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Alf enjoys a love resurrection
by Tom Edwards7/ 4/2005
ALISON Moyet's 20-year career in the music industry has earned her
three Brit awards, nine top 10 singles, seven top 10 albums and
global record sales of more than 20 million.
Yet she remains convinced that being a world famous
singer-songwriter wasn't what she was meant to be.
"Growing up I had no role models as such," she says. "I went to a
school where expectations were low and if it wasn't for music I
would probably have conformed to that. Most kids were expected to
leave school and work in a factory or something."
Born into a working class family in Essex in 1961, she left school
with no qualifications and was sweeping shop floors before she
embarked on a foundation college course with the piano to hone her
true musical talent.
But even that course had to be aborted when the single Only You
became a worldwide hit for her alongside Vince Clarke in the band
Yazoo.
In the 1980s, Alison took off as a solo artist with the release of
Alf, her first album. Yet she had a hard time coping with the fame
that took over her 20s and catapulted her from a small home in
Billericay to worldwide acclaim.
"I was a bad pop star," she says. "I found it hard being the centre
of attention.
"I didn't consider myself the right sort of girl to be in that
position. I was paranoid that I didn't know what I wanted to be. In
many ways I was freaked out."
From 1984 to 1987, Alison toured, captured two Brit awards and
released her second album Raindancing, which took her to the
USA.
Alison admires and listens to different styles of music, which
partly explains her frequent forays into alternative genres - as
evident in her album Hodoo, which had a rock theme, and the follow
up album Essex. Then came the albums Singles and No Overdubs in the
mid-1990s. A long break followed until the release of Hometime in
2002 and then Voice in 2004. The Essential, an album of her
greatest songs, came out in 2001.
A dispute with a record company over her musical direction led to
Alison retreating from the limelight for several years to raise her
three children and find the confidence that somehow eluded her in
spite of all the success.
The singer never felt comfortable with being famous, to the point
where being recognised in the street made her feel uneasy. She was
a free musical spirit and didn't want to produce the kind of
mainstream pop album her company preferred. No music was produced
for a long time and Alison says she found it difficult to write
songs knowing they would never be released.
"It was painful to write music," she said. "My record company
wanted me to make an album I didn't want to make and there was no
compromise."
Alison has battled with her weight for most of her career and was a
size 26 at her biggest. In contrast to her large figure in the
1980s, she presented a lighter physique for her role in the West
End play Chicago in 2001.
"I was overweight a long time ago and didn't look like the
stereotypical performer," she says.
"Physically I was quite imposing. But then I was young and if I
wanted to conform I would have."
Her three kids, Joe, 20; Alex, 16, and Caitlin, eight, don't talk
much to her about her music. Alison says she wants them to have a
regular life and wouldn't encourage them to follow in her
footsteps.
"I tell them to do what's best for them. I was a working class
girl," she said.
"What I respect is people who toil and sweat to earn a
living."
Alison Moyet will be at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, as part
of the One Blue Voice tour on Wednesday, May 4. Tickets (£22.50)
are available from the box office on 0161 907 9000.
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