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Betty Boo
Alison Moira Clarkson (born 6 March 1970), better known by her stage name 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 toured in the UK for the first time.
Clarkson studied sound engineering at the Holloway School of Audio Engineering before having several hits between 1989 and 1992. Originally nicknamed "Betty Boop" for her similarity to the cartoon character, she changed it to avoid trademark disputes. Of mixed Dusun and Scottish ancestry, she had an unusual, striking Emma Peel-like look, dressed in mildly revealing outfits and proved to be an influential pop music figure whose "sassy, powerful music and image launched a thousand wannabes". 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".
Whilst still at school, Boo began her musical career in hip-hop groups such as Hit 'N' Run and the She Rockers, the latter act who were signed to the British independent record label Music of Life. The She Rockers' success led her to New York and work with Public Enemy, who encouraged her to pursue a solo career. 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", 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."
Her big break came when she appeared as a guest vocalist on the 1989 number 7 UK hit single, "Hey DJ – I Can't Dance (To That Music You're Playing)" by the Beatmasters, 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, selling 200,000 copies 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, was largely self-written and self-produced in her bedroom. Her second solo single, "Where Are You Baby?", which reached number 3 in August 1990, 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. Her initial success was compounded at the 1991 BRIT Awards ceremony where she was voted that year's best British Breakthrough Act. In 1991, her "Why, Oh Why?" 1950s-style love ballad featured on the soundtrack of the American film A Rage in Harlem.
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. 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. It did, nevertheless, spawn another UK hit single titled "Let Me Take You There", which reached number 12 in August 1992. 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 players.[citation needed] However, the single did not sell well and entered the chart at number 44 in October 1992. Her next single, "Hangover", fared even worse, barely scraping the Top 50 upon release in April 1993. Following the release of GRRR!, Clarkson turned down an offer to sign with Madonna's Maverick Records, 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.
In 2006, Clarkson formed a pop duo called WigWam, with Alex James, bassist from Blur. Together, they worked with music producer Ben Hillier, along with former Boo collaborators the Beatmasters. Despite working to create "an album of experimental yet accessible 21st century pop", just one single emerged from their musical partnership, the self-titled "WigWam" released on 3 April 2006 via Instant Karma Records.
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Betty Boo
Alison Moira Clarkson (born 6 March 1970), better known by her stage name 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 toured in the UK for the first time.
Clarkson studied sound engineering at the Holloway School of Audio Engineering before having several hits between 1989 and 1992. Originally nicknamed "Betty Boop" for her similarity to the cartoon character, she changed it to avoid trademark disputes. Of mixed Dusun and Scottish ancestry, she had an unusual, striking Emma Peel-like look, dressed in mildly revealing outfits and proved to be an influential pop music figure whose "sassy, powerful music and image launched a thousand wannabes". 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".
Whilst still at school, Boo began her musical career in hip-hop groups such as Hit 'N' Run and the She Rockers, the latter act who were signed to the British independent record label Music of Life. The She Rockers' success led her to New York and work with Public Enemy, who encouraged her to pursue a solo career. 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", 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."
Her big break came when she appeared as a guest vocalist on the 1989 number 7 UK hit single, "Hey DJ – I Can't Dance (To That Music You're Playing)" by the Beatmasters, 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, selling 200,000 copies 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, was largely self-written and self-produced in her bedroom. Her second solo single, "Where Are You Baby?", which reached number 3 in August 1990, 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. Her initial success was compounded at the 1991 BRIT Awards ceremony where she was voted that year's best British Breakthrough Act. In 1991, her "Why, Oh Why?" 1950s-style love ballad featured on the soundtrack of the American film A Rage in Harlem.
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. 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. It did, nevertheless, spawn another UK hit single titled "Let Me Take You There", which reached number 12 in August 1992. 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 players.[citation needed] However, the single did not sell well and entered the chart at number 44 in October 1992. Her next single, "Hangover", fared even worse, barely scraping the Top 50 upon release in April 1993. Following the release of GRRR!, Clarkson turned down an offer to sign with Madonna's Maverick Records, 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.
In 2006, Clarkson formed a pop duo called WigWam, with Alex James, bassist from Blur. Together, they worked with music producer Ben Hillier, along with former Boo collaborators the Beatmasters. Despite working to create "an album of experimental yet accessible 21st century pop", just one single emerged from their musical partnership, the self-titled "WigWam" released on 3 April 2006 via Instant Karma Records.
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