Betty Boo has announced she’s releasing her first new music in three decades. The 90’s pop star is set to share Get Me to The Weekend her first solo release since her 1992 album Grrrr It’s Betty Boo.
Hold up, wait a minute, Betty Who?
Let’s no get confused, Betty Who is an Australian singer who collaborates with Troye Sivan and sung the theme to Queer Eye. Betty Boo on the other hand is a British singer who captured the world’s attention in the late 80’s and early 90’s releasing two albums of dance pop.
We first got to know Betty Boo when she collaborated with The Beatmasters on their song Hey DJ, I Can’t Dance To That Music You’re Playing. Coming out of Britain’s acid house music scene The Beatmasters released a string of singles with guest rappers and vocalists including P.P. Arnold, Cookie Crew and Claudia Fontaine.
Hey DJ, I Can’t Dance To That Music You’re Playing featured a rap from Betty Boo, and it had a memorable video too. The song’s chorus is borrowed from a 1968 Martha Reeves and the Vandellas tune. It was a top 10 hit in the UK.
In 1990 she released her first solo single Doin’ the Do and it was a worldwide hit. Produced by The Beatmasters, it featured on her debut album Boomania.
Betty Boo returned declaring “It’s me again, yes, how did you guess, ’cause last time you were really impressed.”
The song used samples of the 1968 song Captain of Your Ship by Reparata and the Delrons, as well as elements from a few other tracks. The video saw Betty Boo transforming from a school-girl to rapping vamp. The track was also remixed by Shep Pettibone, who was one of the hottest remixers is the business at the time, having just created Madonna’s smash hit Vogue.
She followed it with up Where Are You Baby and 24 Hours, and was soon touring the world.
Things went awry though during her Australian tour in 1991. While appearing at the 21st Century Dance Club in Frankston she accidently dropped her microphone and her vocals continued on, revealing the artist was relying on a pre-recorded backing track.
Lip-syncing was a big issue at the time follow scandals involving German band Milli Vanilli, and Betty Boo was suddenly in the spotlight. Betty Boo cancelled the remained of her Australian tour, including a show at Metropolis Fremantle and headed home.
In 1992 Betty boo returned with her second album Grrr, It’s Betty Boo.
While the tracks from the album contained Boo’s signature sound, she didn’t make the same impact on the charts as her earlier releases. In Australia the album only made it to 202 on the charts.
I’m On my Way borrowed elements of The Beatles’ Lady Madonna.
Betty Boo was offered a contract with Madonna’s Maverick records, but she turned it down and switched careers to being a songwriter. She’s pop up a few times over the years on different projects.
She was half of the duo WigWam with Blur bassist Alex James, they put out a single in 2006. In 2011 she featured on a track by UK band The Feeling.
When Dan Gillespie-Sells came to record the concept album for the musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie Betty Boo took part recording the part of Careers Teacher Miss Hedge.
The woman behind the persona, Alison Clarkson, has had a successful career as a songwriter penning tunes for Hear’Say, Girl Thing, Dannii Mingoue, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Louise and Girls Aloud.
Next week she’ll be back as Betty Boo! Get Me to The Weekend comes out on Saturday 22nd January.
You can support our work by subscribing to our Patreon
or contributing to our GoFundMe campaign.
