Alison Moyet was born in Billericay and brought up in Basildon. She was involved with various punk, rock and blues bands in the South East Essex area during the 1970’s/1980’s, including ‘The Vandals’ and ‘The Vicars’.  She came to fame as half of the electro pop duo ‘Yazoo’ (with former Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke) in the early '80s and is noted for her bluesy voice.  Yazoo was known in the US as ‘Yaz’ and had excellent hits such as ‘Only You’ and ‘Don’t Go’.  In 1983, she started her solo career, releasing her debut album, ‘Alf’ in 1984, which was a huge success in Britain.  It went to number one on the charts and launching the hit singles "Invisible," "All Cried Out," and "Love Resurrection"; it was a minor hit in the U.S., with "Invisible" getting into the Top 40. Alison toured with a jazz band in 1985,which was led by John Altman  They released a version of Billie Holiday's "That Ole Devil Called Love’’ The group received poor reviews, but the song became her biggest hit in Britain landing a place at number 2 in the UK singles chart.  Also in 1985, Moyet perfomed at the ‘LiveAid’ concert, alongside Paul Young.

In 1986, Alison released "Is This Love?," which became another massive UK hit.  "Love Letters’’ and "Weak in the Presence of Beauty from her second album ‘Raindancing’ in 1997, were also hit singles, with the latter peaking at number 4..

To find out more about Alison Moyet, please see our Essex Celebrities section…..

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George and Angie Best (Essex girl) had one son, Calum, in 1981, but George's continual drinking and affairs eventually split them up, and Angie returned to Los Angeles with Calum to be away from George for the good of her son. The couple divorced via an annulment in 1986^.  

To find out more about Angie Best, please see our ‘more essex celeb’s’ section

Coming soon!  Webmasters book 'not just an essex girl' will be a thrilling read about real lives in Essex from early 1900's to present - Excerps will be available on the site soon.....