Yazoo (known as Yaz in North America) were an English synth-pop duo from Basildon, Essex, formed in late 1981 by Alison Moyet (vocals) and former Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke (keyboards). The pair released two albums, Upstairs at Eric's (1982) and You and Me Both (1983). Yazoo played a key role in shaping the emerging genre of synth-pop, and were particularly influential on the house music scene of the mid to late 1980s.
History
Formation and Upstairs at Eric's (1982)
Clarke and Moyet grew up in Basildon and attended the same Saturday music school when they were eleven years old. Moyet spent her teens singing in various punk and blues bands in her home town. She placed an advert in the UK weekly music magazine Melody Maker in late 1981 asking for musicians to form a "rootsy" blues band after her most recent group, the Screamin' Ab Dabs, had broken up.
Moyet was surprised when the only reply she received was from Clarke, who had recently stunned the music press by quitting Depeche Mode. Despite growing up nearby, Moyet and Clarke did not know each other. Moyet had been in the same class at school as Clarke's future Depeche Mode bandmates Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher but had no contact with Clarke himself, remembering him as an outsider who, with his brothers, would wear t-shirts proclaiming their Christianity. Clarke had seen Moyet sing live a few times, as his best friend had been in her punk band.
The pair came to the project with different tastes in music. In an early interview, Moyet stated that "I'm a traditionalist, I can't accept the fact of blues with synthesizers at all," while Clarke admitted to tolerating modern R&B outfits like Dr. Feelgood but disliked traditional blues artists such as Muddy Waters. Clarke took the "Only You" demo to Mute label boss Daniel Miller but recalled that at first Miller appeared to be uninterested: <blockquote>"I tried to give it to Daniel and he didn't show much interest ... I brought it in and put it on, and the whole time it was playing, Daniel was messing around with a synthesizer. He said he liked it, but carried on doing what he was doing—and that was it. Only when the publishers took an interest did he brighten up."
This decision led to a £3.5 million lawsuit threat by the label over the band's name The duo recorded their debut album at Blackwing Studios in southeast London, where Clarke had recorded Depeche Mode's album Speak & Spell the previous year. As the studio had already been booked during the day by fellow Mute artist Fad Gadget, Yazoo recorded most of the album during the early mornings. Clarke had expected that Miller would produce the album, but discovered that Miller was already otherwise occupied, so Blackwing studio owner Eric Radcliffe carried out production duties with Clarke and Moyet. The album was named Upstairs at Eric's in recognition of Radcliffe's input.
Upstairs at Eric's was released in the UK in August 1982, peaking at number two on the UK Albums Chart In the US, initial success was more modest and the album peaked at number 92 on the Billboard 200 album chart, but by 1989, seven years after its release, word of mouth had helped to push the album to platinum status for sales of over one million copies. The duo played 24 dates in support of the album across Europe and North America.
You and Me Both and disbandment (1983)
After releasing "The Other Side of Love" in the UK in November 1982, a non-album stopgap single that reached number 13 in the UK singles chart, Unlike their first record, the second album was made over a longer period of four months and with Clarke and Moyet rarely in the studio together at the same time; Clarke would record instrumental tracks in the morning and Moyet would come in during the evening and record her vocals. The album, ironically titled You and Me Both, was released in the UK in July 1983 and topped the UK album charts,
2008 reunion and 'Reconnected' tour
270px|thumb|right|Alison Moyet with Yazoo in 2008
Despite the long estrangement, Moyet had always harboured plans to perform the songs from You and Me Both live on stage, something that had never occurred, as the duo had split before the album was released. Toward the end of 2007, she had finished promoting her album The Turn and had no immediate plans for more solo work, and aware that Mute were planning to issue remastered versions of Yazoo's albums, she e-mailed Clarke to see if he was interested in the idea of a reunion.
Clarke welcomed her message, but replied that he was now committed to his current band Erasure and felt it would be disloyal to his musical partner Andy Bell if he returned to work with Moyet. However, shortly afterwards Bell told Clarke that he wanted to take a break from Erasure, causing Clarke to reconsider Moyet's proposal, and with a message sent via Mute label head Daniel Miller, he indicated that he was open to reuniting for live performances. Clarke disclosed that he had felt obliged to ask Bell if he had any objections to Clarke performing with Yazoo again: Bell's response had simply been to ask Clarke for tickets for the reunion shows. On 13 December, the Planet Sound music magazine pages on the UK's Teletext service on Channel 4 exclusively revealed that both Yazoo albums were to be reissued and that the duo were planning to reform and play a gig in support of the albums' release.
On 20 January 2008, the new official Yazoo website confirmed that Clarke and Moyet would be reuniting to play five concerts across the UK in June 2008, preceded by a four-disc box set entitled In Your Room, which would feature remastered stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes of the albums Upstairs at Eric's and You and Me Both, a disc of B-sides and remixes and a DVD including new interviews with Clarke and Moyet and the videos for their five UK and US singles, along with video footage of television performances from 1982 and 1983. Two EPs available on vinyl and as digital downloads were released to coincide with the box set, the Nobody's Diary EP released on 12 May 2008 featuring various remixes of the song (including one by Erasure's Andy Bell) and the Reconnected EP released on 9 June 2008, which featured various Yazoo tracks remixed by different artists.
Having re-established contact, Clarke and Moyet met on 8 April 2008 in a private members' club in London's Covent Garden, with the occasion filmed by the press: it was the first time they had met since a mutual friend's wedding in the early 1990s. The tour was rapidly expanded to include concerts in Europe and in the US, as well as extra dates in the UK. The 'Reconnected' tour, as it became known, began in Copenhagen on 26 May 2008, the same day as In Your Room was released. The concert of 10 July 2008 at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles was recorded to be re-aired on Richard Blade's Sirius Radio show. Yazoo wrapped up the final two dates of the US tour by returning to New York City for the first time since October 1982.
In an interview in May 2008 with the online magazine Side-Line, Clarke said that there were plans to record the two London shows on the tour for a possible live album in the future. A double album titled Reconnected Live, featuring tracks recorded on the "Reconnected" tour, was eventually released in September 2010.
On 14 May 2011, Moyet appeared as a guest on stage before Erasure's set on the second day of Mute Records' Short Circuit music festival at the Roundhouse in London. She performed three Yazoo songs with Clarke, "Nobody's Diary", "Ode to Boy" and "Don't Go". In an interview prior to the concert, Moyet said she was "99.9% sure it's the last time" that she and Clarke would perform together as Yazoo, adding, "It was really good that Vince and I had come through the whole circle of being really angry with each other, forgetting what we'd been angry about, and forgetting that there was ever any displeasure."
In 2023, their music found a second life through social media satire, becoming the unofficial soundtrack to the archetypal middle-aged woman rediscovering joy, love, and — most critically — herself.[citation needed]
Discography
Both of Yazoo's albums received critical acclaim, particularly for the blending of Clarke's synthesizer melodies with Moyet's blues- and soul-influenced vocals.
- Upstairs at Eric's (1982)
- You and Me Both (1983)
Awards
{| class=wikitable
|-
! Year !! Awards !! Category !! Work !! Result !! Ref.
|-
| rowspan=2|1983
| rowspan=2|Brit Awards
| British Breakthrough Act
| rowspan=2|Themselves
|
|
|-
| British Group
|
|
|-
| 1984
| Ivor Novello Awards
| The Best Selling A-side
| "Only You"
|
|
|}
See also
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart