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Alison Moyet
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Alison Moyet was out of school at 16 without any clear skills or significant ideas for what she would do next. She'd started singing a year earlier and jammed in some bands like The Vandals and The Little Roosters, but music wasn't a means of support; it was a hobby. Alison was earning her money as a shop worker, but decided that a job as a piano tuner might be more fun. It wouldn't last because much larger events were in store for her.
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Sade seems to have found her ideal sound on her debut, which is pretty much what happened to Alison Moyet back in 1982, when she was the vocalist for the fledgling technopop duo Yazoo (known as Yaz in the States). Moyet's personal relationship with synth whiz Vince Clarke may not have been so simpatico, but it did yield the dazzling LP Upstairs at Eric's and Anglo techno's most enduring song, "Only You," a ballad of such sustained power that it's been covered by everyone from Judy Collins to schlock pianist Richard Clayderman. Clarke showed respect for his partner's vocal skills by crafting spare, marvelously inventive settings for her. With his estimable support, Moyet could be refreshingly direct.
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Alison Moyet has a big, fat, eccentric British voice that has been successfully set against dopey electronic dance beats since the 1980s. It's a wide, kooky voice -- one with odd caverns of quirk in different registers, with hiccups and strange sonorities depending on how she uses it -- and it has sold a bunch of records over the years to pop fans who will go for this kind of neo-Disco stuff without feeling they really should be listening to old Smiths records instead. Good for Alison. Good for her fans.
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Alison Moyet, a British pop singer with a remarkably bluesy voice, began her professional career with synth pop duo Yazoo (Yaz in the U.S.) in the early '80s. In 1983, Moyet began a solo career, releasing her debut album, Alf, the following year. Alf was a major success in Britain, hitting number one on the charts and launching the hit singles "Invisible," "All Cried Out," and "Love Resurrection"; it was a minor hit in the U.S., with "Invisible" cracking the Top 40. During 1985, Moyet toured with a jazz band led by John Altman; the group recorded a version of Billie Holiday's "That Ole Devil Called Love," which became her biggest British hit, even though the group received poor reviews. In 1986, Moyet had another major U.K. hit with "Is This Love?," which was released while she was recording her second solo album. Raindancing appeared in 1987 and it was another big British hit, peaking at number two and featuring the Top Ten hits "Weak in the Presence of Beauty" and "Love Letters." The record wasn't quite as successful in the U.S., peaking at number 94.
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On her fourth solo album, Essex, named after her home county, Alison Moyet continues to search for valid alternatives to her natural gifts. A singer with a remarkably forceful voice and emotional delivery, she had succeeded both as a jazz and blues interpreter and when her singing was inventively contrasted with Vince Clarke's synthesizer tracks in Yaz. While her solo work at first showed promise of combining those styles with contemporary Brit-pop and produced some hits, by this point she is struggling to sound distinctive against the overeager production style of Ian Broudie, whose work is somewhat offset by the more sedate tracks produced by Pete Glenister. "Whispering Your Name," the first single, written by Jules Shear, with a lyric intended to be sung by one man to another, sounds curious coming out of Moyet's mouth, but at least the words are about something definite, which is more than you can say for Moyet's own elliptical expressions of anger and romantic discord. Musically, the album veers from the Revolver-era Beatles sound of the second single, "Falling," to the Motown rhythm of "So Am I" and an unnecessary remake of Yaz's "Ode to Boy" arranged to sound like "Pinball Wizard." The best song, the Glenister-produced ballad "Satellite," is buried in the middle of the record -- what makes it the best is that the arrangement actually allows Moyet the space to sing and to be as moving as she can be. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
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Alison Moyet believes that her musical longevity comes from a lack of over-saturating herself and an effort to continually redefine her overall artistic image. This is apparent from her patience between albums and her ventures into acting. The latter includes a turn on stage in Chicago and an intimate production with Dawn French.
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Alison Moyet