Alison Moyet a year ago -- and today!

In October of last year I had one of my life-time dreams fulfilled. Sure, I had already seen her perform with Vince Clarke in July of 2008 for their Yazoo reunion tour, but what I had always dreamed about was seeing the incomparable Alison Moyet live, singing her own amazing songs.

Dream come true: "One More Time" from the show I saw at the Blender Theater on October 8, 2008:

A year later, almost to the date, comes word a Nov. 3 UK release of a new Alison Moyet "Best of" album titled, appropriately, "Best of 25 Years Revisited". It's not the first 'hits' compilation she has released. "Singles" came out in 1995 with a bonus disc of live versions. And now, the deluxe version of the new release, also sees a 2nd disc with 11 newly recorded re-interpretations of old songs, also sung by Ms. Moyet.

What brought this to light was a recent YouTube discovery of a performance of "This House" by Ms. Moyet that took place earlier this month to promote the new release:

I was simply stunned. Not because it is and shall be one of my favorite Moyet songs, mind you. But because it's difficult not to miss Ms. Moyet's weight loss between October of last year and now. While watching her sing last year, I have to confess I wondered about her weight and her health. It must have taken a lot of work and exercise and major changes to her lifestyle. But she certainly seems at ease and happy - and I hope she feels great. The interview that followed her performance on the Paul O'Grady show doesn't address the weight drop, but it certainly offers a few juicy tidbits, including footage of Moyet as a back-up singer in a special appearance on British TV by legendary Dusty Springfield. Enjoy:

Update #1: From a profile of Alison Moyet the October 2nd edition of The Daily Mail:

[Moyet] says that the decision to shed the pounds was nothing to do with vanity but everything to do with preparing for old age. ‘I have lost and put on big batches of weight in my life many, many times,’ she admits. ‘But what concerns me is the idea of being an obese old woman, because I don’t like the idea of being physically incapable in someone else’s hands.
I have smoked and eaten too much rubbish in my time, but the catalyst for me to do something about it was not wanting to be incapacitated. It goes back to my need for privacy.’

Update #2 [January 2nd, 2011]: Excerpt from a statement Alison posted after comments regarding a televised New Year's Eve performance in the UK elicited lots of Twitter comments:

...then there was Twitter trending over my body. Wow thats MENTAL. I forget. I have lived with me in this form for way more than a year and I don't think about how I seem to others. Being fat all my life and still in my head and my whole psychology I am used to people having their say over me, relatives, journalists.. but we live in new times and instead of giggles behind hands, a spiteful byline and the odd shout out, it is now in your face and unashamed. Complimentary or resentful, I don't like it at all..ha ha...my bleedin' body eh? It will be the death of me. As a point of research for those wondering, no I feel no more confident or lush than I did as big me, less maybe, and spending little time gazing at myself in the looking glass and no time on the pull...I feel utterly unchanged. I am certainly not flattered that a few more 'would'. It is utterly irrelevant.