22, 1991 Producers: Pete Glenister, Dave Dix, Andy Cox, David Steele
1994	Essex	DE74 (7 weeks) DE	-	CH50 (1 week) CH	UK24 (4 weeks) UK	US194 (1 week) US	First published: March 21, 1994 Producers: Ian Broudie , Pete Glenister
2002	Hometime	DE69 (2 weeks) DE	-	-	UK18th gold (10 weeks)UK	-	First published: August 19, 2002 Producer: The Insects
2004	Voice	-	-	-	UK7th gold (12 weeks)UK	-	First published: September 6, 2004 Producer: Anne Dudley
2007	The turn	-	-	-	UK21 (4 weeks) UK	-	First released: October 15, 2007 Producer: Pete Glenister
2013	The minutes	-	-	-	UK5 (6 weeks) UK	-	Initial release: May 3, 2013 Producer: Guy Sigsworth
2017	Other	-	-	-	UK12 (2 weeks) UK	-	Initial release: June 16, 2017 Producer: Guy Sigsworth

Live albums

• 2014: Minutes and Seconds - Live (release: November 10th)
• 2018: The Other Live Collection

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1995	Singles	DE49 (9 weeks) DE	-	CH39 (3 weeks) CH	UK1 × 2 Double platinum (59 weeks)UK	-	First published: May 22, 1995
2001	The essential	-	-	-	UK16 gold (5 weeks)UK	-	First published: September 10, 2001
2009	The Best Of - 25 Years Revisited	-	-	-	UK17th gold (13 weeks)UK	-	First published: October 19, 2009

More compilations

• 1998: Her Songs
• 2007: Alf / Raindancing (2 CDs; release: October 1st)
• 2009: The Collection

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		DE	CH	UK	US
1984	Love Resurrection Alf	-	-	UK10 silver (13 weeks)UK	US82 (4 weeks) US	First published: June 1984 Authors: Alison Moyet, Steve Jolley, Tony Swain
	All Cried Out Alf	DE24 (12 weeks) DE	CH15 (11 weeks) CH	UK8 (11 weeks) UK	-	First published: September 1984 Authors: Alison Moyet, Steve Jolley, Tony Swain
	Invisible Alf	DE22 (11 weeks) DE	CH25 (4 weeks) CH	UK21 (10 weeks) UK	US31 (17 weeks) US	First published: November 19, 1984 Author: Lamont Dozier
1985	That Ole Devil Called Love	DE29 (11 weeks) DE	CH21 (4 weeks) CH	UK2 silver (10 weeks)UK	-	First published: March 4, 1985 Authors: Allan Roberts , Doris Fisher Original: Billie Holiday , 1944
	For You Only Alf	DE7 (13 weeks) DE	-	-	-	First published: November 17, 1985 Authors: Alison Moyet, Steve Jolley, Tony Swain
1986	Is This Love? Raindancing	DE15 (17 weeks) DE	CH20 (5 weeks) CH	UK3 silver (16 weeks)UK	-	First published: November 1986 Authors: Alison Moyet, Jean Guiot
1987	Weak in the Presence of Beauty Raindancing	DE18 (14 weeks) DE	CH23 (6 weeks) CH	UK6 (10 weeks) UK	-	First published: February 23, 1987 Authors: Michael Ward, Rob Clarke Original: Floy Joy, 1986
	Ordinary girl raindancing	-	-	UK43 (4 weeks) UK	-	First published: May 18, 1987 Authors: Jess Bailey, Rick Driscoll
	Sleep Like Breathing Raindancing	-	-	UK80 (3 weeks) UK	-	First published: September 21, 1987 with David Freeman Authors: David Freeman, Joseph Hughes
	Love letters	-	-	UK4th silver (12 weeks)UK	-	First published: November 16, 1987 Authors: Edward Heyman , Victor Young Original: Dick Haymes with Victor Young's orchestra from the soundtrack of the film Love Letters
1991	It won't be long hoodoo	-	-	UK50 (4 weeks) UK	-	First published: March 25, 1991 Authors: Alison Moyet, Pete Glenister
	Wishing You Were Here Hoodoo	-	-	UK72 (1 week) UK	-	First published: May 20, 1991 Authors: Alison Moyet, Pete Glenister
	This House Hoodoo	-	-	UK40 (5 weeks) UK	-	First published: September 30, 1991 Author: Alison Moyet
1993	Falling Essex	-	-	UK42 (3 weeks) UK	-	First published: October 4, 1993 Authors: Alison Moyet, Pete Glenister
1994	Whispering Your Name Essex	DE75 (6 weeks) DE	-	UK18 (8 weeks) UK	-	First published: February 28, 1994 Author and original: Jules Shear, 1983
	Getting into Something Essex	-	-	UK51 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: May 16, 1994 Authors: Alison Moyet, Pete Glenister
	Ode to Boy Essex	-	-	UK59 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: October 10, 1994 Author: Alison Moyet, Original: Yazoo , 1982
1995	Solid Wood Singles	-	-	UK44 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: August 14, 1995 Author: Alison Moyet
2004	Almost Blue / Alfie Essex	-	-	UK99 (1 week) UK	-	First published: December 6, 2004 Authors: Elvis Costello / Burt Bacharach , Hal David Originals: Elvis Costello, 1982 / Cilla Black , 1966

More singles

1991: Hoodoo 1995: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face 1996: Our Colander Eyes 2002: Should I Feel That It's Over 2002: Do You Ever Wonder 2003: More 2004: Windmills of Your Mind

2007: One More Time 2007: A Guy Like You 2013: When I Was Your Girl 2013: Changeling 2013: Love Reign Supreme

swell

1. ^ Steffen Hung: Chart Watch Britain: Alison Moyet Debuts at Number 5; Joe Satriani and Bonnie Tyler Score Multi-Decade Bests . vintagevinylnews.com. May 12, 2013. Retrieved May 13, 2013.
2. ↑ Michael Bauer: Surprisingly different: The new album by Alison Moyet. In: hitchecker.de. TEXT-BAUER, June 27, 2017, accessed July 13, 2017 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US1 US2
4. ↑ ^{a b c} gold / platinum databases: DE UK

Web links

Commons : Alison Moyet  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website
• Alison Moyet at Allmusic (English)
• Alison Moyet at Discogs (English)