Alf

Alf is the debut solo studio album by English singer Alison Moyet, released on 9 November 1984 by CBS Records. The album launched Moyet's solo career following the disbanding of synth-pop duo Yazoo. The album reached 1 on the UK Albums Chart and features the singles "Love Resurrection", "All Cried Out", "Invisible" and "For You Only". A deluxe edition of Alf was released on 25 November 2016 by BMG. Background In 1983, shortly before the release of their second studio album, You and Me Both (1983), Yazoo announced that they were splitting up. Deciding to pursue a solo career, Moyet soon received various offers from different record companies. Moyet ended up signing to CBS for £1 million later that year. However, after signing the contract, Yazoo's American record company Warner Bros then put an injunction on her. The legal issues took a year to be resolved by settlement in 1984. When Moyet was able to start working on her debut album, a meeting was held with CBS. As both Spandau Ballet and Bananarama had been recently successful in the charts, the label suggested Moyet team up with their producers Tony Swain & Steve Jolley. The collaboration with the two producers proved successful and the three began writing songs for an album. Moyet later recalled: "I was simply in a space with two accomplished and encouraging blokes who were saying, 'Let's write some songs', and we didn't find it hard." She told Number One in 1984: "With Swain and Jolley, I can get on with what I do best, writing lyrics and singing. We had a writing session at my house – two weeks around the piano. Some of the songs were written over the phone." Writing and recording sessions had to be done with haste due to Swain and Jolley's other commitments as producers. The recording sessions took three months to complete. CBS suggested the album be titled Alf, which had become Moyet's well-known nickname since before Yazoo.