Alison Moyet
Alison Moyet
Geneviève Alison Jane Moyetis an English singer, songwriter and performer noted for her bluesy contralto voice. She came to prominence as half of the duo Yazoo and since has mainly worked as a solo artist...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionBlues Singer
Date of Birth18 June 1961
applied easily truly
I have never truly applied myself. Lots of things have come too easily to me and at too high a level.
album depeche greater recorded sound time together
Yazoo was Vince's sound ultimately. At the time Vince and I got together he had only recorded one album with Depeche and Depeche were to go on to greater things.
bet black bottom far fat hour imagine judges people saw singer single sounds watch
When I saw Adele, I thought: 'I'll give it an hour before people say I was her,' just because I was fat. When you watch 'X Factor,' you can bet your bottom dollar, every single fat singer sounds like me as far as the judges are concerned. Can you imagine if they did that with every black artist?
beautiful care deserves excite falling house love money smell twenty wasted
The money has always been wasted on me. I don't care for beautiful things, funnily enough. I am my father's daughter. The things that excite me are the smell of a wood-burning stove, uncultivated fields. My house is decaying and falling to pieces. It's not had the love it deserves over twenty years.
bigger bought combined discovered fact less odd people
People always had something to say about the fact I was odd looking, bigger than other people, that I was awkward. When I discovered punk, I bought into it. That look, combined with being fat, made me even less of what people thought a young woman should be.
chose stripped
One of the things I wanted to do with 'The Turn' was write a production of songs that could be stripped down to one or two instruments if you chose to do it.
edges ma melody nailed none played tone
Of all the soul divas, Gladys Knight was the one for me. Knight's always been about tone and heart, none of the big showboating or extraneous doodling. She nailed a melody and only played a little around the edges like Ma Staple.
blues closer dealing ella english fact influenced led major referred torture zeppelin
My style of singing has always been referred to 'soul' singing when it fact it's more influenced by English R&B Blues Shouting. I'm closer to Led Zeppelin as a vocalist than to Ella Fitzgerald. It was torture dealing with major labels.
album might produce record sang
It was always important to me that I made a record where I really sang well, and I don't think it's happened yet. There's always a possibility with each album that I might not record again, and I wanted to produce one that I could feel was mine.
basic early ethos money punk
In the early days, myself and my friends were into punk because we had no money, just very basic instruments and skills. It was more about the ethos and the energy.
asked english
I wanted to act when I was young. When I was 12, I asked the head of English at my school, 'Can I audition?' and he said, 'What would we want you for?' And I remember going, 'Oh yeah. Why would they want me?'
bit diaries faces history photograph richer rubbing saying stage threw walls
I threw away the whole of my working history, my photograph albums, diaries and stage clothes. Shoving big, ugly discs on walls is a bit like rubbing people's faces in it, saying 'I am considerably richer than you.' It is completely unnecessary.
invites socially talked
I was socially awkward for many years. I stuttered, stammered, talked rubbish. I never take up invites to parties, and I've been invited to very glamorous things, but I never go.
album constant particular reflects singing
I just think that when you've been singing for 30 years, which I have been, you just want to find different things you can do with your voice. It's a constant journey. It's not like any one album that you make is who you are. It just reflects that particular day.