Betty Boo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article or section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations.
You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations.

Alison Moira Clarkson, better known as Betty Boo (born 6 March 1970 in Kensington, London) is an English dance-music artist, singer, and songwriter

Contents

[edit] Career

Clarkson studied sound engineering at college before having a string of hits between 1989 and 1992. Originally nicknamed "Betty Boop" for her similarity to the cartoon character, she changed it to avoid trademark disputes with Boop's owners. Of mixed Dusun and Scottish descent, she had an unusual, striking look and dressed in mildly provocative and revealing outfits.

Boo started off working with the group the She Rockers, before going solo. Her big break came with the 1989 number 7 UK smash, "Hey DJ - I Can't Dance (To That Music You're Playing)", with the Beatmasters. "Doin' The Do" followed and was another Top 10 single in 1990, also reaching number one on Billboard's dance chart in the United States. Her debut album Boomania was hailed by many as a witty, contemporary pop masterpiece and sold very well.[citation needed] "Where Are You Baby?", Boo's biggest solo hit to date, reached number 3 in August of 1990. "24 Hours" (December 1990) was the last single from Boomania, and although it was a hit, it was less so than previous releases.

Nevertheless, Boo still returned with a new record deal with (WEA) in 1992, and her follow up album, GRRR! It's Betty Boo. The album itself suffered very disappointing sales in the UK, reaching only number 62. It did, nevertheless spawn a hit single in the summer of 1992 - "Let Me Take You There". "I'm On My Way", which featured a musical quote from The Beatles' "Lady Madonna" (the brass riff using all the original players) was very well received by the media[citation needed]. It did not sell well though, and the next single, "Hangover" fared even worse, barely scraping the Top 50. In 1999 a Best Of compilation (effectively an expanded version of Boomania with extra remixes and a different running order) was released and sold moderately well.

After her solo career floundered, Boo turned to songwriting and had success co-writing the song "Pure and Simple" for Hear’Say. She has also written for Girls Aloud, Louise Nurding, Dannii Minogue and The Tweenies.

In 2006 she formed a band called WigWam, with Alex James, bassist from Blur. They released a one off single also entitled Wigwam.

In 2007 she appeared as an interviewee on BBC Three's The Most Annoying Pop Songs... show passing comment on several songs that made the top 100 list.

As of August 2007, Betty Boo is in the process of releasing a new single entitled "Take Off", which is a joint project between Betty Boo and London based dance act Jack Rokka. The track is much more dance oriented than Betty's previous work. She performed along with some of her other songs at Manchester Pride 2007. The video sees Betty Boo's trademark look resurrected and even features the 'Boosters', Betty Boo's backing dancers, who always appear with identical hair and outfits to Betty, and the Betty Boo spiral. The song has been played on Radio 1's dance oriented shows but is yet to receive airplay during mainstream programming.

Betty Boo appeared on ITV's Loose Women on 16 October 2007 to promote her latest single.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Singles

  • Hey DJ - I Can't Dance (To That Music You're Playing) / Ska Train (with the Beatmasters) (1989) UK #7
  • Doin' the Do (1990) UK #7, AUS #3
  • Where Are You Baby? (1990) UK #3, AUS #19
  • "24 Hours" (1990) UK #25, AUS #94
  • "Let Me Take You There" (1992) UK #12, AUS #97
  • "I'm On My Way" (1992) UK #44
  • "Hangover" (1993) UK #50
  • "Catch Me" (1993)- not released as a single in the UK
  • "Thing Goin' On" (1993)- not released as a single in the UK
  • "Wigwam" (2006) as part of WigWam with Alex James UK #60
  • "Take Off" (featuring Jack Rokka) (2007) UK #92

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Languages