Nineties pop star Betty Boo is back with a new band, a new single and a mission to put some fun back into the music industry. The half-Malaysian, half-Scottish singer - real name Alison Clarkson - took the charts by storm with frothy hits like Doin' The Do and Where Are You Baby in the early 1990s, and was voted best British Breakthrough Act at the 1991 Brits. Personal reasons subsequently forced her to take a five-year hiatus, but she has since had further success as a songwriter for Popstars winners Hear'Say and Girls Aloud. Pure and Simple, which Clarkson co-wrote for the now defunct Hear'Say, became the fastest-selling debut single in UK chart history and won the 36-year-old Londoner an Ivor Novello songwriting prize. Despite this, the self-styled diva is ambivalent about the effect TV talent shows like Popstars and Pop Idol have had on the music business. Breaking boundaries: "You can't knock those programmes," says Clarkson. "They're really entertaining and it is something to do on a Saturday night if you're sitting in front of the telly with the family. "But if I'm being honest, I think they have destroyed the pop industry "If you're in a band you should write your own stuff, do something innovative and try to break boundaries," she continued. "It should be anarchy really; it shouldn't be staid." Those sentiments are reflected in WigWam, the title of her new single and also the name of the band she has formed with Blur bassist Alex James.  CONTINUES ON P137