Betty Boo

Alison Moira Clarkson, better known as Betty Boo (born 6 March, 1970 Fact|date=June 2008 in Kensington, London) is an English dance-music artist, singer, and songwriter

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. The next single, "Doin' The Do" followed and was another Top 10 success for her in 1990, also reaching number one on Billboard's dance chart in the United States. One year later, this song was also used for the Magic Pockets Amiga video game by the Bitmap Brothers as the title tune. Her debut album "Boomania" was hailed by many as a witty, contemporary pop masterpiece and sold very well. Fact|date=March 2008 "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 Fact|date=February 2007. 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.

Discography

Albums

*"Boomania" (1990) UK #4, AUS #68
*"GRRR! It's Betty Boo" (1992) UK #62
*"" (1999 - comprises tracks and remixes from "Boomania" only)

ingles

*"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

Film

*"The Boomin' Vids" (1990)

ee also

*List of Number 1 Dance Hits (United States)
*List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
*WigWam

References

* Guinness Book of British Hit Singles - 16th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-190-X
* Guinness Book of British Hit Albums - 7th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-619-7

External links

* [http://www.myspace.com/bettyboomania Official MySpace page]
* [http://www.boomania.co.uk Betty Boo fan site - Boomania]
* [http://www.planetboo.co.uk/betty.htm Betty Boo fan site - Planet Boo]