Betty Boo has revealed the hairdressing disaster that led to her adopting her much-loved stage persona.
This month, the hitmaker bounces back with her epic comeback album ‘Boomerang’ – a record that arrives 30 years after her previous release and one she was compelled to record after celebrating her 50th birthday.
Speaking in Retro Pop’s November 2022 cover feature the star – real name Alison Clarkson – opens up about returning to the spotlight and journeys back to the origins of Betty Boo.
“I used to experiment with my hair a lot and I went a bit too far once. I used to go to this place in Hammersmith where a lot of hairdressers used to train and they were always after models who they could experiment on,” she recalls. “On this occasion, they wanted to dye it bright red – I was like 15 – so in order for it to go red, they had to put peroxide on it and make it go completely blonde, and then colour it. Anyway, it was a disaster. I went home and my dad told me off – he wouldn’t even talk to me, he was just absolutely horrified. I had lovely, glossy, dark Asian hair and I ended up having to get it cut off because it grew out really bad. The red faded and then the brown came through, and it just looked really horrible, so I had a really cropped haircut.
“In order for me to make it look stylish, I put little curls like Betty Boop, the cartoon character, and people used to laugh. So I thought, ‘That could be my MC name,’ and that’s how that happened. And then it stuck. It really helped me sort of step outside of being an ordinary person. So it was a case of me having an alter ego and getting stuck into that kind of role, if you like.”
Three decades on, Betty Boo’s new album ‘Boomerang’ – out October 14 on her Betty Boo Records label – is one of the most anticipated releases of the autumn, but creating the LP was an exercise in nostalgia for the musician, who collaborated with co-writer and producer Andy Wright remotely during lockdown from her bedroom.
“I converted my bedroom into a studio, which is almost like going back in time, because that’s what I did when I was 19 or 20 and wrote ‘Boomania’,” she explains. “So I sort of regressed into being that 19 or 20 year old and thinking, ‘I’ve got to dig deep and be creative.’ And I’d love to know where the ideas came from; I must have had them stored up somewhere.”
She adds: “It’s been some time since I’ve been to a nightclub. I used to love clubbing back in the day and I just sort of went back to the ‘90s and thought, ‘What would it be like if I went back to the Milk Bar?’ Which is where I used to go with my friends and have jello shots!”
Ahead of the release, she’s already planning its follow-up, with Alison admitting she’s thrilled to be back.
“I’ve been away for such a long time and you just don’t know if you’re gonna be accepted or not,” she beams. “Especially as a woman, the first thing people think is, ‘Oh, what does she look like?’ It’s really terrible. But overall, it’s been 100 per cent positive and I’m absolutely thrilled.”
‘Boomerang’ is out October 14 and is available to pre-order now.
Read the full interview in the November 2022 edition of Retro Pop, out now. Order yours or subscribe via our Online Store, use our Store Finder to locate your nearest stockist, or get Digital Copies delivered direct to your devices.
