Yazoo (Yaz)



Then: Yazoo was formed in 1982 after keyboardist/songwriter Vince Clarke left and started working with bluesy vocalist Alison "Alf" Moyet. The duo hit the ground running with their first album Upstairs At Eric's. Eric was actually co-producer Eric C. Radcliffe. The album spawned hits "Don't Go," "Situations" and "Only You". They followed that up with 1983's You And Me Both. "Nobody's Diary" and "The Other Side Of Love" proved huge U.K. hits and staying power behind their work. But they amicably resolved before releasing the second album that they would go their own ways after its release. Clarke worked with several other vocalists on mini-projects with Martyn Ware of Heaven 17 (The Clarke And Ware Experiment) and Feargal Sharkey of The Undertones (Assembly) until finding a long-term collaborative partner in Andy Bell and forming Erasure. Alison Moyet wasn't a slacker. She scored 6 U.K. Top 20 hits and a U.S. Top 40 hit with "Invisible" during the 80's.

Now: Erasure has been going strong. Moyet has still been recording and even released a Greatest Hits package with Clarke remixing one of the tracks. In 1998's movie Can't Hardly Wait, the love scene featured "Only You" but didn't make it to the soundtrack. The Best Of Yaz was released in 1999 with remixes of some hits.