Alison Moyet: ‘My biggest disappointment? I am’

Born in Essex, Alison Moyet, 56, was in several punk bands before forming Yazoo with Vince Clarke in 1981. They had multiple hits, including Only You. After they disbanded in 1983, her debut solo album, Alf, went to number one. She has three Brit Awards and was given the Icon Award at the Nordoff Robbins Silver Clef Awards in 2013. Her ninth studio album, Other, has just been released and she will tour from September. She is married, has three children and lives in Brighton.

What is your earliest memory?
Being about two and sitting in the yellow washing bucket that my mum used to hand-wash stuff in; it was also my paddling pool.

Which living person do you most admire, and why?
My older sister, Jeanne. We fought when we were kids, but she is so entirely capable.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
My inability to communicate reliably.

Property aside, what’s the most expensive thing you’ve bought?
A television. I don’t care for things. When I moved, I downsized and threw away most of my possessions.

What is your wallpaper?
My grandson Finn, who is 10 months.

What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My hair is like pubes.

If you could bring something extinct back to life, what would you choose?
My parents, who died recently, eight months apart.

What is your most unappealing habit?
Tearing my toenails.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?
For a while I wanted to be a policewoman, but I didn’t have five O-levels.

What is the worst thing anyone’s said to you?
That I was a disaster in company.

What is your guiltiest pleasure?
Coronation Street and EastEnders.

What do you owe your parents?
My mother I owe my love of language – she was a French teacher – and my father my belief that I can put my hand to anything.

What does love feel like?
Like hunger, which feels like anxiousness, which feels like fear, which feels like excitement.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
“Absolutely” and “Cunt”.

What is the worst job you’ve done?
A 12-hour nightshift at a toy factory in Southend.

What has been your biggest disappointment?
I am my biggest disappointment.

If you could edit your past, what would you change?
I’d have made more of my education.

What is the closest you’ve come to death?
When I was doing my gold swimming badge. I had to get undressed in a swimming pool and had forgotten my gym kit, so the teacher gave me a kit two sizes too small. In the water, I got my arms up over my head to get the shirt off and they locked. I sank to the bottom of the pool and sat there until a girl jumped in and dragged me back up again.

When did you last cry, and why?
When I heard John Noakes had died.

What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
I have the invisibility of a middle-aged woman. I live in Brighton, and feel for the first time in my life that I belong. My kids are safe, my husband’s in a good place and we have a roof over our head: I can’t imagine needing more than that.