When Essex girl Alison ‘Alf’ Moyet put an advertisement in the music papers, she was looking for a “rootsy blues band”.
What she got was synthesizer wizard Vince Clarke, who had just left hit pop band Depeche Mode.
Together as Yazoo, they became an instant success, receiving the Best Newcomer award at the 1983 BRIT Awards.
Their debut single, Only You, climbed to #2 in the UK charts in May and its appeal was endorsed by the success of The Flying Pickets’ acapella cover version, which topped the UK chart the following year.
Yazoo enjoyed an almost equally successful follow-up with Don’t Go, which climbed to #3 in July.
A tour of the USA saw the duo change their name to Yaz in order not to conflict with an American record company of the same name, although their highest US chart entry was a lowly #67 for Only You.
Meanwhile, their album Upstairs at Eric’s (1982) was widely acclaimed for its strong melodies and Moyet’s expressive vocals.
Yazoo enjoyed further hits with The Other Side of Love and Nobody’s Diary before completing one more album, You and Me Both (1983), which went to #1.
Shortly after the release of the second album, the duo split up with Alison Moyet signing a solo recording deal and going on to greater things, gaining a reputation as the finest British chanteuse of the decade.
Clarke maintained his high profile with The Assembly and particularly, Erasure. Yazoo graced the UK charts on two further occasions, with François Kevorkian’s remix of Situation reaching #14 in 1990, and a new mix of Only You scraping into the Top 40 in 1999.
Alison Moyet Vocals
Vince Clarke
Synthesizers
Video
Related Posts
Erasure Keyboard player and arranger Vince Clarke (born in 1960 in South Woodford, London) had already enjoyed success as a member…
I'm Talking Vocalist Kate Ceberano left school at 14 determined to become a professional singer and, within two years, her tenacity and…
Alison Moyet Geneviève Alison Jane Moyet was born in Billericay, Essex in June 1961 and grew up in Basildon. After leaving school…
Sheena Easton Sheena Shirley Orr was born in 1959 in Bellshill, Scotland, and began performing while studying speech and drama at the…
Men Without Hats Formed in Montreal, Canada in 1980, Men Without Hats was the brainchild of American-born vocalist Ivan Doroschuk and Jérémie Arrobas,…
Pseudo Echo Pseudo Echo was the first unrecorded band to appear on the influential Australian national music TV show, Countdown. They performed Listening in late…
John St Peeters Italian-born John St Peeters began his professional performing career during his early teens as Johnny Lo Piccolo, playing the piano…
Au Pairs, The Formed in Birmingham (England) in 1979, The Au Pairs matched driving, guitar-led rock to lyrics (mostly by Woods) that dissected…
