Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Redirect Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox musical artist
Alison Moira Clarkson (born 6 March 1970), better known as Betty Boo, is a British singer, songwriter and rapper. She first came to mainstream prominence in the late 1980s following a collaboration with the Beatmasters on the song "Hey DJ/I Can't Dance (To That Music You're Playing)". Between 1990 and 1992 she had a successful solo career, which spawned a number of chart-placing singles, most notably "Doin' the Do", "Where Are You Baby?", and "Let Me Take You There".
In 2025, Betty Boo re-released her first two studio albums and will tour UK for the first time.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
CareerEdit
1987–1999: Betty BooEdit
Clarkson studied sound engineering at the Holloway School of Audio Engineering<ref name="independent">Template:Cite news</ref> before having several hits between 1989 and 1992. Originally nicknamed "Betty Boop"<ref name="independent"/> for her similarity to the cartoon character, she changed it to avoid trademark disputes. Of mixed Dusun and Scottish ancestry,<ref name="Pop comeback for fun-loving Betty">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Take-off for the girl from Planet Boo">Template:Cite journal</ref> she had an unusual, striking Emma Peel-like look,<ref name="independent"/> dressed in mildly revealing outfits and proved to be an influential pop music figure whose "sassy, powerful music and image launched a thousand wannabe'sTemplate:Sic".<ref name="WigWam - Check Out My WigWam Video"/> Writing for The Guardian in August 1990, Lucy O'Brien noted the difference between the "quietly spoken" Clarkson and her "lovable toughie" pop star alter-ego, describing the latter as "a cartoon combination of Betty Boop, Barbarella and Buck Rogers".<ref name="Take-off for the girl from Planet Boo"/>
Whilst still at school, Boo began her musical career in hip-hop groups such as Hit 'N' Run<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the She Rockers, the latter act who were signed to the British independent record label Music of Life. The She Rockers'<ref name="Take-off for the girl from Planet Boo"/> success led her to New York and work with Public Enemy,<ref name="Take-off for the girl from Planet Boo"/> who encouraged her to pursue a solo career.<ref name="WigWam - Check Out My WigWam Video"/> Commenting on her time spent supporting Public Enemy on tour in the US, as well as working with Professor Griff in the recording studio on the song "Give It a Rest",<ref name="Take-off for the girl from Planet Boo"/> Boo revealed that things did not go as expected: "They were producing our single and I thought it would sound like their stuff, but it didn't at all. And some of the crowds were hostile to us. They didn't throw anything, no, but they wanted to see Public Enemy and they just weren't interested in us."<ref name="Smash Hits Feature">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Her big break came when she appeared as a guest vocalist on the 1989 number 7<ref name=occ/> UK hit single, "Hey DJ – I Can't Dance (To That Music You're Playing)" by the Beatmasters,<ref name="WigWam - Check Out My WigWam Video"/> which was included in original form on their album Anywayawanna. Boo's first solo single, "Doin' the Do", followed and was also a UK singles chart number 7 success for her in 1990,<ref name=occ/> selling 200,000 copies<ref name="Take-off for the girl from Planet Boo"/> and reaching number one on Billboard's dance chart in the United States. One year later, the song was used as the title tune for Magic Pockets video game by the Bitmap Brothers. Boomania, her platinum-selling debut album,<ref name="independent"/> was largely self-written and self-produced in her bedroom.<ref name = "WigWam - Check Out My WigWam Video"/> Her second solo single, "Where Are You Baby?", which reached number 3 in August 1990,<ref name=occ/> is her biggest solo hit to date. "24 Hours" was the third and final single to be issued from Boomania, and although it was a hit, it was less so than previous releases, stalling at number 25 in December 1990.<ref name=occ/> Her initial success was compounded at the 1991 BRIT Awards ceremony where she was voted that year's best British Breakthrough Act.<ref name = "Pop comeback for fun-loving Betty"/><ref name = "Where have all the newcomers gone?">Template:Cite news</ref> In 1991, her "Why, Oh Why?" 1950s-style love ballad featured on the soundtrack of the American film A Rage in Harlem.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Her career suffered a setback when in July 1991, while touring Australia, Boo was revealed to be lip-synching at a concert rather than performing live. The 21st Century Dance Club in Frankston, Australia received "hundreds of complaints" after her performance, during which Boo fled the stage after dropping her microphone, revealing she was miming to a backing track.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The incident was widely reported, and Boo cancelled the remainder of her tour, citing influenza and fever.
