BAND BIO

BETTY AT MUSEUMS

BETTY, the longtime indie rock band of Alyson Palmer, Amy Ziff, and Elizabeth Ziff, is known for clever lyrics, energetic harmonies and non-stop activism. Since forming in 1986, the band’s distinctive sound has been heard in concert worldwide, on tv & tube (The L Word theme song, Weeds, Ugly Betty, & more), in films (the holiday classic Life With Mikey, The Out-of-Towners, The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love & more), Off-Broadway (the hit musical BETTY Rules, directed by Michael Greif of Hells Kitchen, Dear Evan Hansen, RENT), on the radio as Holiday Commentators for NPR, as guests on many compilation recordings and on ten albums of their own, readily available online. BETTY’s unflagging devotion to fairness and equal rights as well as decades of international appearances as Arts Envoys for the US State Department, led Gloria Steinem to suggest they create The BETTY Effect, a non-profit on behalf of women and girls, LGBTQ+ people and others marginalized by society. BETTY has received numerous arts and humanitarian honors for their lifelong mission, including two EMMYs, the BMI Theme Song Award and Career Excellence Award and the Official State Honor of Buenos Aires. They recorded their 11th album in Mexico City and New York, are happily on the road again and spill their wild adventures on BETTY: Girlband the Podcast, available everywhere.

BETTY created the soundscape for artist Darren Waterston’s stunning installation, Filthy Lucre. First commissioned and presented by MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) in 2015, the massive artwork moved to the Smithsonian’s Freer/Sackler Gallery in 2017 where it was on view for five months next to it’s inspiration, James McNeill Whistler’s masterpiece of interior decorative mural art, The Peacock Room.

In January 2020 BETTY performed live at London’s legendary Victoria & Albert museum, their final live tour before the pandemic lockdown in February of that year. BETTY appeared in conjunction with Darren Waterston's glorious exhibit. The installation remained on view through 2021.

Filthy Lucre is an immersive interior where Darren has reimagined Whistler’s famed and controversial room. A near life-size recreation of Whistler’s aesthetic masterpiece, Darren transforms almost every detail with images of decay and excess. BETTY's soundscape haunts the space in whispers, fragments of instrumental music, and unfolding harmonies.

In addition to creating the Filthy Lucre Soundscape, BETTY has performed live within the installation at MASS MoCA, the Smithsonian and London's V&A Museum.

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