Meet BETTY!

The award-winning Indie Rock trio BETTY, Alyson Palmer (vocals, bass, guitar), Elizabeth Ziff (vocals, guitar, electronic programming) and her sister, Amy Ziff (vocals and cello), uses beguiling melodies, compelling lyrics and signature harmonies to create energetic live shows that mix music, performance art, politics and comedy.

BETTY sings of joy, love, longing, lust, food, heartbreak, and the universal hilarity of human existence. More than a band, BETTY uses music to channel their passion for representation, fairness and equality. From the beginning, they’ve blended their voices for causes they fight for, their talents in collaboration with other artists of every medium, and their time in support of women and girls, worldwide.

In addition to creating, performing and recording together as a group of independent artists since 1986, BETTY travels the world as Arts Envoys for the US Department of State. To further their humanitarian outreach and cultural diplomacy, Gloria Steinem advised them to form a non-profit, which they did in 2014. The BETTY Effect’s mission is using music and performance techniques to help others communicate and connect for personal power, social progress and peace, especially women and girls, LGBTQIA and other marginalized communities.

BETTY has been featured on national and international radio, television – including their iconic theme songs for The L Word and HBO’s Encyclopedia – and in films, commercials, jingles, recordings, streaming projects and concert venues across five continents. They have contributed as guest artists to dozens of recordings and compilation albums, and their soundscapes can be heard in art installations, like Darren Waterston “Filthy Lucre” at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MOCA), The Smithsonian Institute and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Their Off-Broadway musical, BETTY RULES, was another diamond in a glittering string of hits directed by Michael Greif (Days of Wine and Roses, Hell’s Kitchen, Dear Evan Hanson, Next to Normal, RENT.)

BETTY at the Smithsonian Museum, courtesy of the Washington Post

As activists, BETTY uses their music to work for equal rights, peace, reproductive health, education and the environment. In their long, award-winning career, they are proudest about lending their voices to hundreds of events over the decades that have improved lives, changed policy, and raised millions of dollars for worthy causes.

The band’s podcast, BETTY: GIRLBAND is the raucous as-true-as-can-be-remembered history of an oddball all-girl, American trio from the Reagan 80’s to now, told in music, stories and guest interviews. The first season is out now on all platforms.

BETTY played their first gig in Washington DC in 1986 as a birthday request for the owner of the legendary 9:30 club, Dodie Bowers. The three fronted the 5-piece art rock band, On Beyond Zebra, but on this fateful night they performed as requested - as a trio. The response was overwhelming and the party so fun that BETTY just kept going. Within a year, they were touring North America and Europe, had written and performed a musical in two acts, and won their first of many awards, WAMA’s Entertainer of the Year 1987. After they were cast in HBO’s groundbreaking TV series with Children’s Television Workshop, “Encyclopedia,” the trio moved to New York City.

BETTY continues to fight side by side as musical warriors for self-advocacy, fairness and equality. As Arts Envoys with the US Department of State, they’ve been honored to tour and hold workshops across Africa, India, South America, Mexico and the Baltic States. no matter where chance takes them, they go, which may be one reason the trio has far outlasted the majority of bands… and most relationships!

Art. Adventure. Activism… BETTY RULES

BETTY in New Hope, PA by Kristi Ambrosetti