Boo returned with a new record deal in 1992 having signed to WEA. Her follow-up album, GRRR! It's Betty Boo, suffered very disappointing sales in the UK, peaking at number 62 on the albums chart.<ref name=occ/> It did, nevertheless, spawn another UK hit single titled "Let Me Take You There", which reached number 12 in August 1992.<ref name=occ/> A further single, "I'm on My Way", featured a musical quote from the Beatles' "Lady Madonna" which, unusually, was not a sample—the song's brass riff was re-created using all the original playersTemplate:Citation needed. However, the single did not sell well and entered the chart at number 44 in October 1992.<ref name="occ" /> Her next single, "Hangover", fared even worse, barely scraping the Top 50 upon release in April 1993.<ref name="occ" /> Following the release of GRRR!, Clarkson turned down an offer to sign with Madonna's Maverick Records,<ref name="WigWam - Check Out My WigWam Video" /> and in 1999 a Best Of compilation album—effectively an expanded version of Boomania with extra remixes and a different running order—was released and sold moderately well.
2006–2014: Subsequent worksEdit
In 2006, Clarkson formed a pop duo called WigWam,<ref name = "Pop comeback for fun-loving Betty"/> with Alex James, bassist from Blur. Together, they worked with music producer Ben Hillier, along with former Boo collaborators the Beatmasters.<ref name = "WigWam - Check Out My WigWam Video">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Despite working to create "an album of experimental yet accessible 21st century pop",<ref name = "WigWam - Check Out My WigWam Video"/> just one single emerged from their musical partnership, the self-titled "WigWam" released on 3 April 2006 via Instant Karma Records.<ref name="Pop comeback for fun-loving Betty"/>
In August 2007, Clarkson released a new single titled "Take Off". The song, which was playlisted on Radio 1's dance-orientated shows, was a joint project with the London-based dance act Jack Rokka and, as such, is much more dance-orientated than her previous work. She went on to perform the collaboration in a live set at Manchester Pride in 2007, along with some of her other songs. 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 hers – and the Betty Boo spiral. Clarkson appeared on ITV's Loose Women on 16 October 2007 to promote the single, and has also 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.
In July 2009, historian Kate Williams reported on BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House that she is working with Clarkson to develop a musical version of Williams' biography England's Mistress: The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In June 2011, Clarkson featured as Betty Boo (and is credited) on the track "Virtually Art" by the Feeling on the double-album edition of their 2011 release, Together We Were Made. In July 2014, Betty Boo performed on stage at the Penn Festival, while in 2021 she was announced as one of the artists performing as part of the Let’s Rock retro music festival line-ups, at various dates throughout the UK.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2022–present: Return to musicEdit
On 10 January 2022, Boo announced the release of the single "Get Me to the Weekend".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The second single "Shining Star", was released on 12 May 2022. Her first album in 30 years, Boomerang, was released on 14 October 2022.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
On 14 June 2024, Boo released the single "It Was Beautiful" (featuring HEX) from her fourth album Rip Up the Rulebook.
SongwriterEdit
After her solo career effectively ended when her mother contracted terminal cancer in the early 1990s,<ref name="The Power Behind Pop">Template:Cite news</ref> Clarkson turned to songwriting, at the request of Chris Herbert,<ref name="Where have all the newcomers gone?"/><ref name="The Power Behind Pop"/> who was in the process of forming a new, all-girl group. Herbert asked her to contribute to the project after revealing that she was his inspiration in forming one of his previous projects, the Spice Girls:<ref name="WigWam - Check Out My WigWam Video"/> "He told me that when they were auditioning for the Spice Girls, they were looking for five Betty Boos – larger-than-life cartoon characters. He asked me to get involved in this other band he was putting together, Girl Thing, because he wanted this signature Betty Boo sound, a bit of hip-hop."<ref name="The Power Behind Pop"/>
Clarkson went on to co-write a number of songs for Girl Thing, including "Pure and Simple". Although the group's A&R man, Simon Cowell, initially rejected her song,<ref name="The Power Behind Pop"/> it was included in the Japanese edition of Girl Thing's self-titled debut album, released in 2001. The song became a huge, record-breaking hit single when it was re-recorded and released as the debut single of Hear'Say—winners of the reality TV show, Popstars—in March of the same year. On the release, Clarkson commented: "The arrangement they used was almost identical. I never met the band. It was a bit disheartening".<ref name="The Power Behind Pop"/> The song went on to win the Ivor Novello Award for the biggest selling single of 2001,<ref name = "Pop comeback for fun-loving Betty"/><ref name="WigWam - Check Out My WigWam Video"/> however despite finding renewed success by writing for other artists, Clarkson criticised the audition-based, manufactured pop process which created them.<ref name="The Power Behind Pop"/>
