Genevieve Alison Jane Moyet was born in Billericay on Sunday 18 June 1961.  Alison, as she is known, was educated at Janet Duke Junior School in Lee Chapel and then went to Nicholas Comprehensive in Laindon, at the same time as Martin Gore who went on to form Depeche Mode.

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In an interview with The Guardian Alison stated that she was never called Genevieve as it would never have worked in Basildon.

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In 1982 Alison placed an advert in Melody Maker to find a band that could use her services as a lead vocalist. She was contacted by Vince Clarke, who had recently left Depeche Mode.  Vince asked her to record a demo called ‘Only You’ and Mute Records were immediately interested.

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The single would be the duo’s, now known as Yazoo, first and biggest hit, reaching number 2 in the singles chart.

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Prior to this the two had gone to the same music school but had never spoken, a trend that would continue whilst recording together.

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Yazoo’s debut album, ‘Upstairs at Eric’s’, was released in 1982, reaching number 2 in the UK album charts and producing 4 hit singles.

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The success of ‘Only You’ was followed up with ‘Don’t Go’ which was a top 3 hit in the UK and a number 1 hit in Belgium and on the US Dance Chart.  ‘Situation’ was also a number 1 on the US Dance Chart, though it was not released in the UK.

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1983’s ‘You and Me Both’ album hit the top spot in the UK albums chart.  ‘Nobody’s Diary’ was released as a single the same year and was another top 3 hit for the band.  It was during 1983 that Clarke disbanded Yazoo.
 
Between 1984 and 2017 Alison released nine studio albums, selling over 23 million copies worldwide.

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Alison’s debut album ‘Alf’ was released during November 1984 reaching Number 1 in the UK and New Zealand album charts. 
 

The first single released from the album, ‘Love Resurrection’, was also released in 1984 reaching number 10 in the UK, and 8 in Ireland.  This was followed by ‘All Cried Out’ which was a top 10 hit in the UK charts as well as in Ireland and New Zealand.

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‘That Ole Devil Called Love’ was Alison’s first single release of 1985 and her biggest hit to date, reaching number 2 on the UK singles chart and was a number 1 in New Zealand.  Alison’s only single of 1986, ‘Is This Love?’, reached number 3 and she would end 1987 with two more top 10 hits.

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A compilation album, ‘Singles’, was released in 1995 that would top the UK album charts.

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In 2007 Alison contacted Vince by e-mail suggesting that they reformed Yazoo and toured.  Then in their 40’s the two immediately got on well and the communication that had been missing from their working relationship during the 1980’s was no longer an issue.

 

Today Alison reaches over 100,000 fans via Twitter who enjoy her funny and insightful Tweets.

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In June 2021 it was announced that Alison would received and M.B.E.in the Queens birthday honours.