Beth Ditto

Beth Ditto
Ditto at Roskilde Festival 2012
Background information
Birth name	Mary Beth Patterson
Born	(1981-02-19) February 19, 1981 (age 36)
Origin	Searcy, Arkansas, U.S.
Genres	Indie rock, post-punk, synthpop
Instruments	Vocals
Labels	Kill Rock Stars, Columbia
Associated acts	Gossip

Mary Beth Patterson, known by her stage name Beth Ditto (born February 19, 1981), is an American singer-songwriter, most notable for her work with the indie rock band Gossip (previously known as The Gossip) and whose voice has been compared to Etta James, Janis Joplin and Tina Turner. She is often reported describing herself as a "fat, feminist lesbian from Arkansas".

Ditto grew up in a poor family in Arkansas in the southern United States, with her mother, various stepfathers, six siblings (two older brothers, an older sister, two younger brothers and a younger sister). She was raised Southern Baptist and Pentecostal. At age 13, she moved out of her mother's house and went to live with her aunt. She moved to Olympia, Washington in 1999; then to Portland, Oregon in 2003, where she lives as of 2014.

She has fronted the band Gossip since their formation in 1999 until it's dissolution in 2016. In addition, she has been involved in other musical projects. In 2008, she contributed vocals to the Crisis charity single "Consequences", a collaboration between various artists. In 2010, she sang on Simian Mobile Disco's track "Cruel Intentions" for their album of collaborations Temporary Pleasure. In 2011, she released her own 4-track Beth Ditto EP, produced by James Ford and Jas Shaw of Simian Mobile Disco, on the re-launched Deconstruction Records. She sang on Blondie's "A Rose by Any Name" from their 2013 album Ghosts of Download. Harrod Horatia, writing in The Telegraph, has said, "Where the stripped-down three-piece Gossip play propulsive, garage band blues, Ditto's own stuff is melancholic, soulful dance music, inspired by 'Eighties disco soul jams' that she loves, and the up-tempo pop-R&B of I Wanna Dance With Somebody-era Whitney Houston."

Ditto, who is openly lesbian, is well known for her outspoken support of both lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), and feminist, causes. She has been an advocate for large women being body-positive and has been regularly photographed as an editorial model. She is known for her stage dances and her unique and revealing image. She classes herself as a punk, and thus neither uses deodorant nor shaves under her armpits, having once remarked, "I think punks usually smell." She has cited Cyndi Lauper and Boy George as overall influences and Grace Jones and Peggy Moffitt as her beauty icons. She considers her favorite song to be "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" by X-Ray Spex.