Yazoo (known as Yaz in North America) was an English synthpop duo from Basildon, Essex. They had a number of top ten hits in the British charts in the early 1980s. Formed in late 1981 by former [a=Depeche Mode] songwriter [a=Vince Clarke] (synthesizer) and English singer [a=Alison Moyet] (vocals), Yazoo was signed to [l=Mute Records Ltd.] who licensed them (as "Yaz") to [l=Sire Records Company] in the USA. In an interview Vince Clark admitted the band name "Yazoo" name came from the record label Yazoo.