"I FEEL very Basildon still - it was a brilliant place to grow up" declares Alison Moyet at the very start of our chat.

Arguably one of the town's biggest musical exports and despite now having flown the south Essex nest her heart lies firmly with those she grew up with.

"I don't get when people run it (Basildon) down. In the 60s and 70s it was a brilliant place to grow up. I loved it." she says with honesty and a frankness she enjoys.

Her website blog starts with the immortal line I hope you enjoy my Essex frankness' after all.

"I don't know any other way to be," she laughs before continuing, "I think it was a shame when they started selling all the council houses off in the town as it was like just one big happy council estate before that.

"They are my people and I know them. Maybe its to do with getting older but when I am queuing in a shop and I hear people barking their demands I think it never used to be like that. The people of Basildon certainly always have more manners."

Born in Billericay Hospital, Alison grew up in a house in Little Lullaway, and went to James Hornsby school in Laindon: "it was called St Nicholas back then though," she points out.

"I have soft spot for the Echo as well," she laughs as she recalls: "I had my first review in the Echo and they were always really supportive of the bands I was in."

With friends and family still living locally including her brother in Benfleet, Alison is still a frequent visitor to her South Essex home territory.

Up until a couple of years ago she was still a regular season ticket holder at her beloved Southend Utd, alongside her fellow Basildonite husband David.

"My in-laws moved to Derby a few years ago so that f**ked up the babysitting arrangements for football," she laughs again as that frankness kicks in once more.

The 46-year-old mum of three certainly believes her humble roots laid the foundations for her enduring career following her blaze to fame in the early 80s as part of the synth pop duo Yazoo alongside Vince Clarke - later of Erasure - with songs such as Only You and Don't Go.

The pair are still in email contact although Vince now lives in the States so meeting up is less frequent.

Alison doesn't rule out a reunion though.

"We often talk about doing it and it would be doing it for the sake of it, she admits, "For me nothing is ever life changing you do everything for the sake of it and you do it because you are in the mood."

It would certainly be a reunion much celebrated by fans of the era whose level of hysteria meant she found her early fame difficult to handle.

"I was completely rubbish at handling the fame when I was younger," she admits, "It was one of the reasons I left Basildon actually.

"With Yazoo we had a young fan base and there was an hysteria about them. The milkman would knock on the door and bring a dozen fans with him.

"I hated the limelight as I had always been a bit of a dark horse. But it has got easier as I have got older as the fan base is not so hysterical and a lot more respectful."

When Yazoo spilt in 1983 Alison went on to secure success in her own right with a string of albums including Alf, Raindancing, Hoodoo and of course Essex.

She has won three Brit awards, had nine top ten singles and has worldwide record sales in excess of 25 million.

She also won rave reviews for her performance as Mama Morton in the West End show Chicago alongside fellow ex Basildonian Denise Van Outen.

And went on to appear alongside long term friend Dawn French in the Kathy Burke directed play Smaller, for which she wrote the music.

Yet she is quick to point out that theatre has been a very small part of her career.

"I am theatrical in that I am influenced by Chanson and (thanks to her French father) but my background is as a punk rocker," Alison insists.

"To be honest musical theatre was never part of my to do list, but I had reached an impasse with my record company at the time.

"This came up and someone I knew said it would be perfect for me. This was before, without sounding big headed, any other names' had been asked to do it and it seemed like quite a perverse thing for me to do."

"Once they realised that having, and I hate to use the word but celebs' in roles they could sell more tickets, it has now become a much more mainstream thing to do."

With her latest album, Alison believes she has finally made the music she has wanted to.

The Turn was released in October and got to number 21 in the charts, her first collection of original recordings in more than five years.

"I was really pleased with the reaction," she says, "I really wanted to do an album that translated to the live works.

"Songs that deconstruct the composition and concentrate on the voice and the guitar.

"I wanted to do something that was completely different. At the start of my career and with former bands the music was very heavily produced and did not translate particularly well to the live performance.

"I wanted songs that were melody based and also intellectually based as far as the lyrics were concerned."

She is due to put that theary into practice with a tour next year and will include a show at the Cliffs Pavilion on February 6 2008.

Her latest single A Guy Like You was released on Monday (Nov 26) but throughout her 30 year career Alison has battled against the notion of what a pop star should like.

"It has been a challenge," she admits, " if you put me on stage an compare me to someone like Kylie Minogue I am going to stand out as I am heavier and taller than most. But if you put me in the high street with the average woman then I fit right in. I have the same attractiveness and ugliness as every woman and I think people get that."

But while the fans may understand the business does not necessarily and the title of her album plays homage to that.

"People see that image of me on the cover and make an assumption," she explains, " They miss the irony in calling it The Turn'.

"They call you the turn' whether you are in the first flush of your career or whether you are at the end. You are still putting on a mask.

"Being older and still putting on the mask - there is definitely something tragic about the whole thing. In having to still explain yourself," she adds.