As lead singer of indie-disco trio Gossip, non-conformist Beth Ditto became just as famous for challenging the perceptions of female beauty and sexuality as she did for her spell bindingly raw gospel-soul voice. Born Mary Beth Patterson in 1981, she grew up in a tiny house in Searcy, AK with her large family, before moving to Washington at the age of 18, where she teamed up with guitarist Brace Paine and drummer Hannah Blilie to form post-punk outfit the Gossip. After being named "the coolest person in rock" by NME, one of three publications she posed nude for (alongside erotica magazine On Our Backs and London style bible Love), the band broke through to the mainstream with their third album's title track, "Standing In the Way of Control," written by Ditto as a response to the U.S. government's ban on gay marriage. Ditto's larger than life, uncompromising image turned her into an unlikely fashion icon, a development which resulted in her opening Jean Paul Gaultier's Spring Collection at the 2010 Paris Fashion Week, and creating her own collection for U.K. retailer Evans. After providing guest vocals on records by Calvin Johnson ( "Lightning Rod for Jesus" ), Simian Mobile Disco ("Cruel Intentions") and Jarvis Cocker (a duet cover version of Heaven 17's "Temptation"), she released her own solo debut self-titled EP in 2011. Ditto also has her own advice column in British broadsheet The Guardian, launched a campaign to ban the clothing "size zero", and formed supergroup Crisis with Paul Weller and Graham Coxon to raise money for a homeless charity. ~ Jon O'Brien, Rovi
The Gossip's Music for Men is due on June 23 in the U.S., and singer Beth Ditto has kicked the promotional machine into gear by taking a few pot shots...
Beth Ditto has always used her celebrity as a bully pulpit from which to defend overweight women, and now she's taken her advocacy a step further. The...
Fiery femme Gossip singer Beth Ditto is generally associated with her outspoken nature and proudly round figure. This time, Ditto is clashing heads wi...
Beth Ditto has been talking to the Times in London ahead of the release of the Gossip's upcoming album, Music For Men. The singer speaks of her proble...
After joining UK-based electronic duoSimian Mobile Discofor the song "Cruel Intentions" off of 2009'sTemporary Pleasures, Gossip frontwoman and fashio...
Photo by Natalie Kardos Crossover feminist punks Gossip used to make a sort of gutbucket blues rumble, but in recent years, their sound has moved heav...
Thebrief glimpseat a new Lady Gaga track dominated the musical offerings coming out of the Paris Fashion Shows this year, but Mark Ronson and his Busi...
for the clip to her vid, "I Wrote The Book". Beth Ditto - "I Wrote The Book" Beth Ditto - I Wrote The Book from Rafael Eduardo Avila Solano on Vimeo. ...
Gossip lead singer Beth Ditto was arrested in her hometown of Portland Friday night (March 15) for disorderly conduct. According to NME, Ditto was cuf...
She's known for singing "Standing in the Way of Control." But Gossip singer Beth Ditto has been arrested for standing in the way of a car. The trouble...
