Alison Moyet confirmed as Jools Holland's Special Guest on Wednesday 23 June
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We are delighted to confirm that Alison Moyet will be the special guest for Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra on Wednesday 23rd June.
She will not be performing on Thursday 24th June. The special guest for this performance will be confirmed as soon as possible.
Alison Moyet; an Essex girl born to a French father and English mother, left school at 16, formed bands, became famous at 21 as singer in Yazoo, and released her multi-million selling solo debut, Alf, at 23.
Between 1984 and 1987, Moyet was Britain's biggest female solo star. Covers of That Ole Devil Called Love and Love Letters confirmed her reputation as an interpreter of classic songs, while her own self-penned hits like Love Resurrection, Is this Love and All Cried Out confirmed her gift as a songwriter. She won Brit Awards, performed at Live Aid, toured world-wide and broke the Billboard Top 40.
Having begun her musical journey in punk bands and on the Canvey Island pub rock scene, it was by accident that she found herself in main stream pop world. What started out as an interesting novelty soon wore thin and she turned her attention to exploring what she could do with her voice, an impressively versatile instrument that never forgot its earthy roots, to experiment in a world beyond pop. Hoodoo and This House were the first results of this shift – the former a sexy finger-clicker that makes a beautiful bridge between the music of Soul II Soul and Blue Lines era Massive Attack; the latter a heartbreakingly honest ballad about a broken relationship that Scott Walker would find a home in. Here was Alison removing herself from the singles charts growing up and becoming the artist she wanted to be, with her efforts winning her her first Grammy nomination. The gorgeous acoustic version of Moyet's cover of Jules Shears’ Whispering Your Name from 1994's Essex, the sultry melancholy of Yesterday's Flame and Should I Feel That It's Over from 2002's Hometime, the covers of Windmills Of Your Mind and Almost Blue from 2005's classic song collection Voice, and the show stopping theatre of One More Time from 2007's critically acclaimed The Turn, all blaze with honesty, romance and beauty.
In the last decade, Moyet’s career has nodded in other directions. She has played Mama Morton in the West End hit musical, Chicago; acted with best friend Dawn French in the Kathy Burke-directed play, Smaller; narrated documentaries for Jazz FM; reformed Yazoo with Vince Clarke for a triumphant reunion tour in 2008; and recently performed concerts in the UK and Europe as guest vocalist for the Academy Award-winning French composer, Michel Le Grand. 2009 saw Sony release a career spanning Best Of album to celebrate Alison’s 25 years as a solo artist which she followed with a sell out tour in Nov/Dec last year.