Clarkson has also written songs for Girls Aloud<ref name="WigWam - Check Out My WigWam Video"/> (reunited with the Beatmasters), Louise, Dannii Minogue, The Tweenies<ref name = "The Power Behind Pop"/> and for Sophie Ellis-Bextor's fourth studio album Make a Scene (though her contributions did not make the final album).<ref name="Ellis-Bextor 75% done">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Awards and nominationsEdit
| Award | Year | Nominee(s) | Category | Result | Template:Abbr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brit Awards | 1991 | Herself | British Breakthrough Act | Template:Won | <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| British Female Solo Artist | Template:Nom | |||||
| "Where Are You Baby?" | British Video of the Year | Template:Nom | ||||
| Ivor Novello Awards | 2002 | "Pure and Simple" | Best Selling UK Single | Template:Won | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| NME Awards | 1991 | Herself | Object of Desire | Template:Won | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> {{safesubst:#if:| |
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DiscographyEdit
Studio albumsEdit
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK <ref name="occ" /> |
UK Down. <ref name="occ" /> |
AUS <ref name="aus">Australian (ARIA) peaks:
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NED <ref name="dutch">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |
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NZ <ref name="nz">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |
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| Boomania |
|
4 | — | 68 | — | 88 | 25 |
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| GRRR! It's Betty Boo |
|
62 | — | — | 97 | — | — | |||||
| Boomerang |
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45 | 7 | — | — | — | — | ||||
| Rip Up the Rule Book |
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— | 59 | — | — | — | — | ||||
Compilation albumsEdit
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Doin' the Do: The Best of Betty Boo |
|
Video albumsEdit
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Boomania – The Boomin Vids |
|
SinglesEdit
| Year | Single | Peak positions | Certifications | Album | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK <ref name=occ>UK chart peaks:
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GER <ref>German singles chart peaks:
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US Dance <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |
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| 1989 | "Hey DJ / I Can't Dance (To That Music You're Playing)" (The Beatmasters featuring Betty Boo) |
7 | 88 | 35 | 93 | 17 | 14 | 10 | — | — | — | 8 | Boomania | |||||||||||
| 1990 | "Doin' the Do" | 7 | 3 | 8 | — | 9 | 9 | 4 | — | — | 90 | 1 |
| |||||||||||
| "Where Are You Baby?" | 3 | 19 | — | 29 | 6 | 16 | 11 | — | 13 | — | — |
| ||||||||||||
| "24 Hours" | 25 | 94 | — | 32 | 17 | 74 | — | — | 10 | — | — | |||||||||||||
| 1992 | "Let Me Take You There" | 12 | 97 | — | 50 | 13 | 61 | — | 38 | 18 | — | — | GRRR! It's Betty Boo | |||||||||||
| "I'm on My Way" | 44 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "Thing Goin' On" (US only) | colspan="9"Template:N/a | — | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1993 | "Hangover" | 50 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "Catch Me" (US only) | colspan="9"Template:N/a | — | 14 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007 | "Take Off" (Jack Rokka vs Betty Boo) | 92 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Template:Non-album single | |||||||||||
| 2022 | "Get Me to the Weekend"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
– | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Boomerang | ||||||||||
| "Shining Star"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
– | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "Boomerang"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
– | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "Right By Your Side"(featuring David Gray)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
– | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "Miracle" (featuring Chuck D)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
– | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| 2024 | "It Was Beautiful" (featuring Hex) | – | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Rip Up the Rulebook | |||||||||||
| "One Day"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
– | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "Barbarella"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
– | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
BibliographyEdit
- Guinness Book of British Hit Singles – 16th Edition – Template:ISBN
- Guinness Book of British Hit Albums – 7th Edition – Template:ISBN
External linksEdit
- {{#if:|Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at Discogs|{{#if:Template:Wikidata|Template:Wikidata Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at DiscogsTemplate:EditAtWikidata|Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at Discogs}}}}
Template:Betty Boo Template:Brit British Breakthrough Template:Authority control