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Singer-songwriter Betty Boo looks back: ‘I was very naive in the 90s. It was only years later I realised people were on loads of drugs’

The Doin’ the Do singer on navigating the wild 90s, writing for other artists, and why she stepped out of the limelight for 30 years

With her platinum-selling debut, Boomania, she achieved three Top 10 singles, a Brit award for best British breakthrough act, and international success, before stepping out of the limelight for three decades. During her hiatus, she co-wrote Hear’Say’s Pure and Simple (then the fastest-selling debut single of all time in the UK) and worked with Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Girls Aloud and Blur’s Alex James. My mum died when she was 49 and my dad at 47, so I thought: “Hang on a minute – I’ve just outlived both my parents, why am I not embracing life?” It’s a privilege to get older, and I want to make the most of every second, not worry about what I should sound like, or if my age matters.

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